Arthur Joseph O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage, film and television actor, who achieved prominence in character roles in the 1950s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both Picnic (1955) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).
Early life Arthur O'Connell was born to Julia (née Byrne) & Michael O'Connell on March 29, 1908, in Manhattan, New York. His father died when O'Connell was two, and his mother when he was 12. He was the youngest of four siblings: William, Kathleen, and Juliette. William, the eldest, became a justice of the New York State Supreme Court and died in 1972.
After his father's death, Arthur was sent to live in Flushing, New York, with his mother's sister, Mrs. Charles Koetzner, while his sisters moved in with other relatives and William remained with his mother. Arthur attended St John's College for two years. His early jobs included working in the engineering department of New York Edison, as a salesman at Macy's, and as a door-to-door salesman of magazines.
Career
Early roles O'Connell went into acting in 1929, landing a role in summer stock at the Frankin Stock Company in Dorchester, Massachusetts, playing a role in The Patsy. In 1934 his career was interrupted by a bout of encephalitis, which required a seven-month stay at the Flower Hospital in New York City. He recovered in a sanitarium for the indigent, and for a time was on home relief living in a cheap room, subsisting on "milk, raw eggs and bananas."
He made his legitimate stage debut in the middle 1930s, appearing in various roles in theater and vaudeville in the U.S, and in London.
O'Connell had small film roles early in his career. His film debut was as a student in Freshman Year (1938) and he appeared in a small role as a reporter in Citizen Kane (1941). He costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Errol's conniving brother-in-law.
He entered the U.S. Army in 1945 and served in the Signal Corps during World War II. After his discharge, he was spotted in little theatre by Charles Laughton and joined a travelling Shakespearean company. His film roles remained insubstantial, playing a detective in The Naked City (1948) and a reporter in the 1948 film State of the Union.
Picnic and success
His career breakthrough came on Broadway, where he originated the role of Howard Bevans, the middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in Picnic. He recreated the Bevans role in the 1955 film version, opposite Rosalind Russell as the schoolteacher, earning an Oscar nomination. As a result of his critically praised performance in the stage and film roles, he was heavily in demand, resulting in "six good roles in rapid succession." O'Connell made more money in one year after Picnic than in the preceding 25 years.
After Picnic, he appeared in another Joshua Logan film, Bus Stop, in 1956, as the down-to-earth friend of the lead, played by Don Murray. In that same year he appeared in Solid Gold Cadillac, playing a kindly office manager in love with Judy Holliday's assistant, Miss Shotgraven. His performance as James Stewart's alcoholic mentor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959) resulted in a second Oscar nomination.
He also frequently appeared as a father in movies starring teen idols such as Elvis Presley, Pat Boone and Fabian. He frequently played alcoholics, and consulted members of Alcoholics Anonymous in preparation for one of his roles.
In 1959, O'Connell played the part of Chief Petty Officer Sam Tostin, engine room chief of the fictional World War II submarine USS Sea Tiger, opposite Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in Operation Petticoat. In 1961, O'Connell played the role of Grandpa Clarence Beebe in the children's film Misty, the screen adaptation of Marguerite Henry's story Misty of Chincoteague. In 1962, he portrayed the father of Elvis Presley's character in the motion picture Follow That Dream, and in 1964 in the Presley-picture Kissin' Cousins. In the same year, O'Connell portrayed the idealist-turned-antagonist Clint Stark in The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which has become a cult classic, and in which O'Connell's is the only character other than star Tony Randall to appear as one of the "7 faces." O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both television and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing.
On Christmas Day, 1962, O'Connell was cast as Clayton Dodd in the episode "Green, Green Hills" of the western series Empire, starring Richard Egan as the rancher Jim Redigo. This episode features Dayton Lummis as Jason Simms and Joanna Moore as Althea Dodd. In 1966, he guest-starred as a scientist who regretfully realized that he has created an all-powerful android (played by James Darren) in an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, titled "The Mechanical Man." In the February 1967 episode "Never Look Back" of the TV series Lassie, he played Luther Jennings, an elderly ranger who monitors the survey tower at Strawberry Peak and who takes it hard when he finds he'll lose his job when the tower is slated for destruction.
In 1967, O'Connell co-starred with Monte Markham in The Second Hundred Years, playing the aging son of a gold miner who was frozen for a hundred years in Alaska. The series lasted for one season.
