Arthur O'Connell

Known for ActingBorn 1908-03-29Died 1981-05-18New York City, New York, USA

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. Read more

Movies & web series

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

He Asked for It

Hello, Annapolis

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

Arrest and Trial

Emergency!

Night Gallery

Anatomy of a Murder

Citizen Kane

The New Breed

The Wild Wild West

Adam's Rib

Ghost Story

Marilyn

The Greatest Show on Earth

Bonanza

The Violators

DuPont Show of the Month

The Fugitive

Pocketful of Miracles

McCloud

The Poseidon Adventure

Operation Petticoat

The Great Race

Alias Smith and Jones

The Naked City

The Name of the Game

The Hiding Place

Blondie's Blessed Event

Seven in Darkness

Alcoa Theatre

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

The Oscars

There Was a Crooked Man...

Ironside

The Great Impostor

The Countess of Monte Cristo

Homecoming

Two Girls on Broadway

Bested by a Beard

Cannon

Fantastic Voyage

Startime

Open Secret

Route 66

The Whistle at Eaton Falls

Sam Benedict

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit