- Born
- DiedJune 21, 2001 · Culver City, California, USA (heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes)
- Birth nameJohn Carroll O'Connor
- Nickname
- Matt Harris
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Carroll was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, a heavily Jewish community in New York City's borough of Queens. After graduating from high school in 1942, O'Connor joined the Merchant Marines and worked on ships in the Atlantic. In 1946, he enrolled at the University of Montana to study English. While there, he became interested in theater. During one of the amateur productions, he met his future wife, Nancy Fields, whom he married in 1951. He moved to Ireland where he continued his theatrical studies at the National University of Ireland. He was discovered during one of his college productions and was signed to appear at the Dublin Gate Theater. He worked in theater in Europe until 1954 when he returned to New York. His attempts to land on Broadway failed and he taught high school until 1958. Finally in 1958, he landed an Off-Broadway production, "Ulysses in Nighttown". He followed that with a Broadway production that was directed by 'Burgess Meredith', "God and Kate Murphy", in which he was both an understudy and an assistant stage manager. At the same time, he was getting attention on TV. He worked in a great many character roles throughout the 1960s. A pilot for "Those Were The Days" was first shot in 1968 based on the English hit, "Till Death Do Us Part", but was rejected by the networks. In 1971, it was re-shot and re-cast as All in the Family (1971) and the rest is history.- IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder <jsack@ka.net>
- SpouseNancy O'Connor(July 28, 1951 - June 21, 2001) (his death, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsEdward Joseph O'ConnorElise Patricia O'Connor
- On All in the Family (1971), he always smoked his cigars in his favorite woven Wingback Chair.
- Often played the roles that reflected upon liberalism or aggressiveness.
- His characters often clashed with the younger generation over topical social issues.
- Gruff voice with New York City accent.
- In his later years, he still received mail from fans. He answered every single piece of mail personally. When asked by friends why he didn't hire an assistant to answer the mail for him, he simply said that it was the least he could do.
- He adopted his only child, Hugh O'Connor, while in Rome filming Cleopatra (1963). He named him after his own brother, who was killed years before in a motorcycle accident.
- His only son, Hugh O'Connor, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, despondent over the disintegration of his life resulting from his long-term drug addiction. He was speaking with his father on the phone at the time. O'Connor did a public service announcement shortly after his death about the perils of drug abuse.
- Auditioned for the role of Skipper Jonah Grumby on Gilligan's Island (1964), but the producers found him to be too unsympathetic in the role. The role went to Alan Hale Jr..
- Became best friends with Jean Stapleton from 1962 until his death on June 21, 2001.
- People see Archie Bunker everywhere. Particularly girls--poor girls, rich girls, all kinds of girls are always coming up to me and telling me that Archie is just like their dad.
- Get between your kids and drugs any way you can if you want to save the kid's life.
- Nothing will give me any peace. I've lost a son. And I'll go to my grave without any peace over that.
- [asked to explain his criticism of critics] I think you all have been in a position where you all have said something out of pure emotion that is not all true. There are semi-literates. They write bad grammar. A lot of them copy what other people write and add a little twist of their own so that it appears the local boy has the inside track.
- [In 1976, on how he was going to play Frank Skeffington in The Last Hurrah (1977)] I'm going to keep the bigotry Edwin O'Connor had in the novel, but I'm going to play it as an undertone rather than as the main theme.
- All in the Family (1971) - $200,000 per episode
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