Donald O'Connor

Donald O'Connor
Publicity photo (1952)
Born	Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor (1925-08-28)August 28, 1925 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	September 27, 2003(2003-09-27) (aged 78) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Occupation(s)	Dancer, singer, actor
Years active	1937–1999
Spouse(s)	Gwen Carter ​ ​ (m. 1944; div. 1954)​ Gloria Noble ​ ​ (m. 1956;  2003)​
Children	4

Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.

He is best known today for his role as Don Lockwood's friend and colleague Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Early years

Though he considered Danville, Illinois to be his hometown, O’Connor was born in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago. His parents, Effie Irene (née Crane) and John Edward "Chuck" O'Connor, were vaudeville entertainers; she was a bareback rider and he was a circus strongman and acrobat. His father's family was from Ireland.

O'Connor later said, "I was about 13 months old, they tell me, when I first started dancing, and they'd hold me up by the back of my neck and they'd start the music, and I'd dance. You could do that with any kid, only I got paid for it."

When O'Connor was only two years old, he and his sister Arlene, who was seven at the time, were in a car crash outside a theater in Hartford, Connecticut; O'Connor survived, but his sister did not. A few weeks later, his father died of a heart attack while dancing on stage in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Career

O'Connor Family

O'Connor joined a dance act with his mother and elder brother Jack. They were billed as the O'Connor Family, the Royal Family of Vaudeville. They toured the country doing singing, dancing, comedy, and acrobatics. "Our entire family composed an act," he says. "We really didn't have a choice; if you were in the family you appeared in the act. I loved vaudeville. The live audiences created a certain spontaneity."

When they did not tour they stayed with O'Connor's Uncle Bill in Danville Illinois. O'Connor never went to school.

He later said, " I learned two dance routines. I looked like the world's greatest dancer. I did triple wings and everything. But I had never had any formal training. So, when I went into movies and started working with all those great dancers, I had a terrible time. I couldn't pick up routines because I didn't have any formal training. At the age of 15 -- from 15 on, I really had to learn to dance. And that's quite old for someone to start dancing real heavy, professionally."

O'Connor was began performing in movies in 1937, making his debut aged 11 in Melody for Two appearing with his family act. He was also in Columbia's It Can't Last Forever (1937).

Paramount

O'Connor signed a contract at Paramount. He appeared in Men with Wings (1938), directed by William Wellan, as Fred MacMurray's character as a boy. He was billed fifth in Sing You Sinners (1938) playing Bing Crosby's younger brother.

He was in Sons of the Legion (1938), then had the lead in a B-picture, Tom Sawyer, Detective (1938), playing Huckleberry Finn opposite Billy Cook's Tom Sawyer. O'Connor third billed in both Boy Trouble (1939) and Unmarried (1939), playing John Hartley as a young boy in the latter.

O'Connor was billed fourth in Million Dollar Legs (1939) with Betty Grable. He played Gary Cooper as a young boy in Beau Geste (1939), directed by Wellman.

Night Work (1939) was a sequel to Boy Trouble and O'Connor was in Death of a Champion (1939).

He went to Warner Bros to play Eddie Albert as a young boy in On Your Toes (1939). He then returned to his family act in vaudeville for two years.

Universal

In 1941, O’Connor signed with Universal Pictures for $200 a week, where he began with What's Cookin'? (1942), a B-level with The Andrews Sisters, Gloria Jean and Peggy Ryan. The film was popular and Universal began to develop O'Connor and Ryan as their version of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

He, Ryan and the Andrews Sisters were in Private Buckaroo (1942) and Give Out, Sisters (1942), then he, Ryan, Jean and Jane Frazee were in Get Hep to Love (1942) and When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942). He made It Comes Up Love (1942) with Jean but without Ryan.

O'Connor, Jean and Ryan were in Mister Big (1943). Before this film was released, O’Connor’s popularity soared. Universal added $50,000 in musical numbers to the film and promoted the "B" movie to "A" status.

The handprints of Donald O'Connor in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

O'Connor and Ryan were in Top Man (1943), with Suannah Foster, and Chip Off the Old Block (1944), with Ann Blyth. O'Connor and Ryan both had cameos in Universal's all-star Follow the Boys (1944).

On his 18th birthday in August 1943, during World War II O'Connor was drafted into the United States Army. Before he reported for induction on February 6, 1944, Universal already had four O’Connor films completed. They rushed production to complete four more by that date, all with Ryan: This Is the Life (1944), with Foster; The Merry Monahans (1944), with Blyth and Jack Oakie; Bowery to Broadway (1945), another all-star effort where O'Connor had a cameo; and Patrick the Great (1945).

