Carroll O'Connor
Encyclopedia
John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer
and director
whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 movie Kelly's Heroes
, he later found fame as the bigoted working man Archie Bunker
, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcom
s All in the Family
(1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place
(1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the NBC
/CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night
from 1988 to 1995, where he played the role of southern Police Chief William (Bill) Gillespie. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt
) on Mad About You
.
In 1996, Carroll O'Connor was ranked #38 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
, was the eldest of three sons born in Manhattan
, New York
, to Elise Patricia and Edward Joseph O'Connor, who was a New York City
lawyer. Both of his brothers were doctors: Hugh, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1961, and Robert, a psychiatrist
in New York City. O'Connor spent much of his youth in Elmhurst
and Forest Hills, Queens
, in the same borough in which his character Archie Bunker would later live. In 1941 O'Connor enrolled at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, but dropped out when the United States entered World War II. During World War II
he was rejected by the United States Navy
and enrolled in the United States Merchant Marine Academy
for a short time. After leaving that institution, he became a merchant seaman.
O'Connor attended the University of Montana-Missoula where he met Nancy Fields, who would later become his wife. He also worked at the Montana Kaimin student newspaper as an editor. At the U of M, O'Connor joined Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity
. At that time, however, O'Connor did not take any drama courses as an undergraduate. O'Connor later left U of M to help his younger brother Hugh get into medical school
in Ireland, where he completed his studies at the University College Dublin
. It was there that he began acting in Theatre
.
After he graduated from the University of Montana in 1951 with degrees in drama and English, O'Connor's fiancée, Nancy, sailed to Ireland to meet O'Connor. The couple was married there on July 28, 1951. In 1956, O'Connor returned to Missoula to earn a master's degree
in speech.
(assisted by John Astin
) in a featured role in the Broadway adaptation of James Joyce
's novel Ulysses
. O'Connor and Meredith remained close, lifelong friends.
O'Connor made his television acting debut as a character actor
on two episodes of Sunday Showcase. These two parts led to other roles on television series such as Gunsmoke
, The Eleventh Hour
, I Spy, Bonanza
, The Fugitive
, The Wild Wild West
, Armstrong Circle Theatre
, The Americans, Death Valley Days
, Alcoa Premiere, The Great Adventure
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, Slattery's People
, Dr. Kildare
, That Girl
, Premiere, among many others. During his later career, he guest-starred on Mad About You
, alongside veteran television personality Carol Burnett
.
and 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 Familys success in Detective Comics
#469 (published May 1976 by DC Comics
).
All in the Family O'Connor was living in Italy
in 1968 when producer Norman Lear
first asked him to come to New York to star in a pilot he was creating for ABC called Justice For All, with O'Connor playing Archie Justice, a loveable yet controversial bigot. After three pilots done between 1968 to 1970, a network change to CBS, and the last name of the character changed to Bunker, the new sitcom was renamed All in the Family. The show was based on the BBC
's Til Death Us Do Part, with Bunker based on Alf Garnett
, but somewhat less abrasive than the original. It has been stated that O'Connor's Queens background and New York accent influenced Lear to set the show in Queens.
Wanting a well-known actor to tackle the controversial material, Lear had approached Jackie Gleason
and Mickey Rooney
to play Archie; both declined. O'Connor accepted, not expecting the show to be a success and believing he would be able to move back to Europe. (In her book Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria : the Tumultuous History of All in the Family, Donna McCrohan noted that O'Connor requested that Lear provide him with a return airline ticket to Rome as a condition of his accepting the role, so that he could return to Italy when the show failed.) Instead, the show became the highest-rated television program on American television for five consecutive seasons until the 1976-1977 season (the sixth season). The Cosby Show has since met the record set by All in the Family.
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. Although Bunker was famous for his malapropism
s of the English language
, O'Connor was highly educated and cultured and was an English professor before he turned to acting.
The show also starred a Broadway
actress, also from New York City
, Jean Stapleton, in the role of Archie Bunker
's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker
, after Lear saw her in the play Damn Yankees
. The producer sent the show over to ABC
twice, but it didn't get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, All in the Family
was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actor
s, such as Rob Reiner
as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic and Sally Struthers
as Archie and Edith's only child and Meathead's wife, Gloria Bunker-Stivic. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best friend and favorite actor.
CBS was unsure whether the controversial subject matter of All in the Family would fit well into a sitcom. Racial issues, ethnicities, religions, and other timely topics were addressed. Thought-provoking, well-written, and well-cast, the show transformed the sitcom format into something with dramatic social substance. Archie Bunker's popularity made O'Connor a top-billing star of the 1970s. O'Connor was afraid of being typecast for playing the role, but at the same time, he was protective of not just his character, but of the entire show.
A contract dispute between O'Connor and Lear marred the beginning of the show's fifth season. Eventually, O'Connor got a raise and appeared in the series until it ended. For his work as Archie Bunker, he was nominated for eight Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; he won the award four times (1972, 1977, 1978, and 1979).
At the end of the eighth season in 1978, Reiner and Struthers left the series to pursue other projects, but O'Connor and Stapleton still had one year left on their contracts. At the start of the final year, the show cast a child actress, Danielle Brisebois
, in the role of Archie's and Edith's niece, Stephanie Mills
. The series was finally cancelled in 1979 after nine seasons and 210 episodes.
