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