With a backlog of seven features, deferred openings kept O’Connor’s screen presence uninterrupted during the two years he was overseas.

Return from War Service

Upon his return, a merger in 1946 had reorganized the studio as Universal-International. The studio paired O'Connor opposite their biggest female star, Deanna Durbin, in Something in the Wind (1947).

He starred in Are You with It? (1948) with Olga San Juan, Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1949) with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbridge, and Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1949) with Gloria De Haven.

"I wasn't really a dancer, a good dancer, until I got older," he said later. "I could do those wings and stuff and I looked very good, but my heavens it was very, very hard for me to pick up on -- pick up steps. It was just oh -- so laborious for me. I didn't have a short cut like the other dancers do."

Francis

In 1949, O'Connor played the lead role in Francis, the story of a soldier befriended by a talking mule. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the film was a huge success. As a consequence, his musical career was constantly interrupted by production of one Francis film per year until 1955. O'Connor later said the films "were fun to make. Actually, they were quite challenging. I had to play straight in order to convince the audience that the mule could talk."

O'Connor followed the first Francis with comedies: Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950), The Milkman (1950), and Double Crossbones (1951).

He did Francis Goes to the Races (1951), another big hit.

Singin' in the Rain

O'Connor received an offer to play Cosmo the piano player in Singin' in the Rain (1952) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical. The film featured his widely known rendition of "Make 'Em Laugh".

O'Connor said " all hoofers, they dance from the waist down. And I had to learn to dance from the waist up. And I learned that from Bob Alton (ph), a great choreographer, and from Kelly. And then, I became what's known as a total dancer."

O'Connor said he smoked around 4 packs of cigarettes a day during filming.

In 1952 O'Connor signed a three-picture deal with Paramount.

He went back to Universal for Francis Goes to West Point (1952) then returned to MGM for I Love Melvin (1953) a musical with Debbie Reynolds.

He began appearing regularly on television. One review in 1952 called him "1952' new star. Movie bred, he has the versatility of a Jimmy Durante and the effervescence of youth. He can dance, he can sing, he can act, and he can spout humour, but not yet with the finesse of a veteran."

He supported Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam (1953) at 20th Century Fox, later saying the film contained his best dancing.

After Francis Covers the Big Town (1953), Universal put O'Connor in a musical in colour, Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) with Janet Leigh.

He did Francis Joins the WACS (1954) then played Tim Donahue in the 20th Century Fox all-star musical There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), which featured Irving Berlin's music and also starred with Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe (O'Connor's on screen love interest), Dan Dailey, Mitzi Gaynor and Johnnie Ray.

He was meant to play Bing Crosby's partner in White Christmas (1954). O'Connor was unavailable because he contracted an illness transmitted by the mule, and was replaced in the film by Danny Kaye.

He emceed the 1954 Oscars.

The Donald O'Connor Show

He starred in The Donald O'Connor Show (1954–55) for one season. O'Connor was a regular host of NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour.

O'Connor was reluctant to keep making Francis films but agreed to Francis in the Navy (1955). Arthur Lubin who directed the films later recalled that O'Connor "got very difficult" to work with after a while. "He started drinking and I think he had problems at home. He started swearing at me and being late on set."

O'Connor and Crosby united on Anything Goes (1956) at Paramount. That studio also released The Buster Keaton Story (1957), in which O'Connor had the title role.

The Brussels Symphony Orchestra recorded some of his work, and in 1956 he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of his first symphony, Reflections d'Un Comique.

He hosted a color television special on NBC in 1957, one of the earliest color programs to be preserved on a color kinescope; an excerpt of the telecast was included in NBC's 50th anniversary special in 1976.

In the late 50s he began guest starring on shows like Playhouse 90, The DuPont Show of the Month, and The Red Skelton Hour. But his focus moved increasingly to touring live shows.

1960s

O'Connor teamed with Glenn Ford in Cry for Happy (1961) at Columbia and he played the title role in The Wonders of Aladdin (1961) for MGM.

He subsequently focused on theatre work and his nightclub act, performing in Las Vegas. He returned to Universal for the first time in ten years to make the Sandra Dee comedy That Funny Feeling (1965).

He did episodes of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Vacation Playhouse, ABC Stage 67 and The Jackie Gleason Show. He also appeared in several productions of Little Me.

In 1968, O'Connor hosted a syndicated talk show also called The Donald O'Connor Show.

1970s

He suffered a heart attack in 1971.

He was in a TV production of Li'l Abner (1971) and continued to perform on stage, notably in Las Vegas.

He guest starred on episodes of The Girl with Something Extra, Ellery Queen, The Bionic Woman, Police Story, and Hunter.

