Acting · New York City, New York, USA · Born March 29, 1908
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.
MovieWay of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies
2022
as Self - (archive footage)
MoviePreminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991
as actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
TVMedical Story
1975
as Dr. Avery Loomis
MovieThe Hiding Place
1975
as Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
MovieHuckleberry Finn
1974
as Col. Grangerford
MovieShootout in a One-Dog Town
1974
as Henry Gills
TVAdam's Rib
1973
as Judge
MovieWicked, Wicked
1973
as Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
MovieThe Poseidon Adventure
1972
as John, the Chaplain
MovieThey Only Kill Their Masters
1972
as Ernie
TVGhost Story
1972
as Chief Owen Huston
TVThe Paul Lynde Show
1972
MovieBen
1972
as Bill Hatfield
TVEmergency!
1972
MovieA Taste of Evil
1971
as John
TVCannon
1971
MovieThe Last Valley
1971
as Hoffman
TVAlias Smith and Jones
1971
TVNight Gallery
1970
MovieThere Was a Crooked Man...
1970
as Mr. Lomax
MovieSuppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
1970
as Mr. Kruft
TVMcCloud
1970
TVNanny and the Professor
1970
MovieSeven in Darkness
1969
as Larry Wise
TVRoom 222
1969
MovieIf He Hollers, Let Him Go!
1968
as Prosecutor
TVThe Name of the Game
1968
as Charlie Sherwin
MovieThe Power
1968
as Prof. Henry Hallson
TVThe Second Hundred Years
1967
as Edwin Carpenter
MovieThe Reluctant Astronaut
1967
as Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
TVIronside
1967
MovieA Covenant with Death
1967
as Judge Hockstadter
MovieFantastic Voyage
1966
as Col. Donald Reid
MovieBirds Do It
1966
as Professor Wald
MovieThe Silencers
1966
as Joe Wigman
MovieRide Beyond Vengeance
1966
as The Narrator
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Smitty
TVThe Wild Wild West
1965
TVThe Big Valley
1965
as Jubal
MovieThe Monkey's Uncle
1965
as Darius Green III
MovieThe Third Day
1965
as Dr. Wheeler
MovieThe Great Race
1965
as Henry Goodbody
MovieNightmare in the Sun
1965
as Sam Wilson
MovieYour Cheatin' Heart
1964
as Fred Rose
Movie7 Faces of Dr. Lao
1964
as Clint Stark
MovieKissin' Cousins
1964
as Pappy Tatum
TVPetticoat Junction
1963
as William Lawrence
TVBurke's Law
1963
as Dr. Stuart Alexander
TVThe Fugitive
1963
as Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
TVArrest and Trial
1963
MovieMarilyn
1963
as archive footage
TVSam Benedict
1962
MovieFollow That Dream
1962
as Pop Kwimper
MoviePocketful of Miracles
1961
as Count Alfonso Romero
TVThe New Breed
1961
as Peter Capples
MovieA Thunder of Drums
1961
as Sgt. Karl Rodermill
MovieMisty
1961
as Grandpa Clarence Beebe
MovieThe Great Impostor
1960
as Warden J.B. Chandler
MovieCimarron
1960
as Tom Wyatt
TVSpecial for Women
1960
as Joe Lawson
TVRoute 66
1960
TVMy Three Sons
1960
MovieOperation Petticoat
1959
as Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
MovieHound-Dog Man
1959
as Aaron McKinney
TVStartime
1959
as Self
TVBonanza
1959
as Dr. Samuel Hubert
MovieAnatomy of a Murder
1959
as Parnell Emmett "Parn" McCarthy
MovieGidget
1959
as Russell Lawrence
MovieMan of the West
1958
as Sam Beasley
MovieVoice in the Mirror
1958
as Bill Tobin
MovieThe Violators
1957
as Solomon Baumgarten
MovieApril Love
1957
as Jed Bruce
TVAlcoa Theatre
1957
TVDuPont Show of the Month
1957
TVWagon Train
1957
MovieOperation Mad Ball
1957
as Col. Rousch
MovieThe Monte Carlo Story
1956
as Mr. Homer Hinkley
TVDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
as Lyman
MovieBus Stop
1956
as Virgil Blessing
MovieThe Solid Gold Cadillac
1956
as Mark Jenkins
MovieThe Proud Ones
1956
as Jim Dexter
MovieThe Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
1956
as Gordon Walker
MoviePicnic
1955
as Howard Bevans
TVMatinee Theater
1955
Summer Playhouse
1954
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
TVOmnibus
1952
MovieThe Whistle at Eaton Falls
1951
as Jim Brewster
MovieForce of Evil
1950
as Link Hall (uncredited)
MovieThe Taming of the Shrew
1950
as Curtis
TVStudio One
1948
as Curtis
MovieThe Countess of Monte Cristo
1948
as Assistant Director Jensen
TVThe Philco Television Playhouse
1948
MovieOne Touch of Venus
1948
as Reporter
MovieState of the Union
1948
as First Reporter
MovieHomecoming
1948
as Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
MovieThe Naked City
1948
as Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
MovieOpen Secret
1948
as Carter
MovieHello, Annapolis
1942
as Pharmacist Mate
MovieFingers at the Window
1942
as Photographer (uncredited)
MovieBlondie's Blessed Event
1942
as Interne (uncredited)
MovieCanal Zone
1942
as New Recruit (uncredited)
MovieLaw of the Jungle
1942
as Simmons
MovieMan From Headquarters
1942
as Goldie Shores
MovieCitizen Kane
1941
as Reporter (uncredited)
MovieHullabaloo
1940
as Fourth Page
He Asked for It
1940
MovieDr. Kildare Goes Home
1940
as Intern (uncredited)
MovieThe Golden Fleecing
1940
as Cameraman (uncredited)
MovieBested by a Beard
1940
as Phil
Movie'Taint Legal
1940
as Book Salesman
MovieI Take This Oath
1940
as Court Clerk
MovieTwo Girls on Broadway
1940
as Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
MovieAnd One Was Beautiful
1940
as Moroni's Parking Attendant
MovieMurder in Soho
1939
as Lefty