, but her screen time was limited. Her character died of a stroke, leaving Archie to cope with the loss. Danielle Brisebois played Stephanie Mills, Archie's niece in the series. The show was a hit, but not as big as its parent show. The show was unexpectedly canceled in 1983, after 97 episodes, and O'Connor was furious that the show didn't have an appropriate series finale
, furious to the point that he pledged never to work for CBS again. All told, he played Archie Bunker
for 13 years in 307 episodes.
, Police Chief Bill Gillespie, a tough veteran Mississippi
cop on In the Heat of the Night
. Based on the 1967 movie of the same name, the series debuted on NBC
early in 1988 and performed well. He cast his son Hugh O'Connor
as Officer Lonnie Jamison. The headquarters of the Sparta Police Department was actually a renovated storefront in Hammond, Louisiana
.
Much like O'Connor himself, Gillespie was racially progressive and politically liberal. But the character of Bill Gillespie was also a smart and tough police officer who was not afraid to use his gun when the occasion called for it.
In 1989, while working on the set, O'Connor was hospitalized and had to undergo open heart surgery, which caused him to miss four episodes at the end of the second season (actor Joe Don Baker
took his place in those episodes as an acting police chief.) The series was transferred from NBC to CBS in 1992 and cancelled two years later, after its seventh season. O'Connor reprised his role the following year for four two-hour In the Heat of the Night television films to critical acclaim .
While on the series, O'Connor recorded "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella," for the 1991 "In the Heat of the Night" Christmas CD "Christmas Time's A Comin'." He was joined by Grand Ole Opry star mandolinist Jesse McReynolds
, Nashville accordionist Abe Manuel, Jr., and Nashville fiddlers Buddy Spicher
and Randall Franks
. CD Producer and series co-star Randall Franks
created the arrangement which was co-produced by series co-star Alan Autry
. He joined other members of the cast for a recording of "Jingle Bells" with vocals by Country Music Hall of Fame members Little Jimmy Dickens
, Kitty Wells
, Pee Wee King
, and The Marksmen Quartet
, Bobby Wright, Johnnie Wright and Ken Holloway.
In July 1991, O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner
and Sally Struthers
were reunited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of All in the Family, which made its debut on CBS. Thanks to rerun
s which aired in syndication
, TV Land
and on CBS, the show continued to be popular. Those reruns led producer Norman Lear
to create a new sitcom, Sunday Dinner
, which was soon cancelled. The following year, Lear created The Powers That Be
, which was also unsuccessful.
In March 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by MGM.
His caricature figures prominently in Sardi's
restaurant, in New York City
's Theater District.
, filming Cleopatra
, O'Connor and his wife adopted a six day old boy, naming him Hugh
after O'Connor's brother who had died a year earlier. 17-year-old Hugh later worked as a courier on the set of Archie Bunker's Place. O'Connor would eventually create the role of Officer Lonnie Jamison on In the Heat of the Night for his son.
In 1989, O'Connor's long time cigar smoking finally caught up with him. He was admitted to the hospital for heart bypass surgery.
In 1995, O'Connor's son Hugh committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction. Following his son's death, 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. O'Connor also successfully lobbied to get the State of California to pass legislation allowing family members of an addicted person or anyone injured by a drug dealer's actions, including employers, to sue for reimbursement for medical treatment and rehabilitation costs. The law, known as the Drug Dealer Civil Liability Act in California, went into effect in 1997. Eleven other states followed with similar legislation, which has been referred to as The Hugh O'Connor Memorial Law.
During the late 1990s, O'Connor established a small automotive restoration shop in Newbury Park, California. Called "Carroll O'Connor Classics" the shop contained many of O'Connor's personal vehicles and the cars once owned by his late son. Among the cars O'Connor owned were a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sold to him by William Harrah, a Maserati 3500 GT, and a Dodge Challenger equipped with the 440-cubic inch V-8 that was the car he drove during production of All In The Family.
In 1997, the O'Connors donated $1 million to their alma mater to help match a challenge grant to the University of Montana from the National Endowment for the Humanities
. The university named a regional studies and public policy institute the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Afterward, O'Connor taught screenwriting
at the university.
In 1998 O'Connor underwent a second surgery to clear the blockage in a cardiac artery, to reduce his risk of stroke.
from a heart attack
brought on by complications from diabetes. His funeral mass
was celebrated at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, Los Angeles, California
and was attended by All in the Family
cast members Rob Reiner
, Sally Struthers
and Danielle Brisebois
, as well as producer Norman Lear
. Actress Jean Stapleton, who played O'Connor's onscreen wife and who had been a close friend of O'Connor's since the early 1960s, did not attend the service due to a stage production performance commitment.
