Carroll O'Connor


John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, most famous for his portrayal of the character Archie Bunker in the television sitcoms All in the Family (1971-1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983). O'Connor later starred in the television series In the Heat of the Night as Police Chief Bill Gillespie from 1988 to 1994.

Biography

O'Connor, of Irish descent, was born in The Bronx, New York and spent much of his youth in Forest Hills, Queens, the same borough in which his character Archie Bunker would later live. He served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, was educated in Montana and Ireland, and began his acting career shortly afterward. O'Connor's many film roles include Lonely Are The Brave (1962), Cleopatra (1963), In Harm's Way (1965), Hawaii (1966), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Kelly's Heroes (1970). O'Connor also appeared on episodes of many popular television series such as Gunsmoke, I Spy, The Fugitive and The Wild Wild West. He was also among the actors considered for the role of Dr. Smith in the TV show Lost In Space, as well as being the visual template in the creation of Batman foe Rupert Thorne, a character who debuted at the height of All in the Family's success in Detective Comics #469 (published May 1976 by DC Comics).

O'Connor was living in Italy in 1970 when producer Norman Lear asked him to star as Archie Bunker in a new sitcom called All in the Family. O'Connor did not expect the show to be a success and believed he would be able to move back to Europe. Instead, the show became the highest-rated television program on American television for five years until 1976.

O'Connor's own politics were liberal, but he understood the Bunker character and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. The writing on the show was consistently left of center, but O'Connor often deftly skewered the liberal pieties of the day. The result is widely considered to be an absorbing, entertaining television show. All in the Family was based on the BBC show Til Death Us Do Part, with Bunker based on Alf Garnett, but somewhat less abrasive.

Although Bunker was famous for his malapropisms of the English language, O'Connor was highly educated and cultured and was an English teacher before he turned to acting.

O'Connor married his wife Nancy in Dublin, Ireland (and she later converted to Roman Catholicism for him) in 1951, and their only child, adopted son Hugh O'Connor, committed suicide in 1995 after a long battle with drug addiction. Hugh left a widow and small child behind. O'Connor appeared in public service announcements for Partnership for a Drug Free America and spent the rest of his life working to raise awareness about drug addiction. He was instrumental in the passage of California’s Drug Dealers Civil Liability Act.

In the late 1990s, O'Connor taught screenwriting at the University of Montana, where he attended college in his earlier years. In March 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by MGM.

O'Connor died on June 21, 2001, at the age of 76 from a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes. In honor of his death, TV Land moved an entire weekend of programming to the next week and showed a continuous marathon of All in the Family. During the commercial breaks they also showed some interview footage of O'Connor and various All in the Family actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates.

Credits

Starring roles

Films/Made for TV movies

Writer

Producer

Composer

Guest starring

Misc

Archive footage featuring Carroll O'Connor

External links


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