
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.
Movie | The Hiding Place | Casper ten Boom, 'Papa' | 1975-05-04 |
Movie | Huckleberry Finn | Col. Grangerford | 1974-05-24 |
Movie | Wicked, Wicked | Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer | 1973-06-13 |
Movie | The Poseidon Adventure | Chaplain | 1972-12-01 |
Movie | They Only Kill Their Masters | Ernie | 1972-11-22 |
Series | Ghost Story | Unknown | 1972-09-15 |
Series | The Paul Lynde Show | Unknown | 1972-09-13 |
Movie | Ben | Bill Hatfield | 1972-06-23 |
Series | Emergency! | Unknown | 1972-01-22 |
Series | Alias Smith and Jones | Unknown | 1971-01-05 |
Series | Cannon | Unknown | 1971-09-14 |
Movie | A Taste of Evil | John | 1971-10-11 |
Movie | The Last Valley | Hoffman | 1971-01-28 |
Series | Night Gallery | Unknown | 1970-12-16 |
Movie | There Was a Crooked Man... | Mr. Lomax | 1970-09-18 |
Movie | Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? | Mr. Kruft | 1970-09-11 |
Series | McCloud | Unknown | 1970-02-17 |
Series | Nanny and the Professor | Unknown | 1970-01-21 |
Series | Room 222 | Unknown | 1969-09-11 |
Movie | Seven In Darkness | Larry Wise | 1969-01-01 |
Movie | If He Hollers, Let Him Go! | Prosecutor | 1968-10-08 |
Movie | The Power | Prof. Henry Hallson | 1968-02-21 |
Movie | A Covenant with Death | Hockstadter | 1967-02-15 |
Series | Ironside | Unknown | 1967-03-28 |
Movie | The Reluctant Astronaut | Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming | 1967-09-05 |
Series | The Second Hundred Years | 1967-09-06 | |
Movie | Fantastic Voyage | Col. Donald Reid | 1966-08-24 |
Movie | Birds Do It | Prof. Wald | 1966-08-13 |
Movie | Ride Beyond Vengeance | The Narrator | 1966-05-09 |
Movie | The Silencers | Joe Wigman | 1966-02-18 |
Movie | Nightmare in the Sun | Sam Wilson | 1965-03-06 |
Movie | The Third Day | Dr. Wheeler | 1965-08-04 |
Movie | The Great Race | Henry Goodbody | 1965-07-01 |
Movie | The Monkey's Uncle | Darius Green III | 1965-08-18 |
Series | The Big Valley | Unknown | 1965-09-15 |
Series | The Wild Wild West | Unknown | 1965-09-17 |
Series | The F.B.I. | Unknown | 1965-09-19 |
Movie | Your Cheatin' Heart | Fred Rose | 1964-11-04 |
Movie | 7 Faces of Dr. Lao | Clint Stark | 1964-03-18 |
Movie | Kissin' Cousins | Pappy Tatum | 1964-03-06 |
Series | Petticoat Junction | Unknown | 1963-09-24 |
Series | Burke's Law | Unknown | 1963-09-20 |
Series | The Fugitive | Unknown | 1963-09-17 |
Series | The Greatest Show on Earth | Unknown | 1963-09-17 |
Series | Arrest and Trial | Unknown | 1963-09-15 |
Series | Sam Benedict | Unknown | 1962-09-15 |
Movie | Follow That Dream | Pop Kwimper | 1962-01-01 |
Movie | Misty | Grandpa Beebe | 1961-06-04 |
Movie | The Great Impostor | Warden J.B. Chandler | 1961-03-01 |
Movie | Pocketful of Miracles | Count Alfonso Romero | 1961-12-18 |
Movie | A Thunder of Drums | Sgt. Karl Rodermill | 1961-09-26 |
Series | The New Breed | Unknown | 1961-10-03 |
Movie | Cimarron | Tom Wyatt | 1960-12-01 |
Series | Route 66 | Unknown | 1960-10-07 |
Series | My Three Sons | Unknown | 1960-09-29 |
Movie | Operation Petticoat | Chief Mechinist's Mate Sam Tostin | 1959-12-05 |
Movie | Hound-Dog Man | Aaron McKinney | 1959-11-11 |
Movie | Anatomy of a Murder | Parnell Emmett McCarthy | 1959-07-01 |
Movie | Gidget | Russell Lawrence | 1959-04-09 |
Movie | Man of the West | Sam Beasley | 1958-09-30 |
Series | Alcoa Theatre | Unknown | 1957-10-07 |
Movie | April Love | Jed Bruce | 1957-11-27 |
Movie | The Monte Carlo Story | Mr. Homer Hinkley | 1957-10-09 |
Movie | The Violators | Solomon Baumgarten | 1957-11-30 |
Series | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater | Unknown | 1956-10-05 |
Movie | Bus Stop | Virgil Blessing | 1956-08-31 |
Movie | The Solid Gold Cadillac | Mark Jenkins | 1956-08-22 |
Movie | The Proud Ones | Jim Dexter | 1956-05-15 |
Movie | The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | Gordon Walker | 1956-05-08 |
Movie | Picnic | Howard Bevans | 1955-11-18 |
Series | Matinee Theater | Unknown | 1955-10-31 |
Series | Summer Playhouse | Unknown | 1954-07-06 |
Series | The Academy Awards | Unknown | 1953-03-18 |
Series | Omnibus | Unknown | 1952-11-09 |
Movie | The Whistle at Eaton Falls | Jim Brewster | 1951-08-02 |
Movie | Force of Evil | Link Hall (uncredited) | 1948-12-25 |
Series | Studio One | Unknown | 1948-11-07 |
Series | The Philco Television Playhouse | Unknown | 1948-10-03 |
Movie | Homecoming | Ambulance Attendant (uncredited) | 1948-05-01 |
Movie | State of the Union | First Reporter (uncredited) | 1948-04-30 |
Movie | Open Secret | Carter | 1948-02-14 |
Movie | One Touch of Venus | 1948-01-08 | |
Movie | Man From Headquarters | Goldie Shores | 1942-01-23 |
Movie | Blondie's Blessed Event | Interne | 1942-04-09 |
Movie | Fingers at the Window | Photographer | 1942-04-22 |
Movie | Hello, Annapolis | Pharmacist Mate | 1942-04-23 |
Movie | Citizen Kane | Reporter (uncredited) | 1941-04-30 |
Movie | Hullabaloo | Fourth Page | 1940-10-25 |
Movie | Dr. Kildare Goes Home | Intern | 1940-09-06 |
Movie | The Golden Fleecing | Cameraman | 1940-08-16 |
Movie | Bested by a Beard | Phil | 1940-07-16 |
Movie | I Take This Oath | Court Clerk | 1940-05-20 |
Movie | Two Girls on Broadway | Reporter at Wedding (uncredited) | 1940-04-19 |
Movie | And One Was Beautiful | Moroni's Parking Attendant | 1940-04-05 |
Movie | Murder in Soho | Lefty | 1939-02-01 |