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