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