Arthur O'Connell

Arthur O'Connell Movies and TV Shows

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.    

Personal info

  • Gender: Male
  • Date of birth: 3/29/1908 (116 years old)
  • Place of birth: New York City, New York, U.S.
Year
Genre
IMDB
TMDB
Available on the following streaming services in the United States
The Poseidon Adventure
IMDB 7.1
TMDB 72%
role:
John, the Chaplain
1972

Action

Adventure

Drama

Thriller

7.1
72%
Ben
IMDB 5.3
TMDB 60%
role:
Bill Hatfield
1972

Horror

Thriller

5.3
60%
1970

Western

6.9
68%
Fantastic Voyage
IMDB 6.8
TMDB 68%
role:
Col. Donald Reid
1966

Adventure

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

6.8
68%
The Great Race
IMDB 7.2
TMDB 72%
role:
Henry Goodbody
1965

Adventure

Comedy

Family

Romance

7.2
72%
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7 Faces of Dr. Lao
IMDB 7.1
TMDB 70%
role:
Clint Stark
1964

Mystery

Western

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

7.1
70%
Pocketful of Miracles
IMDB 7.1
TMDB 74%
role:
Alfonso Romero
1961

Comedy

Drama

7.1
74%
Operation Petticoat
IMDB 7.2
TMDB 71%
role:
Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin & 1 more
1959

Action

Comedy

Romance

7.2
71%
Anatomy of a Murder
IMDB 8.0
TMDB 79%
role:
Parnell Emmett McCarthy
1959

Crime

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

8.0
79%
Man of the West
IMDB 7.1
TMDB 66%
role:
Sam Beasley
1958

Action

Drama

Romance

Western

7.1
66%
Bus Stop
IMDB 6.3
TMDB 62%
role:
Virgil Blessing
1956

Comedy

Drama

Romance

6.3
62%
Picnic
IMDB 7.0
TMDB 64%
role:
Howard Bevans
1956

Drama

Romance

7.0
64%
Force of Evil
IMDB 7.2
TMDB 67%
role:
Link Hall (uncredited)
1949

Crime

Drama

7.2
67%
Citizen Kane
IMDB 8.3
TMDB 80%
role:
Reporter (uncredited)
1941

Drama

Mystery

8.3
80%

FAQs

Some movies or TV shows available in the United States starring or involving Arthur O'Connell are, for example, The Poseidon Adventure, Ben and There Was a Crooked Man....
The streaming services with the largest selection are iTunes, Amazon and Prime Video.
The best Anystream ratings are Citizen Kane (8.2), Anatomy of a Murder (8.0) and Pocketful of Miracles (7.3).
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