Biography
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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Filmography
all 111
Movies 76
TV Shows 35
self 3
Narrator 1
Director 1
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
The Hiding Place (1975)
Huckleberry Finn (1974)
Shootout in a One-Dog Town (1974)
Adam's Rib (1973)
Wicked, Wicked (1973)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
Ghost Story (1972)
The Paul Lynde Show (1972)
Ben (1972)
Emergency! (1972)
A Taste of Evil (1971)
Cannon (1971)
The Last Valley (1971)
Alias Smith and Jones (1971)
Night Gallery (1970)
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
McCloud (1970)
Nanny and the Professor (1970)
Seven in Darkness (1969)
Room 222 (1969)
If He Hollers, Let Him Go! (1968)
The Name of the Game (1968)
The Power (1968)
The Second Hundred Years (1967)
The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)
Ironside (1967)
A Covenant with Death (1967)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Birds Do It (1966)
The Silencers (1966)
Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)
The F.B.I. (1965)
The Wild Wild West (1965)
The Big Valley (1965)
The Monkey's Uncle (1965)
The Third Day (1965)
The Great Race (1965)
Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
Your Cheatin' Heart (1964)
7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
Kissin' Cousins (1964)
Petticoat Junction (1963)
Burke's Law (1963)
The Fugitive (1963)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1963)
Arrest and Trial (1963)
Marilyn (1963)
Sam Benedict (1962)
Pericles on 31st Street (1962)
Follow That Dream (1962)
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
The New Breed (1961)
A Thunder of Drums (1961)
Misty (1961)
The Great Impostor (1960)
Cimarron (1960)
Route 66 (1960)
My Three Sons (1960)
Operation Petticoat (1959)
Hound-Dog Man (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Gidget (1959)
Voice in the Mirror (1958)
Man of the West (1958)
The Violators (1957)
April Love (1957)
Alcoa Theatre (1957)
DuPont Show of the Month (1957)
Operation Mad Ball (1957)
The Monte Carlo Story (1956)
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
Bus Stop (1956)
The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
The Proud Ones (1956)
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Picnic (1955)
Matinee Theater (1955)
Summer Playhouse (1954)
Love Story (1954)
The Oscars (1953)
Omnibus (1952)
The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951)
Force of Evil (1948)
Robin Hoodlum (1948)
Studio One (1948)
The Countess of Monte Cristo (1948)
The Philco Television Playhouse (1948)
One Touch of Venus (1948)
State of the Union (1948)
Homecoming (1948)
The Naked City (1948)
Open Secret (1948)
Hello, Annapolis (1942)
Fingers at the Window (1942)
Blondie's Blessed Event (1942)
Law of the Jungle (1942)
Man From Headquarters (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Hullabaloo (1940)
Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
The Golden Fleecing (1940)
Bested by a Beard (1940)
'Taint Legal (1940)
I Take This Oath (1940)
Two Girls on Broadway (1940)
And One Was Beautiful (1940)
Murder in Soho (1939)
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Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1908-03-29
Deathday1981-05-18 (73 years old)
Birth PlaceManhattan, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
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