O'Connor overcame alcoholism after being hospitalized for three months after collapsing in 1978. His career had a boost when he hosted the Academy Awards, which earned him two Primetime Emmy nominations.

1980s

He appeared as a gaslight-era entertainer in the 1981 film Ragtime, notable for similar encore performances by James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. It was his first feature film role in 16 years.

O'Connor appeared in the short-lived Bring Back Birdie on Broadway in 1981. The following year he was in I Ought to be in Pictures in Los Angeles.

He was Cap'n Andy in a short-lived Broadway revival of Show Boat (1983) and continued to tour in various shows and acts.

"I've been on the road forever," he said in 1985, adding "I'd consider another movie or a TV series, but I won't play an old man. Art Carney is about my age and he's making a career out of being old. I'm still singing and dancing. I'm not ready to be old."

O'Connor guest starred on The Littlest Hobo, Fantasy Island,

Simon & Simon, Hotel, Alice in Wonderland, The Love Boat, and Highway to Heaven, and was in the films Pandemonium (1982), A Mouse, a Mystery and Me (1988), and A Time to Remember (1988).

He bought a theatre, the Donald O'Connor Theatre, and would perform in it with his children. In a 1989 interview he said "There's an element out there that wants to be entertained-and they can't find this kind of thing I do. And yeah, I think I wear well. I sing, I dance, I do comedy. I'm not threatening. When you grow up in a circus family, the more things you learn, the more you get paid. So I can do straight comedy without the song and dance; I can do all kinds of combinations. Whatever's in at the time, I can fit into."

He developed heart trouble and began to use nitroglycerin pills before performances so that he would have the stamina to complete them. He underwent successful quadruple-bypass surgery in 1990.

1990s

O'Connor continued to make film and television appearances into the 1990s, including the Robin Williams film Toys (1992) as the president of a toy-making company. He continued to perform live.

He had guest roles in Murder, She Wrote, Tales from the Crypt, The Building, The Nanny and Frasier, and was in the films Bandit: Bandit's Silver Angel (1994), and Father Frost (1996).

In 1992 he said "I'm no longer a superstar, Now I'm working on being a quasar, because stars wear out. Quasars go on forever... I look for the parts where I die and they talk about me for the rest of the movie."

In 1998, he received a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars.

O'Connor's last feature film was the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy Out to Sea, in which he played a dance host on a cruise ship. O’Connor was still making public appearances well into 2003. He said he went on the road "about 32 weeks a year. I do my concert work and I do night clubs and that kind of stuff. So I don't dance much any more, but I do enough to show people I can still move my legs."

The most distinctive characteristic of O'Connor's dancing style was its athleticism, for which he had few rivals. Yet it was his boyish charm that audiences found most engaging, and which remained an appealing aspect of his personality throughout his career. In his early Universal films, O'Connor closely mimicked the smart alec, fast-talking personality of Mickey Rooney of rival MGM Studio. For Singin' in the Rain, however, MGM cultivated a much more sympathetic sidekick persona, and that remained O'Connor's signature image.

Personal life

O'Connor was married twice and had four children. His first marriage was in 1944 to Gwendolyn Carter, when he was 18 and she was 17, on the eve of his departure into the army. They married in Tijuana. They had a daughter, Donna. The couple divorced in 1953.

He married for a second time, to Gloria Noble, in 1956. Together they had three children: Alicia, Donald Frederick, and Kevin. O'Connor and Noble were married until his death in 2003.

Death

O'Connor had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1990, and he nearly died from double pneumonia in January 1998. He died from complications of heart failure on September 27, 2003, at age 78 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, in Woodland Hills, California. His remains were cremated and buried at the Forest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