In honor of O'Connor's career, 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 TV Land also showed interview footage of O'Connor and various All in the Family actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates. O'Connor's best friend Larry Hagman
and his family were also there, alongside the surviving cast of In the Heat of the Night
, including Alan Autry
and Denise Nicholas
, who also attended the memorial. O'Connor was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
with his son Hugh's cenotaph
placed on his grave stone.
and character actress Jean Stapleton in a 1962 episode of The Defenders. Nine years later, she auditioned for the role of Archie's wife Edith in All in the Family
. She and O'Connor shared a remarkable husband and wife chemistry for the next decade. She made limited guest appearances on its later spin-off
show, Archie Bunker's Place
, before leaving in the show's second season. During Stapleton's run as Edith Bunker
, she and O'Connor became close friends. She was distressed in 1995, as she bestowed her condolences on the passing of Carroll's son, Hugh, who committed suicide. She remained close and supportive while O'Connor was in court to testify concerning his son's death. Then on the first day of Summer in 2001, while performing on stage, she received word that her friend had died. Though she was unable to attend the service, she delivered her condolences to Nancy.
O'Connor had a long-running friendship with actor Larry Hagman
, beginning in 1959, when Carroll was working as an assistant stage manager for the Broadway
play God and Kate Murphy, in which Hagman starred. Later as the two struggled as young actors, they rented apartments near each other in New York
. Over the years they had a lot in common; just as O'Connor concluded contract negotiations for his salary on All in the Family, in 1974, missing two episodes, Hagman eventually found himself re-negotiating his salary on Dallas
, with similar results. Hagman's daughter, Heidi, whom O'Connor had known since her childhood, joined the cast for one season of Archie Bunker's Place
. Hagman directed several episodes of O'Connor's later series, In the Heat of the Night. They both endured serious health issues, with O'Connor's heart bypass surgery, and Hagman's liver transplant. Hagman remained close after O'Connor's loss of his son Hugh, and through the rest of O'Connor's life, delivering a eulogy
at the funeral.
"It was a lack of system that made the '30s Depression as inevitable as all others previously suffered."
"Get between your kid and drug
s, any way you can, if you want to save the kid's life".
"I thought that the public would kick us off the air, because of this egregious guy. No. They loved ... they knew him."
On his son: "I should have spied on him. I should've taken away all his civil rights, spied on him, opened his mail, listened to telephone calls, everything."
"I never heard Archie's kind of talk in my own family. My father was a lawyer and was in partnership with two Jews, who with their families were close to us. There were black families in our circle of friends. My father disliked talk like Archie's—he called it lowbrow."
"The biggest part of my life was the acquiring and the loss of a son. I mean, nothing else was as important as that."
"Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire."
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 movie Kelly's Heroes
Kelly's Heroes
Kelly's Heroes is an offbeat 1970 comedy/war film about a group of World War II soldiers who go AWOL to rob a bank behind enemy lines. Directed by Brian G...
, he later found fame as the bigoted working man Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
s All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
(1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom originally broadcast on the CBS network, conceived in 1979 as a spin-off and continuation of All in the Family. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons, until its cancellation in 1983...
(1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
/CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
from 1988 to 1995, where he played the role of southern Police Chief William (Bill) Gillespie. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
) on Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
.
In 1996, Carroll O'Connor was ranked #38 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Early life
O'Connor, an Irish AmericanIrish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, was the eldest of three sons born in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, to Elise Patricia and Edward Joseph O'Connor, who was a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
lawyer. Both of his brothers were doctors: Hugh, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1961, and Robert, a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
in New York City. O'Connor spent much of his youth in Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
and Forest Hills, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, in the same borough in which his character Archie Bunker would later live. In 1941 O'Connor enrolled at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, but dropped out when the United States entered World War II. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was rejected by the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and enrolled in the United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...
for a short time. After leaving that institution, he became a merchant seaman.
O'Connor attended the University of Montana-Missoula where he met Nancy Fields, who would later become his wife. He also worked at the Montana Kaimin student newspaper as an editor. At the U of M, O'Connor joined Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
. At that time, however, O'Connor did not take any drama courses as an undergraduate. O'Connor later left U of M to help his younger brother Hugh get into medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
in Ireland, where he completed his studies at the University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
. It was there that he began acting in Theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
.
After he graduated from the University of Montana in 1951 with degrees in drama and English, O'Connor's fiancée, Nancy, sailed to Ireland to meet O'Connor. The couple was married there on July 28, 1951. In 1956, O'Connor returned to Missoula to earn a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in speech.
Prolific character actor
After acting in theatrical productions in Dublin (Ireland) and New York during the 1950s, O'Connor's breakthrough came when he was cast by director Burgess MeredithBurgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
(assisted by John Astin
John Astin
John Allen Astin is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, and other similarly eccentric comedic characters.-Early years:...
) in a featured role in the Broadway adaptation of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's novel Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
. O'Connor and Meredith remained close, lifelong friends.
O'Connor made his television acting debut as a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
on two episodes of Sunday Showcase. These two parts led to other roles on television series such as Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
, I Spy, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, Armstrong Circle Theatre
Armstrong Circle Theatre
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from 1950 to 1957 on NBC, and then until 1963 on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour.-Synopsis:...
, The Americans, Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
, Alcoa Premiere, The Great Adventure
The Great Adventure (TV series)
The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, hosted each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented each week a one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important...
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, Slattery's People
Slattery's People
Slattery's People is a 1964-1965 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was...
, Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
, That Girl
That Girl
That Girl is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. It stars Marlo Thomas as the title character, Ann Marie, an aspiring actress, who had moved from her hometown of Brewster, New York to make it big in New York City...
, Premiere, among many others. During his later career, he guest-starred on Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
, alongside veteran television personality Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
.