He worked in commercials, playing a friendly pharmacist as a spokesperson for Crest. He made his final film appearance in The Hiding Place (1975), portraying a Dutch watch-maker who hides Jews during World War II. Alzheimer's disease forced his retirement in the mid-1970s.
Personal life and death In the late 1950s, O'Connell jointly owned a race horse, April Love, with the singer Pat Boone.
In 1962, O'Connell married Ann Hall Dunlop (née Ann Byrd Hall; 1917–2000) of Washington, D.C., widow of William Laird Dunlop III (1909–1960). They met at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and divorced in December 1972 in Los Angeles.
On May 18, 1981, O'Connell died of Alzheimer's disease at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. He was interred at Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1938 Freshman Year Student Uncredited 1939 Murder in Soho Lefty 1940 And One Was Beautiful Moroni's Parking Attendant Uncredited Two Girls on Broadway Reporter at Wedding Uncredited I Take This Oath Court Clerk Uncredited The Golden Fleecing Cameraman Uncredited Dr. Kildare Goes Home New Interne Uncredited The Leather Pushers Reporter Uncredited Hullabaloo Fourth Page Uncredited1941 Lucky Devils Pilot Uncredited Citizen Kane Reporter Uncredited1942 Man from Headquarters Goldie Shores Law of the Jungle Simmons Yokel Boy Second Assistant Director Uncredited Canal Zone New Recruit Uncredited Shepherd of the Ozarks Bruce Uncredited Blondie's Blessed Event Interne Uncredited Fingers at the Window Photographer Uncredited Hello, Annapolis Pharmacist Mate Uncredited1948 Open Secret Carter The Naked City Sgt. Shaeffer Uncredited State of the Union First Reporter Uncredited Homecoming Ambulance Attendant Uncredited One Touch of Venus Reporter Uncredited The Countess of Monte Cristo Assistant Director Jensen Force of Evil Link Hall Uncredited 1950 Love That Brute Newspaperman at Funeral Uncredited 1951 The Whistle at Eaton Falls Jim Brewster 1955 Picnic Howard Bevans 1956 The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Gordon Walker The Proud Ones Jim Dexter The Solid Gold Cadillac Mark Jenkins Bus Stop Virgil Blessing The Monte Carlo Story M. Homer Hinkley 1957 Operation Mad Ball Col. Rousch The Violators Solomon Baumgarden April Love Uncle Jed Bruce 1958 Voice in the Mirror William R. 'Bill' Tobin Man of the West Sam Beasley 1959 Gidget Russell Lawrence Anatomy of a Murder Parnell Emmett McCarthy Hound-Dog Man Aaron McKinney Operation Petticoat Chief Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin 1960 Cimarron Tom Wyatt 1961 The Great Impostor Warden J.B. Chandler Misty Clarence Beebe A Thunder of Drums Sgt. Karl Rodermill Pocketful of Miracles Count Alfonso Romero 1962 Follow That Dream Pop Kwimper 1964 Kissin' Cousins Pappy Tatum 7 Faces of Dr. Lao Clint Stark Your Cheatin' Heart Fred Rose Special for Women: The Menace of Age Joe Lawson Television film1965 Nightmare in the Sun Sam Wilson The Big Valley Jubal Tanner Season 1 Episode 5 The Monkey's Uncle Darius Green III The Great Race Henry Goodbody The Third Day Dr. Wheeler 1966 Ride Beyond Vengeance The Narrator The Silencers Joe Wigman Fantastic Voyage Colonel Donald Reid Birds Do It Prof. Wald 1967 A Covenant with Death Judge Hockstadter The Reluctant Astronaut Arbuckle Fleming 1967-1968 The Second Hundred Years Edwin Carpenter TV series1968 The Power Professor Henry Hallson If He Hollers, Let Him Go! Prosecutor 1970 Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came Mr. Kruft There Was a Crooked Man... Mr. Lomax Do Not Throw Cushions Into the Ring Business Agent 1971 The Last Valley Hoffman 1972 Ben Billy Hatfield They Only Kill Their Masters Ernie The Poseidon Adventure Chaplain John 1972 The Jimmy Stewart Show Claude Peebles Episode "Old School Ties" 1973 Wicked, Wicked Mr. Fenley 1974 Huckleberry Finn Col. Grangerford 1975 Emergency!Mr. MetfortSeason 5, Episode 9 1975 The Hiding Place Caspar ten Boom
References
External links
Arthur O'Connell Papers, Loyola Marymount University