x

Login

Remember me
Forget password ?

Or via social

x

sign up

person_profile-Arthur O'Connell

Arthur O'Connell Died at age: 73

Actor | Producer

Date of Birth:

Mar 29, 1908

Country of birth:

U.S.

Died:

May 18, 1981

Biography of

Arthur O'Connell

    Arthur O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in films (starting with a small role in Citizen Kane) in 1941 and television programs (mostly guest appearances). Among his screen appearances were Picnic, Anatomy of a Murder, and as the watch-maker who hides Jews during WWII in The Hiding Place.

    A veteran vaudevillian, O'Connell, from New York City, made his legitimate stage debut in the mid 1930s, at which time he fell within the orbit of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Welles cast O'Connell in the tiny role of a reporter in the closing scenes of Citizen Kane (1941), a film often referred to as O'Connell's film debut, though in fact he had already appeared in Freshman Year (1939) and had costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Leon's conniving brother-in-law.

    After numerous small movie parts, O'Connell returned to Broadway, where he appeared as the erstwhile middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in Picnic - a role he'd recreate in the 1956 film version, earning an Oscar nomination in the process. Later the jaded looking O'Connell was frequently cast as fortyish losers and alcoholics; in the latter capacity he appeared as James Stewart's boozy attorney mentor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and the result was another Oscar nomination. In 1962 O'Connell portrayed the father of Elvis Presley's character in the motion picture Follow That Dream, and in 1964 in the Presley-picture Kissin' Cousins.

    O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both TV and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing. He appeared as Joseph Baylor in the 1964 episode "A Little Anger Is a Good Thing" on the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. The actor accepted the part of a man who discovers that his 99-year-old father has been frozen in an iceberg on the 1967 sitcom The Second Hundred Years, assuming he'd be billed first per the producers' agreement. Instead, top billing went to newcomer Monte Markham in the dual role of O'Connell's father and his son. O'Connell accepted the demotion to second billing as well as could be expected, but he never again trusted the word of any Hollywood executive.

    Ill health forced O'Connell to significantly reduce his acting appearances in the mid '70s, but the actor stayed busy as a commercial spokesman, a friendly pharmacist who was a spokesperson for Crest toothpaste. At the time of his death from Alzheimer's disease in California in May 1981, O'Connell was appearing solely in these commercials, by his own choice.

    O'Connell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.

    Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur O'Connell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Photos of

Arthur O'Connell

Photos ( 4 Photos

Filmography of

Arthur O'Connell

Found 74 Movies in total

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1991

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

Self (from Bus Stop [1956]) (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1986

The Hiding Place

Casper ten Boom, 'Papa' ( Actor )

... 1975

Huckleberry Finn

Col. Grangerford ( Actor )

... 1974

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

Henry Gills ( Actor )

... 1974

Wicked, Wicked

Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer ( Actor )

... 1973

The Poseidon Adventure

John, the Chaplain ( Actor )

... 1972

... 1972

Ben

Bill Hatfield ( Actor )

... 1972

A Taste of Evil

John ( Actor )

... 1971

The Last Valley

Hoffman ( Actor )

... 1971

There Was a Crooked Man...

Mr. Lomax ( Actor )

... 1970

... 1970

Seven in Darkness

Larry Wise ( Actor )

... 1969

If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Prosecutor ( Actor )

... 1968

The Power

Prof. Henry Hallson ( Actor )

... 1968

The Reluctant Astronaut

Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming ( Actor )

... 1967

A Covenant with Death

Judge Hockstadter ( Actor )

... 1967

Fantastic Voyage

Col. Donald Reid ( Actor )

... 1966

Birds Do It

Professor Wald ( Actor )

... 1966

The Silencers

Joe Wigman ( Actor )

... 1966

Ride Beyond Vengeance

The Narrator ( Actor )

... 1966

The Monkey's Uncle

Darius Green III ( Actor )

... 1965

The Third Day

Dr. Wheeler ( Actor )

... 1965

The Great Race

Henry Goodbody ( Actor )

... 1965

Nightmare in the Sun

Sam Wilson ( Actor )

... 1965

Your Cheatin' Heart

Fred Rose ( Actor )

... 1964

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

Clint Stark ( Actor )

... 1964

Kissin' Cousins

Pappy Tatum ( Actor )

... 1964

Marilyn

Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1963

Pericles on 31st Street

Dan Ryan ( Actor )

... 1962

Follow That Dream

Pop Kwimper ( Actor )

... 1962

Pocketful of Miracles

Count Alfonso Romero ( Actor )

... 1961

A Thunder of Drums

Sgt. Karl Rodermill ( Actor )

... 1961

Misty

Grandpa Clarence Beebe ( Actor )

... 1961

The Great Impostor

Warden J.B. Chandler ( Actor )

... 1960

Cimarron

Tom Wyatt ( Actor )

... 1960

Operation Petticoat

Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin ( Actor )

... 1959

Hound-Dog Man

Aaron McKinney ( Actor )

... 1959

Anatomy of a Murder

Parnell Emmett McCarthy ( Actor )

... 1959

Gidget

Russell Lawrence ( Actor )

... 1959

Voice in the Mirror

Bill Tobin ( Actor )

... 1958

Man of the West

Sam Beasley ( Actor )

... 1958

The Violators

Solomon Baumgarten ( Actor )

... 1957

April Love

Jed Bruce ( Actor )

... 1957

Operation Mad Ball

Col. Rousch ( Actor )

... 1957

The Monte Carlo Story

Mr. Homer Hinkley ( Actor )

... 1956

Bus Stop

Virgil Blessing ( Actor )

... 1956

The Solid Gold Cadillac

Mark Jenkins ( Actor )

... 1956

The Proud Ones

Jim Dexter ( Actor )

... 1956

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Gordon Walker ( Actor )

... 1956

Picnic

Howard Bevans ( Actor )

... 1955

The Whistle at Eaton Falls

Jim Brewster ( Actor )

... 1951

Force of Evil

Link Hall (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1950

The Countess of Monte Cristo

Assistant Director Jensen ( Actor )

... 1948

One Touch of Venus

Reporter ( Actor )

... 1948

State of the Union

First Reporter ( Actor )

... 1948

Homecoming

Ambulance Attendant (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1948

The Naked City

Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1948

Open Secret

Carter ( Actor )

... 1948

Hello, Annapolis

Pharmacist Mate ( Actor )

... 1942

Fingers at the Window

Photographer (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Blondie's Blessed Event

Interne (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Canal Zone

New Recruit (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Law of the Jungle

Simmons ( Actor )

... 1942

Man From Headquarters

Goldie Shores ( Actor )

... 1942

Citizen Kane

Reporter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1941

Hullabaloo

Fourth Page ( Actor )

... 1940

Dr. Kildare Goes Home

Intern (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

The Golden Fleecing

Cameraman (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

I Take This Oath

Court Clerk ( Actor )

... 1940

Two Girls on Broadway

Reporter at Wedding (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

And One Was Beautiful

Moroni's Parking Attendant ( Actor )

... 1940

Murder in Soho

Lefty ( Actor )

... 1939