Considered roles
He was also among the actors considered for the roles of The Skipper on Gilligan's IslandGilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
and Dr. Smith in the TV show Lost In Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
, as well as being the visual template in the creation of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
foe Rupert Thorne
Rupert Thorne
Rupert Thorne is a fictional character, a crime boss and enemy of Batman in the DC Comics universe. Created by Steve Englehart and Walter Simonson, the character first appeared in Detective Comics #469.-Fictional character biography:...
, a character who debuted at the height of All in the Familys success in Detective Comics
Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
#469 (published May 1976 by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
).
All in the Family O'Connor was living in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1968 when producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
first asked him to come to New York to star in a pilot he was creating for ABC called Justice For All, with O'Connor playing Archie Justice, a loveable yet controversial bigot. After three pilots done between 1968 to 1970, a network change to CBS, and the last name of the character changed to Bunker, the new sitcom was renamed All in the Family. The show was based on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Til Death Us Do Part, with Bunker based on Alf Garnett
Alf Garnett
Alf Garnett is a fictional character in the British sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part, Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health, and chat show The Thoughts of Chairman Alf. He was created by Johnny Speight and played by Warren Mitchell....
, but somewhat less abrasive than the original. It has been stated that O'Connor's Queens background and New York accent influenced Lear to set the show in Queens.
Wanting a well-known actor to tackle the controversial material, Lear had approached Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
and Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
to play Archie; both declined. O'Connor accepted, not expecting the show to be a success and believing he would be able to move back to Europe. (In her book Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria : the Tumultuous History of All in the Family, Donna McCrohan noted that O'Connor requested that Lear provide him with a return airline ticket to Rome as a condition of his accepting the role, so that he could return to Italy when the show failed.) Instead, the show became the highest-rated television program on American television for five consecutive seasons until the 1976-1977 season (the sixth season). The Cosby Show has since met the record set by All in the Family.
O'Connor's own politics were liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, 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. Although Bunker was famous for his malapropism
Malapropism
A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...
s of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, O'Connor was highly educated and cultured and was an English professor before he turned to acting.
The show also starred a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress, also from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Jean Stapleton, in the role of Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on All in the Family , played by Jean Stapleton. She was the wife of Archie Bunker , mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and, after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic...
, after Lear saw her in the play Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
. The producer sent the show over to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
twice, but it didn't get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s, such as Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic and Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
as Archie and Edith's only child and Meathead's wife, Gloria Bunker-Stivic. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best friend and favorite actor.
CBS was unsure whether the controversial subject matter of All in the Family would fit well into a sitcom. Racial issues, ethnicities, religions, and other timely topics were addressed. Thought-provoking, well-written, and well-cast, the show transformed the sitcom format into something with dramatic social substance. Archie Bunker's popularity made O'Connor a top-billing star of the 1970s. O'Connor was afraid of being typecast for playing the role, but at the same time, he was protective of not just his character, but of the entire show.
A contract dispute between O'Connor and Lear marred the beginning of the show's fifth season. Eventually, O'Connor got a raise and appeared in the series until it ended. For his work as Archie Bunker, he was nominated for eight Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; he won the award four times (1972, 1977, 1978, and 1979).
At the end of the eighth season in 1978, Reiner and Struthers left the series to pursue other projects, but O'Connor and Stapleton still had one year left on their contracts. At the start of the final year, the show cast a child actress, Danielle Brisebois
Danielle Brisebois
Danielle Anne Brisebois is an American actress, producer, songwriter and singer. In the 1990s she recorded two solo albums, Arrive All Over You and Portable Life, and was a member of the New Radicals...
, in the role of Archie's and Edith's niece, Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills (All in the Family)
Stephanie Mills was a character on the 1970s American television situation comedy All in the Family and the follow-up series, Archie Bunker's Place....
. The series was finally cancelled in 1979 after nine seasons and 210 episodes.
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place ran for 4 years. Longtime friend and original series star Jean Stapleton reprised her role as Edith BunkerEdith Bunker
Edith Bunker is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on All in the Family , played by Jean Stapleton. She was the wife of Archie Bunker , mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and, after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic...
, but her screen time was limited. Her character died of a stroke, leaving Archie to cope with the loss. Danielle Brisebois played Stephanie Mills, Archie's niece in the series. The show was a hit, but not as big as its parent show. The show was unexpectedly canceled in 1983, after 97 episodes, and O'Connor was furious that the show didn't have an appropriate series finale
Series finale
A series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, furious to the point that he pledged never to work for CBS again. All told, he played Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
for 13 years in 307 episodes.
In the Heat of the Night
While coping with his son's drug problem, O'Connor starred as Sparta, MississippiSparta, Mississippi
Sparta is a small unincorporated community in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States, in the northeastern part of the state.A fictionalized Sparta was featured in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night and the television series in the 1980s and '90s. This fictional version of Sparta differs...
, Police Chief Bill Gillespie, a tough veteran Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
cop on In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
. Based on the 1967 movie of the same name, the series debuted on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
early in 1988 and performed well. He cast his son Hugh O'Connor
Hugh O'Connor
Not to be confused with Hugo Oconór.Hugh Edward Ralph O'Connor was an American actor. The son of actor Carroll O'Connor, he portrayed Det./ Lt. Lonnie Jamison on the television drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988-1995. O'Connor committed suicide in 1995. - Biography...
as Officer Lonnie Jamison. The headquarters of the Sparta Police Department was actually a renovated storefront in Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
.
