Arthur O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in films (starting with a small role in Citizen Kane) in 1941 and television programs (mostly guest appearances). Among his screen appearances were Picnic, Anatomy of a Murder, and as the watch-maker who hides Jews during WWII in The Hiding Place. A veteran vaudevillian, O'Connell, from New York City, made his legitimate stage debut in the mid 1930s, at which time he fell within the orbit of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Welles cast O'Connell in the tiny role of a reporter in the closing scenes of Citizen Kane (1941), a film often referred to as O'Connell's film debut, though in fact he had already appeared in Freshman Year (1939) and had costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Leon's conniving brother-in-law. After numerous small movie parts, O'Connell returned to Broadway, where he appeared as the erstwhile middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in Picnic - a role he'd recreate in the 1956 film version, earning an Oscar nomination in the process. Later the jaded looking O'Connell was frequently cast as fortyish losers and alcoholics; in the latter capacity he appeared as James Stewart's boozy attorney mentor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and the result was another Oscar nomination. In 1962 O'Connell portrayed the father of Elvis Presley's character in the motion picture Follow That Dream, and in 1964 in the Presley-picture Kissin' Cousins. O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both TV and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing. He appeared as Joseph Baylor in the 1964 episode "A Little Anger Is a Good Thing" on the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. The actor accepted the part of a man who discovers that his 99-year-old father has been frozen in an iceberg on the 1967 sitcom The Second Hundred Years, assuming he'd be billed first per the producers' agreement. Instead, top billing went to newcomer Monte Markham in the dual role of O'Connell's father and his son. O'Connell accepted the demotion to second billing as well as could be expected, but he never again trusted the word of any Hollywood executive. Ill health forced O'Connell to significantly reduce his acting appearances in the mid '70s, but the actor stayed busy as a commercial spokesman, a friendly pharmacist who was a spokesperson for Crest toothpaste. At the time of his death from Alzheimer's disease in California in May 1981, O'Connell was appearing solely in these commercials, by his own choice. O'Connell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York. Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur O'Connell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Filmography

• 1991Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker — actor 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Medical Story — Dr. Avery Loomis
• 1975The Hiding Place — Casper ten Boom, 'Papa'
• 1974Huckleberry Finn — Col. Grangerford
• 1974Shootout in a One-Dog Town — Henry Gills
• Adam's Rib — Judge
• 1973Wicked, Wicked — Mr. Fenley, Hotel Engineer
• 1972Ben — Bill Hatfield
• Emergency!
• Ghost Story — Chief Owen Huston
• The Paul Lynde Show
• 1972The Poseidon Adventure — John, the Chaplain
• 1972They Only Kill Their Masters — Ernie
• 1971A Taste of Evil — John
• Alias Smith and Jones
• Cannon
• 1971The Last Valley — Hoffman
• McCloud
• Nanny and the Professor
• Night Gallery
• 1970Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? — Mr. Kruft
• 1970There Was a Crooked Man... — Mr. Lomax
• Room 222
• 1969Seven in Darkness — Larry Wise
• 1968If He Hollers, Let Him Go! — Prosecutor
• The Name of the Game — Charlie Sherwin
• 1968The Power — Henry Hallson
• 1967A Covenant with Death — Judge Hockstadter
• Ironside
• 1967The Reluctant Astronaut — Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming
• The Second Hundred Years — Edwin Carpenter
• 1966Birds Do It — Professor Wald
• 1966Fantastic Voyage — Col. Donald Reid
• 1966Ride Beyond Vengeance — The Narrator
• 1966The Silencers — Joe Wigman
• 1965Nightmare in the Sun — Sam Wilson
• The Big Valley — Jubal
• The F.B.I. — Smitty
• 1965The Great Race — Henry Goodbody
• 1965The Monkey's Uncle — Darius Green III
• 1965The Third Day — Dr. Wheeler
• The Wild Wild West
• 19647 Faces of Dr. Lao — Clint Stark
• 1964Kissin' Cousins — Pappy Tatum
• 1964Your Cheatin' Heart — Fred Rose
• Arrest and Trial
• Burke's Law — Dr. Stuart Alexander
• 1963Marilyn — archive footage
• Petticoat Junction — William Lawrence
• The Fugitive — Dr. Josephus Harrison Adams, Samuel Cole
• The Greatest Show on Earth
• 1962Follow That Dream — Pop Kwimper
• Sam Benedict
• 1961A Thunder of Drums — Sgt. Karl Rodermill
• 1961Misty — Grandpa Clarence Beebe
• 1961Pocketful of Miracles — Count Alfonso Romero
• The New Breed — Peter Capples
• 1960Cimarron — Tom Wyatt
• My Three Sons
• Route 66
• Special for Women — Joe Lawson
• 1960The Great Impostor — Warden J.B. Chandler
• 1959Anatomy of a Murder — Parnell Emmett McCarthy
• Bonanza — Dr. Samuel Hubert
• 1959Gidget — Russell Lawrence
• 1959Hound-Dog Man — Aaron McKinney
• 1959Operation Petticoat — Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
• 1958Man of the West — Sam Beasley
• 1958Voice in the Mirror — Bill Tobin
• Alcoa Theatre
• 1957April Love — Jed Bruce
• DuPont Show of the Month
• 1957Operation Mad Ball — Col. Rousch
• 1957The Violators — Solomon Baumgarten
• Wagon Train
• 1956Bus Stop — Virgil Blessing
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Lyman
• 1956The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit — Gordon Walker
• 1956The Monte Carlo Story — Mr. Homer Hinkley
• 1956The Proud Ones — Jim Dexter
• 1956The Solid Gold Cadillac — Mark Jenkins
• Matinee Theater
• 1955Picnic — Howard Bevans
• Summer Playhouse
• Omnibus
• 1951The Whistle at Eaton Falls — Jim Brewster
• 1950Force of Evil — Link Hall (uncredited)
• 1950The Taming of the Shrew — Curtis
• 1948Homecoming — Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
• 1948One Touch of Venus — Reporter
• 1948Open Secret — Carter
• 1948State of the Union — First Reporter
• Studio One — Curtis, Manachi Conners
• 1948The Countess of Monte Cristo — Assistant Director Jensen
• 1948The Naked City — Sgt. Shaeffer (uncredited)
• The Philco Television Playhouse — Jim Elkins, Grant
• 1942Blondie's Blessed Event — Interne (uncredited)
• 1942Canal Zone — New Recruit (uncredited)
• 1942Fingers at the Window — Photographer (uncredited)
• 1942Hello, Annapolis — Pharmacist Mate
• 1942Law of the Jungle — Simmons
• 1942Man From Headquarters — Goldie Shores
• 1941Citizen Kane — Reporter (uncredited)
• 1940'Taint Legal — Book Salesman
• 1940And One Was Beautiful — Moroni's Parking Attendant
• 1940Bested by a Beard — Phil
• 1940Dr. Kildare Goes Home — Intern (uncredited)
• 1940He Asked for It
• 1940Hullabaloo — Fourth Page
• 1940I Take This Oath — Court Clerk
• 1940The Golden Fleecing — Cameraman (uncredited)
• 1940Two Girls on Broadway — Reporter at Wedding (uncredited)
• 1939Murder in Soho — Lefty

Appearances as themselves (3)

• 2022Way of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies — Self - (archive footage)
• Startime — Self
• The Oscars — Self