Acting
114
Man
29 Mar 1908
18 May 1981 (73)
New York City, New York, U.S.
—
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.
Year | Movie / TV show / Other | Role |
---|---|---|
1991 | Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker | actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited) |
1986 | Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend | Self (from Bus Stop [1956]) (archive footage) |
1975 | The Hiding Place | Casper ten Boom, 'Papa' |
1974 | Huckleberry Finn | Col. Grangerford |
1974 | Shootout in a One-Dog Town | Henry Gills |
1973 | Wicked, Wicked | Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer |
1973 | Adam's Rib | Judge |
1972 | The Poseidon Adventure | John, the Chaplain |
1972 | Ben | Bill Hatfield |
1972 | Emergency! | |
1972 | They Only Kill Their Masters | Ernie |
1972 | Ghost Story | Chief Owen Huston |
1972 | The Paul Lynde Show | |
1971 | The Last Valley | Hoffman |
1971 | Cannon | |
1971 | Alias Smith and Jones | |
1971 | A Taste of Evil | John |
1970 | There Was a Crooked Man... | Mr. Lomax |
1970 | Night Gallery | |
1970 | McCloud | |
1970 | Nanny and the Professor | |
1970 | Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? | Mr. Kruft |
1969 | Room 222 | |
1969 | Seven in Darkness | Larry Wise |
1968 | The Power | Prof. Henry Hallson |
1968 | The Name of the Game | Charlie Sherwin |
1968 | If He Hollers, Let Him Go! | Prosecutor |
1967 | Ironside | |
1967 | The Reluctant Astronaut | Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming |
1967 | A Covenant with Death | Judge Hockstadter |
1967 | The Second Hundred Years | |
1966 | Fantastic Voyage | Col. Donald Reid |
1966 | The Silencers | Joe Wigman |
1966 | Ride Beyond Vengeance | The Narrator |
1966 | Birds Do It | Professor Wald |
1965 | The Great Race | Henry Goodbody |
1965 | The Wild Wild West | |
1965 | The Big Valley | Jubal |
1965 | The Monkey's Uncle | Darius Green III |
1965 | The F.B.I. | Smitty |
1965 | The Third Day | Dr. Wheeler |
1965 | Nightmare in the Sun | Sam Wilson |
1964 | 7 Faces of Dr. Lao | Clint Stark |
1964 | Kissin' Cousins | Pappy Tatum |
1964 | Your Cheatin' Heart | Fred Rose |
1963 | The Fugitive | Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams |
1963 | The Fugitive | Samuel Cole |
1963 | Petticoat Junction | William Lawrence |
1963 | Burke's Law | Dr. Stuart Alexander |
1963 | Marilyn | Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited) |
1963 | Arrest and Trial | |
1963 | The Greatest Show on Earth | |
1962 | Follow That Dream | Pop Kwimper |
1962 | Sam Benedict | |
1962 | Pericles on 31st Street | Dan Ryan |
1961 | Pocketful of Miracles | Count Alfonso Romero |
1961 | A Thunder of Drums | Sgt. Karl Rodermill |
1961 | Misty | Grandpa Clarence Beebe |
1961 | The New Breed | Peter Capples |
1960 | Cimarron | Tom Wyatt |
1960 | My Three Sons | |
1960 | The Great Impostor | Warden J.B. Chandler |
1960 | Route 66 | |
1959 | Anatomy of a Murder | Parnell Emmett McCarthy |
1959 | Operation Petticoat | Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin |
1959 | Gidget | Russell Lawrence |
1959 | Hound-Dog Man | Aaron McKinney |
1958 | Man of the West | Sam Beasley |
1958 | Voice in the Mirror | Bill Tobin |
1957 | Operation Mad Ball | Col. Rousch |
1957 | April Love | Jed Bruce |
1957 | Alcoa Theatre | |
1957 | The Violators | Solomon Baumgarten |
1957 | DuPont Show of the Month | |
1956 | Bus Stop | Virgil Blessing |
1956 | The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | Gordon Walker |
1956 | The Solid Gold Cadillac | Mark Jenkins |
1956 | The Proud Ones | Jim Dexter |
1956 | The Monte Carlo Story | Mr. Homer Hinkley |
1956 | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre | Lyman |
1955 | Picnic | Howard Bevans |
1955 | Matinee Theater | |
1954 | Summer Playhouse | |
1953 | The Oscars | Self |
1952 | Omnibus | |
1951 | The Whistle at Eaton Falls | Jim Brewster |
1950 | Force of Evil | Link Hall (uncredited) |
1948 | The Naked City | Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited) |
1948 | State of the Union | First Reporter |
1948 | One Touch of Venus | Reporter |
1948 | Studio One | Curtis |
1948 | Studio One | Manachi Conners |
1948 | Homecoming | Ambulance Attendant (uncredited) |
1948 | Open Secret | Carter |
1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse | |
1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Jim Elkins |
1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Grant |
1948 | The Countess of Monte Cristo | Assistant Director Jensen |
1942 | Fingers at the Window | Photographer (uncredited) |
1942 | Law of the Jungle | Simmons |
1942 | Blondie's Blessed Event | Interne (uncredited) |
1942 | Man From Headquarters | Goldie Shores |
1942 | Canal Zone | New Recruit (uncredited) |
1942 | Hello, Annapolis | Pharmacist Mate |
1941 | Citizen Kane | Reporter (uncredited) |
1940 | Dr. Kildare Goes Home | Intern (uncredited) |
1940 | The Golden Fleecing | Cameraman (uncredited) |
1940 | And One Was Beautiful | Moroni's Parking Attendant |
1940 | Two Girls on Broadway | Reporter at Wedding (uncredited) |
1940 | I Take This Oath | Court Clerk |
1940 | Hullabaloo | Fourth Page |
1940 | 'Taint Legal | Book Salesman |
1940 | Bested by a Beard | Phil |
1939 | Murder in Soho | Lefty |