Much like O'Connor himself, Gillespie was racially progressive and politically liberal. But the character of Bill Gillespie was also a smart and tough police officer who was not afraid to use his gun when the occasion called for it.
In 1989, while working on the set, O'Connor was hospitalized and had to undergo open heart surgery, which caused him to miss four episodes at the end of the second season (actor Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
took his place in those episodes as an acting police chief.) The series was transferred from NBC to CBS in 1992 and cancelled two years later, after its seventh season. O'Connor reprised his role the following year for four two-hour In the Heat of the Night television films to critical acclaim .
While on the series, O'Connor recorded "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella," for the 1991 "In the Heat of the Night" Christmas CD "Christmas Time's A Comin'." He was joined by Grand Ole Opry star mandolinist Jesse McReynolds
Jesse McReynolds
Jesse Lester McReynolds is an American bluegrass musician. He is known for his innovative crosspicking and split-string styles of mandolin playing, and is a forty two year member of the Grand Ole Opry...
, Nashville accordionist Abe Manuel, Jr., and Nashville fiddlers Buddy Spicher
Buddy Spicher
Buddy Spicher is an American fiddle player.Spicher started in the late 50s as part of the backing band for Audrey Williams, the widow of Hank Williams, later with Hank Snow, the Charles River Valley Boys....
and Randall Franks
Randall Franks
Randall Franks is an award-winning bluegrass singer and musician who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar and mountain dulcimer. He was recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in 2010 as a Bluegrass Legend; inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and was designated...
. CD Producer and series co-star Randall Franks
Randall Franks
Randall Franks is an award-winning bluegrass singer and musician who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar and mountain dulcimer. He was recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in 2010 as a Bluegrass Legend; inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and was designated...
created the arrangement which was co-produced by series co-star Alan Autry
Alan Autry
Carlos Alan Autry is an American actor, politician, and former National Football League football player. He is best known for his role as Captain Bubba Skinner on the television series In the Heat of the Night; he also has been in numerous movies and other television shows...
. He joined other members of the cast for a recording of "Jingle Bells" with vocals by Country Music Hall of Fame members Little Jimmy Dickens
Little Jimmy Dickens
James Cecil Dickens , better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, is an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4'11" , and his rhinestone-studded outfits...
, Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason , known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star...
, Pee Wee King
Pee Wee King
Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski , known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "The Tennessee Waltz"....
, and The Marksmen Quartet
The Marksmen Quartet
The Marksmen Quartet of Murrayville, Georgia. originated in 1967 as a Southern gospel quartet under the direction of Dr. Earle Wheeler. Through the years, the group's styles moved to bluegrass gospel and country gospel....
, Bobby Wright, Johnnie Wright and Ken Holloway.
Career honors
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, 1972, All in the FamilyAll in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, 1971, 1976, 1977, and 1978, All in the Family
- George Foster Peabody Broadcasting AwardPeabody AwardThe George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, 1980, for Archie Alone episode, Archie Bunker's Place - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, 1989, In the Heat of the Night
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination 1990, In the Heat of the Night
- Television Hall of FameTelevision Hall of FameThe Television Academy Hall of Fame was founded by a former president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the late John H. Mitchell , to honor individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to television....
, elected 1990 for contributions to the television industry - NAACP Image AwardNAACP Image AwardAn NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
, 1992, In the Heat of the Night'Best Dramatic Series - NAACP Image AwardNAACP Image AwardAn NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
, 1993, In the Heat of the Night'Best Dramatc Series
Other honors
In 1973, his fraternity conferred its highest honor, Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation, on him.In July 1991, O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
and Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
were reunited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of All in the Family, which made its debut on CBS. Thanks to rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s which aired in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
, TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
and on CBS, the show continued to be popular. Those reruns led producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
to create a new sitcom, Sunday Dinner
Sunday Dinner (TV series)
Sunday Dinner is a short-lived 1991 CBS sitcom produced by Norman Lear, which marked his return to TV after an absence of several years. It ran as a summer entry on CBS' lineup from June 2, 1991 until July 7, 1991...
, which was soon cancelled. The following year, Lear created The Powers That Be
The Powers That Be (TV series)
The Powers That Be is a United States television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman that aired briefly on NBC from 1992 to 1993. Norman Lear served as executive producer for the show.-Plot:...
, which was also unsuccessful.
In March 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by MGM.
His caricature figures prominently in Sardi's
Sardi's
Sardi's is a restaurant in New York City's theater district at 234 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Known for the hundreds of caricatures of show-business celebrities that adorn its walls, Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927....
restaurant, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Theater District.
Later life
In 1962, while he was in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, filming Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
, O'Connor and his wife adopted a six day old boy, naming him Hugh
Hugh O'Connor
Not to be confused with Hugo Oconór.Hugh Edward Ralph O'Connor was an American actor. The son of actor Carroll O'Connor, he portrayed Det./ Lt. Lonnie Jamison on the television drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988-1995. O'Connor committed suicide in 1995. - Biography...
after O'Connor's brother who had died a year earlier. 17-year-old Hugh later worked as a courier on the set of Archie Bunker's Place. O'Connor would eventually create the role of Officer Lonnie Jamison on In the Heat of the Night for his son.
