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.
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Fotos
Filmes (77)
Way of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies
2022 · Self - (archive footage)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991 · actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Hiding Place
1975 · Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
Huckleberry Finn
1974 · Col. Grangerford
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
1974 · Henry Gills
Wicked, Wicked
1973 · Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
The Poseidon Adventure
1972 · John, the Chaplain
They Only Kill Their Masters
1972 · Ernie
Ben
1972 · Bill Hatfield
A Taste of Evil
1971 · John
The Last Valley
1971 · Hoffman
There Was a Crooked Man...
1970 · Mr. Lomax
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
1970 · Mr. Kruft
Seven in Darkness
1969 · Larry Wise
If He Hollers, Let Him Go!
1968 · Prosecutor
The Power
1968 · Henry Hallson
The Reluctant Astronaut
1967 · Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
A Covenant with Death
1967 · Judge Hockstadter
Fantastic Voyage
1966 · Col. Donald Reid
Birds Do It
1966 · Professor Wald
The Silencers
1966 · Wigman
Ride Beyond Vengeance
1966 · The Narrator
The Monkey's Uncle
1965 · Darius Green III
The Third Day
1965 · Dr. Wheeler
The Great Race
1965 · Henry Goodbody
Nightmare in the Sun
1965 · Sam Wilson
Your Cheatin' Heart
1964 · Fred Rose
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
1964 · Clint Stark
Kissin' Cousins
1964 · Pappy Tatum
Marilyn
1963 · archive footage
Follow That Dream
1962 · Pop Kwimper
Pocketful of Miracles
1961 · Count Alfonso Romero
A Thunder of Drums
1961 · Sgt. Karl Rodermill
Misty
1961 · Grandpa Clarence Beebe
The Great Impostor
1960 · Warden J.B. Chandler
Cimarron
1960 · Tom Wyatt
Operation Petticoat
1959 · Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
Hound-Dog Man
1959 · Aaron McKinney
Anatomy of a Murder
1959 · Parnell Emmett McCarthy
Gidget
1959 · Russell Lawrence
Man of the West
1958 · Sam Beasley
Voice in the Mirror
1958 · Bill Tobin
The Violators
1957 · Solomon Baumgarten
April Love
1957 · Jed Bruce
Operation Mad Ball
1957 · Col. Rousch
The Monte Carlo Story
1956 · Mr. Homer Hinkley
Bus Stop
1956 · Virgil Blessing
The Solid Gold Cadillac
1956 · Mark Jenkins
The Proud Ones
1956 · Jim Dexter
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
1956 · Gordon Walker
Picnic
1955 · Howard Bevans
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
1951 · Jim Brewster
Force of Evil
1950 · Link Hall (uncredited)
The Taming of the Shrew
1950 · Curtis
The Countess of Monte Cristo
1948 · Assistant Director Jensen
One Touch of Venus
1948 · Reporter
State of the Union
1948 · First Reporter
Homecoming
1948 · Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
The Naked City
1948 · Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
Open Secret
1948 · Carter
Hello, Annapolis
1942 · Pharmacist Mate
Fingers at the Window
1942 · Photographer (uncredited)
Blondie's Blessed Event
1942 · Interne (uncredited)
Canal Zone
1942 · New Recruit (uncredited)
Law of the Jungle
1942 · Simmons
Man From Headquarters
1942 · Goldie Shores
Citizen Kane
1941 · Reporter (uncredited)
Hullabaloo
1940 · Fourth Page
He Asked for It
1940
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
1940 · Intern (uncredited)
The Golden Fleecing
1940 · Cameraman (uncredited)
Bested by a Beard
1940 · Phil
'Taint Legal
1940 · Book Salesman
I Take This Oath
1940 · Court Clerk
Two Girls on Broadway
1940 · Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
And One Was Beautiful
1940 · Moroni's Parking Attendant
Murder in Soho
1939 · Lefty
Séries (39)
Medical Story
1975 · Dr. Avery Loomis
Adam's Rib
1973 · Judge
Ghost Story
1972 · Chief Owen Huston
The Paul Lynde Show
1972
Emergency!
1972
Cannon
1971
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Night Gallery
1970
McCloud
1970
Nanny and the Professor
1970
Room 222
1969
The Name of the Game
1968 · Charlie Sherwin
The Second Hundred Years
1967 · Edwin Carpenter
Ironside
1967
The F.B.I.
1965 · Smitty
The Wild Wild West
1965
The Big Valley
1965 · Jubal
Petticoat Junction
1963 · William Lawrence
Burke's Law
1963 · Dr. Stuart Alexander
The Fugitive
1963 · Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams, Samuel Cole
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
Arrest and Trial
1963
Sam Benedict
1962
The New Breed
1961 · Peter Capples
Special for Women
1960 · Joe Lawson
Route 66
1960
My Three Sons
1960
Startime
1959 · Self
Bonanza
1959 · Dr. Samuel Hubert
Alcoa Theatre
1957
DuPont Show of the Month
1957
Wagon Train
1957
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Lyman
Matinee Theater
1955
Summer Playhouse
1954
The Oscars
1953 · Self
Omnibus
1952
Studio One
1948 · Curtis, Manachi Conners
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948 · Jim Elkins, Grant