Arthur O'Connell
76 movies · 36 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Mar 29, 1908
- Died
- May 18, 1981 (age 73)
- Place of birth
- New York City, New York, USA
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.
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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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Profiles IMDb
Known for
Arthur O'Connell: movies and TV shows
Acting (112)
- 1991 Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
as actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1975
- 1975 The Hiding Place
as Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
- 1974 Huckleberry Finn
as Col. Grangerford
- 1974 Shootout in a One-Dog Town
as Henry Gills
- 1973
- 1973 Wicked, Wicked
as Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
- 1972 The Poseidon Adventure
as John, the Chaplain
- 1972 They Only Kill Their Masters
as Ernie
- 1972
- 1972
- 1972 Ben
as Bill Hatfield
- 1972
- 1971 A Taste of Evil
as John
- 1971
- 1971 The Last Valley
as Hoffman
- 1971
- 1970
- 1970 There Was a Crooked Man...
as Mr. Lomax
- 1970 Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
as Mr. Kruft
- 1970
- 1970
- 1969 Seven in Darkness
as Larry Wise
- 1969
- 1968 If He Hollers, Let Him Go!
as Prosecutor
- 1968
- 1968 The Power
as Henry Hallson
- 1967
- 1967 The Reluctant Astronaut
as Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
- 1967
- 1967 A Covenant with Death
as Judge Hockstadter
- 1966 Fantastic Voyage
as Col. Donald Reid
- 1966 Birds Do It
as Professor Wald
- 1966 The Silencers
as Joe Wigman
- 1966 Ride Beyond Vengeance
as The Narrator
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965 The Monkey's Uncle
as Darius Green III
- 1965 The Third Day
as Dr. Wheeler
- 1965 The Great Race
as Henry Goodbody
- 1965 Nightmare in the Sun
as Sam Wilson
- 1964 Your Cheatin' Heart
as Fred Rose
- 1964 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
as Clint Stark
- 1964 Kissin' Cousins
as Pappy Tatum
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963 Marilyn
as archive footage
- 1962
- 1962 Follow That Dream
as Pop Kwimper
- 1961 Pocketful of Miracles
as Count Alfonso Romero
- 1961
- 1961 A Thunder of Drums
as Sgt. Karl Rodermill
- 1961 Misty
as Grandpa Clarence Beebe
- 1960 The Great Impostor
as Warden J.B. Chandler
- 1960 Cimarron
as Tom Wyatt
- 1960
- 1960
- 1960
- 1959 Operation Petticoat
as Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
- 1959 Hound-Dog Man
as Aaron McKinney
- 1959
- 1959 Anatomy of a Murder
as Parnell Emmett McCarthy
- 1959 Gidget
as Russell Lawrence
- 1958 Man of the West
as Sam Beasley
- 1958 Voice in the Mirror
as Bill Tobin
- 1957 The Violators
as Solomon Baumgarten
- 1957 April Love
as Jed Bruce
- 1957
- 1957
- 1957
- 1957 Operation Mad Ball
as Col. Rousch
- 1956 The Monte Carlo Story
as Mr. Homer Hinkley
- 1956
- 1956 Bus Stop
as Virgil Blessing
- 1956 The Solid Gold Cadillac
as Mark Jenkins
- 1956 The Proud Ones
as Jim Dexter
- 1956 The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
as Gordon Walker
- 1955 Picnic
as Howard Bevans
- 1955
- 1954
- 1951 The Whistle at Eaton Falls
as Jim Brewster
- 1950 Force of Evil
as Link Hall (uncredited)
- 1950 The Taming of the Shrew
as Curtis
- 1948
- 1948 The Countess of Monte Cristo
as Assistant Director Jensen
- 1948
- 1948 One Touch of Venus
as Reporter
- 1948 State of the Union
as First Reporter
- 1948 Homecoming
as Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
- 1948 The Naked City
as Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
- 1948 Open Secret
as Carter
- 1942 Hello, Annapolis
as Pharmacist Mate
- 1942 Fingers at the Window
as Photographer (uncredited)
- 1942 Blondie's Blessed Event
as Interne (uncredited)
- 1942 Canal Zone
as New Recruit (uncredited)
- 1942 Law of the Jungle
as Simmons
- 1942 Man From Headquarters
as Goldie Shores
- 1941 Citizen Kane
as Reporter (uncredited)
- 1940 Hullabaloo
as Fourth Page
- 1940
- 1940 Dr. Kildare Goes Home
as Intern (uncredited)
- 1940 The Golden Fleecing
as Cameraman (uncredited)
- 1940 Bested by a Beard
as Phil
- 1940 'Taint Legal
as Book Salesman
- 1940 I Take This Oath
as Court Clerk
- 1940 Two Girls on Broadway
as Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
- 1940 And One Was Beautiful
as Moroni's Parking Attendant
- 1939 Murder in Soho
as Lefty
Talk shows and appearances (4)
- 2022
- 1959 Startime
1 episode
- 1953 The Oscars
1 episode
- 1952 Omnibus
1 episode