In 1989, O'Connor's long time cigar smoking finally caught up with him. He was admitted to the hospital for heart bypass surgery.
In 1995, O'Connor's son Hugh committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction. Following his son's death, 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. O'Connor also successfully lobbied to get the State of California to pass legislation allowing family members of an addicted person or anyone injured by a drug dealer's actions, including employers, to sue for reimbursement for medical treatment and rehabilitation costs. The law, known as the Drug Dealer Civil Liability Act in California, went into effect in 1997. Eleven other states followed with similar legislation, which has been referred to as The Hugh O'Connor Memorial Law.
During the late 1990s, O'Connor established a small automotive restoration shop in Newbury Park, California. Called "Carroll O'Connor Classics" the shop contained many of O'Connor's personal vehicles and the cars once owned by his late son. Among the cars O'Connor owned were a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sold to him by William Harrah, a Maserati 3500 GT, and a Dodge Challenger equipped with the 440-cubic inch V-8 that was the car he drove during production of All In The Family.
In 1997, the O'Connors donated $1 million to their alma mater to help match a challenge grant to the University of Montana from the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
. The university named a regional studies and public policy institute the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Afterward, O'Connor taught screenwriting
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
at the university.
In 1998 O'Connor underwent a second surgery to clear the blockage in a cardiac artery, to reduce his risk of stroke.
Death
O'Connor died on June 21, 2001 in Culver City, CaliforniaCulver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
brought on by complications from diabetes. His funeral mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
was celebrated at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles .-History:...
and was attended by All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
cast members Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
, Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
and Danielle Brisebois
Danielle Brisebois
Danielle Anne Brisebois is an American actress, producer, songwriter and singer. In the 1990s she recorded two solo albums, Arrive All Over You and Portable Life, and was a member of the New Radicals...
, as well as producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
. Actress Jean Stapleton, who played O'Connor's onscreen wife and who had been a close friend of O'Connor's since the early 1960s, did not attend the service due to a stage production performance commitment.
In honor of O'Connor's career, TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
moved an entire weekend of programming to the next week and showed a continuous marathon of All in the Family. During the commercial breaks TV Land also showed interview footage of O'Connor and various All in the Family actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates. O'Connor's best friend Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
and his family were also there, alongside the surviving cast of In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
, including Alan Autry
Alan Autry
Carlos Alan Autry is an American actor, politician, and former National Football League football player. He is best known for his role as Captain Bubba Skinner on the television series In the Heat of the Night; he also has been in numerous movies and other television shows...
and Denise Nicholas
Denise Nicholas
Denise Nicholas is an American actress and social activist who was involved in the American Civil Rights Movement...
, who also attended the memorial. O'Connor was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
with his son Hugh's cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
placed on his grave stone.
Friendship with other actors
O'Connor met BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and character actress Jean Stapleton in a 1962 episode of The Defenders. Nine years later, she auditioned for the role of Archie's wife Edith in All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
. She and O'Connor shared a remarkable husband and wife chemistry for the next decade. She made limited guest appearances on its later spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
show, Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom originally broadcast on the CBS network, conceived in 1979 as a spin-off and continuation of All in the Family. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons, until its cancellation in 1983...
, before leaving in the show's second season. During Stapleton's run as Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on All in the Family , played by Jean Stapleton. She was the wife of Archie Bunker , mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and, after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic...
, she and O'Connor became close friends. She was distressed in 1995, as she bestowed her condolences on the passing of Carroll's son, Hugh, who committed suicide. She remained close and supportive while O'Connor was in court to testify concerning his son's death. Then on the first day of Summer in 2001, while performing on stage, she received word that her friend had died. Though she was unable to attend the service, she delivered her condolences to Nancy.
O'Connor had a long-running friendship with actor Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
, beginning in 1959, when Carroll was working as an assistant stage manager for the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
play God and Kate Murphy, in which Hagman starred. Later as the two struggled as young actors, they rented apartments near each other in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Over the years they had a lot in common; just as O'Connor concluded contract negotiations for his salary on All in the Family, in 1974, missing two episodes, Hagman eventually found himself re-negotiating his salary on Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, with similar results. Hagman's daughter, Heidi, whom O'Connor had known since her childhood, joined the cast for one season of Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom originally broadcast on the CBS network, conceived in 1979 as a spin-off and continuation of All in the Family. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons, until its cancellation in 1983...
. Hagman directed several episodes of O'Connor's later series, In the Heat of the Night. They both endured serious health issues, with O'Connor's heart bypass surgery, and Hagman's liver transplant. Hagman remained close after O'Connor's loss of his son Hugh, and through the rest of O'Connor's life, delivering a eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
at the funeral.
Personal quotes
"Nothing will give me any peace. I've lost a son. And I'll go to my grave without any peace over that.""It was a lack of system that made the '30s Depression as inevitable as all others previously suffered."
"Get between your kid and drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, any way you can, if you want to save the kid's life".
"I thought that the public would kick us off the air, because of this egregious guy. No. They loved ... they knew him."
On his son: "I should have spied on him. I should've taken away all his civil rights, spied on him, opened his mail, listened to telephone calls, everything."
"I never heard Archie's kind of talk in my own family. My father was a lawyer and was in partnership with two Jews, who with their families were close to us. There were black families in our circle of friends. My father disliked talk like Archie's—he called it lowbrow."
