Arthur O'Connell

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.    

Known For

Parnell Emmett McCarthy

Anatomy of a Murder

Count Alfonso Romero

Pocketful of Miracles

Col. Donald Reid

Fantastic Voyage

Interne (uncredited)

Blondie's Blessed Event

Henry Goodbody

The Great Race

Joe Wigman

The Silencers

Virgil Blessing

Bus Stop

Grandpa Clarence Beebe

Misty

Mr. Lomax

There Was a Crooked Man...

Gordon Walker

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Clint Stark

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

Bill Hatfield

Ben

Hoffman

The Last Valley

Sam Beasley

Man of the West

Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming

The Reluctant Astronaut

Pappy Tatum

Kissin' Cousins

Russell Lawrence

Gidget

Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'

The Hiding Place

Ernie

They Only Kill Their Masters

Warden J.B. Chandler

The Great Impostor

Prof. Henry Hallson

The Power

Tom Wyatt

Cimarron

Howard Bevans

Picnic

Pop Kwimper

Follow That Dream

Carter

Open Secret

Col. Grangerford

Huckleberry Finn

Intern (uncredited)

Dr. Kildare Goes Home

Fred Rose

Your Cheatin' Heart

Mark Jenkins

The Solid Gold Cadillac

Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer

Wicked, Wicked

Sgt. Karl Rodermill

A Thunder of Drums

The Narrator

Ride Beyond Vengeance

Assistant Director Jensen

The Countess of Monte Cristo

Jim Dexter

The Proud Ones

Sam Wilson

Nightmare in the Sun

Dr. Wheeler

The Third Day

Mr. Homer Hinkley

Montecarlo

Lefty

Murder in Soho

John

A Taste of Evil

Self (from Bus Stop [1956]) (archive footage)

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

Judge Hockstadter

A Covenant with Death

Goldie Shores

Man From Headquarters

Prosecutor

If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Darius Green III

The Monkey's Uncle

Mr. Kruft

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?

Bill Tobin

Voice in the Mirror

Larry Wise

Seven in Darkness

Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)

The Naked City

Jed Bruce

April Love

John, the Chaplain

The Poseidon Adventure

Simmons

Law of the Jungle

Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin

Operation Petticoat

Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)

Homecoming

Link Hall (uncredited)

Force of Evil

Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)

Two Girls on Broadway

Court Clerk

I Take This Oath

Aaron McKinney

Hound-Dog Man

Reporter

One Touch of Venus

New Recruit (uncredited)

Canal Zone

Fourth Page

Hullabaloo

Cameraman (uncredited)

The Golden Fleecing

Moroni's Parking Attendant

And One Was Beautiful

First Reporter

State of the Union

Reporter (uncredited)

Citizen Kane

Pharmacist Mate

Hello, Annapolis

Solomon Baumgarten

The Violators

Professor Wald

Birds Do It

Book Salesman

'Taint Legal

Henry Gills

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

Jim Brewster

The Whistle at Eaton Falls

Self ("Bus Stop") (archive footage) (uncredited)

Marilyn

Phil

Bested by a Beard

Photographer (uncredited)

Fingers at the Window

actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

Col. Rousch

Operation Mad Ball

He Asked for It