Arthur O'Connell
Acting • Born 1908-03-29 – Died 1981-05-18
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.
Filmography
115 credits
Anatomy of a Murder
Movie • 1959
Parnell Emmett "Parn" McCarthy
Pocketful of Miracles
Movie • 1961
Count Alfonso Romero
Fantastic Voyage
Movie • 1966
Col. Donald Reid
Blondie's Blessed Event
Movie • 1942
Interne (uncredited)
The Great Race
Movie • 1965
Henry Goodbody
The Silencers
Movie • 1966
Joe Wigman
Bus Stop
Movie • 1956
Virgil Blessing
Misty
Movie • 1961
Grandpa Clarence Beebe
There Was a Crooked Man...
Movie • 1970
Mr. Lomax
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Movie • 1956
Gordon Walker
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
Movie • 1964
Clint Stark
Ben
Movie • 1972
Bill Hatfield
The Last Valley
Movie • 1971
Hoffman
Man of the West
Movie • 1958
Sam Beasley
The Reluctant Astronaut
Movie • 1967
Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
Kissin' Cousins
Movie • 1964
Pappy Tatum
Gidget
Movie • 1959
Russell Lawrence
The Hiding Place
Movie • 1975
Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
They Only Kill Their Masters
Movie • 1972
Ernie
The Great Impostor
Movie • 1960
Warden J.B. Chandler
The Power
Movie • 1968
Prof. Henry Hallson
Cimarron
Movie • 1960
Tom Wyatt
Picnic
Movie • 1955
Howard Bevans
Follow That Dream
Movie • 1962
Pop Kwimper
Open Secret
Movie • 1948
Carter
Huckleberry Finn
Movie • 1974
Col. Grangerford
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Movie • 1940
Intern (uncredited)
Your Cheatin' Heart
Movie • 1964
Fred Rose
The Solid Gold Cadillac
Movie • 1956
Mark Jenkins
Wicked, Wicked
Movie • 1973
Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
A Thunder of Drums
Movie • 1961
Sgt. Karl Rodermill
Ride Beyond Vengeance
Movie • 1966
The Narrator
The Countess of Monte Cristo
Movie • 1948
Assistant Director Jensen
The Proud Ones
Movie • 1956
Jim Dexter
Nightmare in the Sun
Movie • 1965
Sam Wilson
The Third Day
Movie • 1965
Dr. Wheeler
The Monte Carlo Story
Movie • 1956
Mr. Homer Hinkley
Murder in Soho
Movie • 1939
Lefty
A Taste of Evil
Movie • 1971
John
A Covenant with Death
Movie • 1967
Judge Hockstadter
Man From Headquarters
Movie • 1942
Goldie Shores
If He Hollers, Let Him Go!
Movie • 1968
Prosecutor
The Monkey's Uncle
Movie • 1965
Darius Green III
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
Movie • 1970
Mr. Kruft
Voice in the Mirror
Movie • 1958
Bill Tobin
Seven in Darkness
Movie • 1969
Larry Wise
The Naked City
Movie • 1948
Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
April Love
Movie • 1957
Jed Bruce
The Poseidon Adventure
Movie • 1972
John, the Chaplain
Law of the Jungle
Movie • 1942
Simmons
Operation Petticoat
Movie • 1959
Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
Homecoming
Movie • 1948
Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
Force of Evil
Movie • 1950
Link Hall (uncredited)
Two Girls on Broadway
Movie • 1940
Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
I Take This Oath
Movie • 1940
Court Clerk
Hound-Dog Man
Movie • 1959
Aaron McKinney
One Touch of Venus
Movie • 1948
Reporter
Canal Zone
Movie • 1942
New Recruit (uncredited)
Hullabaloo
Movie • 1940
Fourth Page
The Golden Fleecing
Movie • 1940
Cameraman (uncredited)
And One Was Beautiful
Movie • 1940
Moroni's Parking Attendant
State of the Union
Movie • 1948
First Reporter
Citizen Kane
Movie • 1941
Reporter (uncredited)
Hello, Annapolis
Movie • 1942
Pharmacist Mate
The Violators
Movie • 1957
Solomon Baumgarten
Birds Do It
Movie • 1966
Professor Wald
'Taint Legal
Movie • 1940
Book Salesman
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
Movie • 1974
Henry Gills
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Movie • 1951
Jim Brewster
Bested by a Beard
Movie • 1940
Phil
Fingers at the Window
Movie • 1942
Photographer (uncredited)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Movie • 1991
actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Operation Mad Ball
Movie • 1957
Col. Rousch
He Asked for It
Movie • 1940
Way of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies
Movie • 2022
Self - (archive footage)
The Taming of the Shrew
Movie • 1950
Curtis
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Dr. Stuart Alexander
My Three Sons
TV • 1960
The F.B.I.
TV • 1965
Smitty
Route 66
TV • 1960
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
Omnibus
TV • 1952
Petticoat Junction
TV • 1963
William Lawrence
Room 222
TV • 1969
Arrest and Trial
TV • 1963
Studio One
TV • 1948
Curtis
Night Gallery
TV • 1970
Emergency!
TV • 1972
Cannon
TV • 1971
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams
Ironside
TV • 1967
Sam Benedict
TV • 1962
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV • 1963
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
Nanny and the Professor
TV • 1970
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Samuel Cole
McCloud
TV • 1970
Alcoa Theatre
TV • 1957
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Jubal
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
The Paul Lynde Show
TV • 1972
The Second Hundred Years
TV • 1967
Edwin Carpenter
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
The New Breed
TV • 1961
Peter Capples
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Lyman
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Summer Playhouse
TV • 1954
Ghost Story
TV • 1972
Chief Owen Huston
Adam's Rib
TV • 1973
Judge
The Name of the Game
TV • 1968
Charlie Sherwin
Studio One
TV • 1948
Manachi Conners
DuPont Show of the Month
TV • 1957
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Jim Elkins
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Grant
Bonanza
TV • 1959
Dr. Samuel Hubert