Person Details

Birthday: 1908-03-29 21:00:55

Death: 1981-05-18 21:00:55

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: New York City, New York, U.S.

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 46

TV Involvements: 14


Most Famous Work

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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur O'Connell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Most Famous Work

The Big Valley
Average
6

The Big Valley

(1965) Jubal
The Fugitive
Average
7

The Fugitive

(1963) Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams
Studio One
Average
5

Studio One

(1948) Manachi Conners
Burke's Law
Average
6

Burke's Law

(1963) Dr. Stuart Alexander
The F.B.I.
Average
5

The F.B.I.

(1965) Smitty
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Average
5
Citizen Kane
Average
8

Citizen Kane

(1941) Reporter (uncredited)
The Poseidon Adventure
Average
7

The Poseidon Adventure

(1972) John, the Chaplain

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1991 actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1987 Self (from Bus Stop [1956]) (archive footage)
1975 Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
1974 Col. Grangerford
Henry Gills
1973 Judge
Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
1972 John, the Chaplain
Ernie
Chief Owen Huston
N/A
Bill Hatfield
N/A
1971 John
N/A
Hoffman
N/A
1970 N/A
Mr. Lomax
Mr. Kruft
N/A
N/A
1969 Larry Wise
N/A
1968 Prosecutor
Charlie Sherwin
Prof. Henry Hallson
1967 N/A
Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
N/A
Judge Hockstadter
1966 Col. Donald Reid
Professor Wald
Joe Wigman
The Narrator
1965 Smitty
N/A
Jubal
Darius Green III
Dr. Wheeler
Henry Goodbody
Sam Wilson
1964 Fred Rose
Clint Stark
Pappy Tatum
1963 William Lawrence
Dr. Stuart Alexander
Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams
Samuel Cole
N/A
N/A
Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)
1962 N/A
Dan Ryan
Pop Kwimper
1961 Count Alfonso Romero
Peter Capples
Sgt. Karl Rodermill
Grandpa Clarence Beebe
1960 Warden J.B. Chandler
Tom Wyatt
N/A
N/A
1959 Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
Aaron McKinney
Parnell Emmett McCarthy
Russell Lawrence
1958 Bill Tobin
Sam Beasley
1957 Solomon Baumgarten
Jed Bruce
N/A
Col. Rousch
N/A
1956 Mr. Homer Hinkley
Lyman
Virgil Blessing
Mark Jenkins
Jim Dexter
Gordon Walker
1955 Howard Bevans
N/A
1954 N/A
1953 Self
1952 N/A
1951 Jim Brewster
1948 Link Hall (uncredited)
Manachi Conners
Curtis
Assistant Director Jensen
Grant
N/A
Jim Elkins
Reporter
First Reporter
Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
Carter
1942 Pharmacist Mate
Photographer (uncredited)
Interne (uncredited)
Simmons
Goldie Shores
1941 Reporter (uncredited)
1940 Fourth Page
Intern (uncredited)
Cameraman (uncredited)
Phil
Book Salesman
Court Clerk
Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
Moroni's Parking Attendant
1939 Lefty
Year Character Movie/Tv

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