• Melody for Two (1937) as Specialty Act (uncredited)
• It Can't Last Forever (1937) as Kid Dancer (uncredited)
• Men with Wings (1938) as Pat Falconer at Age 10
• Sing You Sinners (1938) as Mike Beebe
• Sons of the Legion (1938) as Butch Baker
• Tom Sawyer, Detective (1938) as Huckleberry Finn
• Boy Trouble (1939) as Butch
• Unmarried (1939) as Ted Streaver (age 12)
• Million Dollar Legs (1939) as Sticky Boone
• Beau Geste (1939) as Beau Geste (as a child)
• Night Work (1939) as Butch Smiley
• Death of a Champion (1939) as Small Fry
• On Your Toes (1939) as Phil Jr. as a Boy
• What's Cookin'? (1942) as Tommy
• Private Buckaroo (1942) as Donny
• Give Out, Sisters (1942) as Don
• Get Hep to Love (1942) as Jimmy Arnold
• When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) as Frankie Flanagan
• It Comes Up Love (1943) as Ricky Ives
• Mister Big (1943) as Donald J. O'Connor, Esq.
• Top Man (1943) as Don Warren
• Chip Off the Old Block (1944) as Donald Corrigan
• Follow the Boys (1944) as Donald O'Connor
• This Is the Life (1944) as Jimmy Plum
• The Merry Monahans (1944) as Jimmy Monahan
• Bowery to Broadway (1944) as Specialty Number #1
• Patrick the Great (1945) as Pat Donahue Jr.
• Something in the Wind (1947) as Charlie Read
• Are You With It? (1948) as Milton Haskins
• Feudin', Fussin', and A-Fightin' (1948) as Wilbur McMurty
• Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949, Short) as Himself
• Yes Sir That's My Baby (1949) as William Waldo Winfield
• Francis (1950) as Peter Stirling
• Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950) as Edward Timmons
• The Milkman (1950) as Roger Bradley
• Double Crossbones (1951) as Davey Crandall
• Francis Goes to the Races (1951) as Peter Stirling
• Singin' in the Rain (1952) as Cosmo Brown
• Francis Goes to West Point (1952) as Peter Stirling
• I Love Melvin (1953) as Melvin Hoover
• Call Me Madam (1953) as Kenneth Gibson
• Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) as Peter Stirling
• Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) as Clarence 'Jigger' Millard
• Francis Joins the WACS (1954) as Peter Stirling
• There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) as Tim Donahue
• Francis in the Navy (1955) as Lt. Peter Stirling / Bosun's Mate Slicker Donovan
• Anything Goes (1956) as Ted Adams
• The Buster Keaton Story (1957) as Buster Keaton
• Cry for Happy (1961) as Murray Prince
• The Wonders of Aladdin (1961) as Aladdin
• That Funny Feeling (1965) as Harvey Granson
• Just One More Time (1974, Short) as Himself (uncredited)
• That's Entertainment! (1974) as Himself - Co-Host / Narrator / Clip from 'Singin' in the Rain'
• The Big Fix (1978) as Francis Joins the Navy
• Ragtime (1981) as Evelyn's Dance Instructor
• Pandemonium (1982) as Glenn's Dad
• A Time to Remember (1987) as Father Walsh
• Toys (1992) as Kenneth Zevo
• Father Frost (1996) as Baba Yaga
• Out to Sea (1997) as Jonathan Devereaux (final film role)

Television

• Police Story – 1975
• The Milton Berle Show (producer) – 1948
• Colgate Comedy Hour – 1951–1954
• The Donald O'Connor Show – 19 episodes on NBC, 1954–55
• The Judy Garland Show (special guest) – episode 7, season 1 on CBS – September 29, 1963
• Petticoat Junction (director) – 1964
• Bell Telephone Hour – 1964–1966
• The Donald O'Connor Show – 1968
• Ellery Queen – episode "The Comic Book Crusader" – October 2, 1975
• The Bionic Woman – episode "A Thing of the Past" (February 18, 1976)
• Hunter – episode "The Costa Rican Connection" (March 18, 1977)
• Lucy Moves to NBC - (February 8, 1980)
• The Love Boat – 1981–1984
• Alice – "Guinness on Tap", as himself, 1982
• The Littlest Hobo – episode "The Clown" as Freddie the Clown, 1982
• Simon and Simon – episode "Grand Illusion" as Barnaby the Great, 1983
• Alice in Wonderland (1985 film) as The Lory Bird, 1985.
• Highway to Heaven episode "Playing for keeps" – 1987.
• Murder She Wrote episode (The Big Show of 1965) – 1990
• Tales from the Crypt – 1992
• The Building – 1993
• Frasier – episode "Crane vs. Crane" as Harlow Safford, 1996
• The Nanny – episode "Freida Needa Man" as Fred (1996)

Stage

• Little Me (1964; 1968; 1980)
• Promises, Promises (1972)
• Where's Charley? (1976)
• Weekend with Feathers (1976)
• Sugar (1979)
• Wally's Cafe (1980)
• Bring Back Birdie (1981)
• Say Hello to Harvey (1981)
• Show Boat (1982; 1983)
• I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
• How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (1985)
• Two for the Show (1989)
• Charley's Aunt (1989)
• The Sunshine Boys (1990)
• The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies (1998)

External links

• Donald O'Connor at the Internet Broadway Database
• Donald O'Connor at IMDb
• Mindy Alloff's 1979 interview with O'Connor
• Donald O'Connor on "The Colgate Comedy Hour" (1951-54) at Classic TV Info.
• Donald O'Connor on "Texaco Star Theater" (1954-55) at Classic TV Info.
• Film-shots
• Donald O'Connor at Find a Grave