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