"The biggest part of my life was the acquiring and the loss of a son. I mean, nothing else was as important as that."
"Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire."
Starring roles
- All in the FamilyAll in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
(1971–1979) as Archie Bunker (Salary $200,000 per episode) - Archie Bunker's PlaceArchie Bunker's PlaceArchie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom originally broadcast on the CBS network, conceived in 1979 as a spin-off and continuation of All in the Family. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons, until its cancellation in 1983...
(1979–1983) as Archie Bunker (Salary $250,000 per episode) - In the Heat of the NightIn the Heat of the Night (TV series)In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
(1988–1994) as Chief/Sheriff Bill Gillespie - Mad About YouMad About YouMad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
(1996–1999) Gus Stemple #3
Films/made for television films
- White ChristmasWhite Christmas (film)White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
(1954) .... The Sheriff - Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar as Crassus (1956)
- The Sacco-Vanzetti Story (TV mini-series) (1960) as Frederick Katzman
- By Love Possessed (1961) .... Bernie Breck
- Parrish (1961) .... Firechief
- A Fever in the Blood (1961) .... Matt Keenan
- Lad: A Dog (1962) as Hamilcar Q. Glure
- Belle Sommers (TV) (1962)
- Lonely Are the BraveLonely are the BraveLonely are the Brave is a 1962 film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy. It stars Kirk Douglas as cowboy Jack Burns, Gena Rowlands as his best friend's wife, and Walter Matthau as a sheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down...
(1962) Hinton the Truck Driver - The Silver Burro (TV) (1963)
- CleopatraCleopatra (1963 film)Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
(1963) as Casca - Nightmare in Chicago aka Once Upon a Savage Night (TV) (1964)
- In Harm's WayIn Harm's WayIn Harm's Way is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.It was the last black-and-white...
(1965) (uncredited) .... *Cmdr./Capt. Burke (USS Swayback) - The Last Patrol episode of The Time TunnelThe Time TunnelThe Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
(1966) as British General Southall and Colonel Southall, his 1815 ancestor - Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966) as Gen. Maynard C. Parker
- HawaiiHawaii (film)Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands...
(1966) as Charles Bromley - What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) as Gen. Bolt
- Waterhole #3Waterhole (film)Waterhole #3 is a 1967 Western comedy film directed by William A. Graham. It is considered to be a comic remake of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly....
(1967) as Sheriff John H. Copperud - Point Blank (1967) as Brewster
- Warning Shot (1967) as Paul Jerez
- For Love of Ivy (1968) as Frank Austin
- The Devil's BrigadeThe Devil's Brigade (film)The Devil's Brigade is a 1968 American war film based on the 1966 book of the same name co-written by American novelist and historian Robert H. Adleman and Col...
(1968) as Maj. Gen. Hunter - Marlowe (1969) as Lt. Christy French
- Death of a Gunfighter (1969) as Lester Locke
- Ride a Northbound Horse (TV)(1969)
- Fear No Evil (TV) (1969) as Myles Donovan
- Kelly's HeroesKelly's HeroesKelly's Heroes is an offbeat 1970 comedy/war film about a group of World War II soldiers who go AWOL to rob a bank behind enemy lines. Directed by Brian G...
(1970) as Maj. Gen. Colt - Doctors' Wives (1971) Dr. Joe Gray
- Of Thee I SingOf Thee I SingOf Thee I Sing is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform...
(TV) (1972) President Wintergreen - Law and Disorder (1974) as Willie
- The Last HurrahThe Last HurrahThe Last Hurrah is a 1956 novel written by Edwin O'Connor. It is considered the most popular of O’Connor's works, partly because of a significant 1958 movie adaptation starring Spencer Tracy. The novel was immediately a bestseller in the United States for 20 weeks, and was also on lists for...
(TV) (1977) as Frank Skeffington - A Different Approach (1978)
- Brass aka Police Brass (TV) (1985) as Frank Nolan
- Convicted (1986) (TV) .... Lewis May
- The GLO Friends Save Christmas (1986) .... Santa
- The Father Clements Story (1987) (TV) .... Cardinal Cody
- Gideon (TV) (1999) as Leo Barnes
- 36 Hours to Die (TV) (1999) Jack 'Balls' O'Malley
- Return to MeReturn to MeReturn to Me is a romantic movie rated PG. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and starred David Duchovny as Bob and Minnie Driver as Grace...
(2000) as Marty O'Reilly
Writer
- Bronk (TV) (1975) Series creator
- The Last Hurrah (TV) (1977)
- Archie Bunker's Place (1979) TV series (writer)
- Brass aka Police Brass (TV) (1985) (credited as Matt Harris)
- In the Heat of the Night (1988–1995) Numerous episodes (credited as Matt Harris)
Producer
- Bronk (TV) (1975) Series (executive producer)
- The Last Hurrah (TV) (1977) (executive producer)
- In the Heat of the Night (TV) (1988–1995) (executive producer)
Director
- Archie Bunker's Place (TV) (1979) Series
- In the Heat of the Night (TV) (1988) Series
Crew
- In the Heat of the Night (TV) (1988) Series (executive story editor credited as Matt Harris)
Composer
- All in the Family (TV) (1971) Series "Remembering You" (together with Roger KellawayRoger KellawayRoger Kellaway is an American composer, arranger, and pianist.Born in Waban, Massachusetts, he is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory...
) - Archie Bunker's Place (TV) (1979) Series "Remembering You" (together with Roger KellawayRoger KellawayRoger Kellaway is an American composer, arranger, and pianist.Born in Waban, Massachusetts, he is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory...
)
Guest starring
- Shirley Temple's StorybookShirley Temple's StorybookShirley Temple's Storybook is an American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales and other family-oriented stories performed by well-known actors, although one episode, an adaptation of The House of the Seven Gables, was...
playing "Appleyard" 27 November 1960- "The Black Arrow"
- The Americans playing "Captain Garbor" 8 May 1961
- "The Coward"
- The UntouchablesThe Untouchables (1959 TV series)The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
playing "Arnie Kurtz aka Albert Krim" (2 episodes, 1961–1962)- "Bird in the Hand"
- The Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...
playing "Leonard Barsevick" "Pericles on 31st Street" 12 April 1962 - Naked City 20 June 1962
- "Goodbye Mama, Hello Auntie Maud"
- Naked CityNaked City (TV series)Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
playing "Tony Corran" 19 December 1962- "Spectre of the Rose Street Gang"
- The Defenders (2 episodes, 1962–1963)
- Ben CaseyBen CaseyBen Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
(2 episodes, 1962–1965) - Dr. KildareDr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
(2 episodes, 1962–1965) - Death Valley DaysDeath Valley DaysDeath Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
playing "Senator Dave Broderick" 8 February 1963- "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman"
- The Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...
playing "Dr. Lyman Savage" 12 February 1963- "Luxury Liner"
- BonanzaBonanzaBonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
playing "Tom Slayden" 19 May 1963- "The Boss"
- The Outer LimitsThe Outer Limits (1963 TV series)The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
playing "Deimos" 13 January 1964- "Controlled Experiment"
- The FugitiveThe Fugitive (TV series)The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
playing "Sheriff Bray" 10 March 1964- "Flight from the Final Demon"
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
playing "Walter Brach" 27 October 1964- "The Green Opal Affair"
- Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
playing "Old John" 21 December 1964- "Long Live the King"
- I Spy playing "Dr. Karolyi" 13 April 1966
- "It's *All Done with Mirrors"
- The Time TunnelThe Time TunnelThe Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
playing "General Southall/Colonel Southall" 7 October 1966- "The Last Patrol"
- The Wild Wild WestThe Wild Wild WestThe Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
playing "Fabian Lavendor" 25 November 1966- "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse"
- Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
playing "Josef Varsh" 28 January 1967- "The Trial"
- GunsmokeGunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
playing "Major Glenn Vanscoy" 30 October 1967- "Major Glory"
- Insight (1970)
- "The Day God Died"
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-InRowan & Martin's Laugh-InRowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
as "Guest Performer" 13 December 1971 - The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour as himself (2 episodes, 1971–1972)
- This Is Your LifeThis Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
as himself "Don Rickles" 12 January 1972 - The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
as himself (5 episodes, 1972–1975) - The Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
as himself "Celebrity Roast: Carroll O'Connor" 7 December 1973 - The Dick Cavett ShowThe Dick Cavett ShowThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
as himself "London - New York" 8 September 1976 - Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
as himself (uncredited) 25 September 1976 - Bill Moyers' JournalBill Moyers' JournalBill Moyers Journal is an American television current affairs program that covered an array of current affairs and human issues, including but not limited to economics, history, literature, religion, philosophy, science, and most frequently politics...
as himself 16 May 1981 - GloriaGloria (TV series)Gloria is an American situation comedy that lasted one season on CBS, from September 1982 to September 1983. It stars Sally Struthers, reprising her role as Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie Bunker on the hugely successful 1970s sitcom All in the Family...
playing "Archie Bunker" in episode: "Gloria, the First Day (un-aired pilot)" 1982 - The Redd Foxx ShowThe Redd Foxx ShowThe Redd Foxx Show is a short-lived sitcom that premiered January 18, 1986 on ABC. The show ended after four months on air.-Overview:It followed the life of Al Hughes , a New York City newsstand owner who adopted a "street-wise" teenager named Toni...
"Old Buddies" 1 March 1986 - Party of FiveParty of FiveParty of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation...
(six episodes) as "Jake Gordon" - The Rosie O'Donnell ShowThe Rosie O'Donnell ShowThe Rosie O'Donnell Show is an Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002...
as himself 4 March 1998 - BiographyBiographyA biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
: Carroll O'Connor 22 June 2001 as himself
Misc
- An All-Star Tribute to Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
(1977) Himself - CBS: On the Air (1978) mini-series part VII co-host
- The 30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1978) Himself Winner
- All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special (1991) Himself
- All in the FamilyAll in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
: The E! True Hollywood StoryE! True Hollywood StoryE! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and well-known public figures...
(2000) Himself - Intimate Portrait: Minnie Driver (2000) Narrator
- A&E Biography: Carroll O'Connor - All in a Lifetime (2001) Himself
Archive footage featuring Carroll O'Connor
- Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000) (V)
- The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2001) Memorial tribute
- Inside TV Land: African Americans in Television (2002)
- The 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002) Memorial tribute