DONALD O'CONNOR

'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. Perhaps his most famous performance was as Gene Kelly's sidekick in the musical ''Singin’ in the Rain'' (1952).

Contents

Early life

Career

Death

Filmography

TV work

External links

Early life

O’Connor was born in Chicago, Illinois, into an Irish immigrant family of vaudeville entertainers. Tragedy struck his family when, as a toddler, he and his sister were involved in a road accident, which resulted in her death. His father died of a heart attack only a few weeks later.

Career

O'Connor broke into films in 1937, usually playing impetuous kids, as in ''Tom Sawyer, Detective'' and ''Beau Geste''. In 1942 O'Connor joined Universal Pictures' troupe of talented teenagers. He received gradually larger roles in four of the studio's Gloria Jean musicals, and achieved stardom at 17 with ''Mister Big'' (1943), co-starring Gloria Jean and comic dancer Peggy Ryan. O'Connor and Ryan's energetic routines invited comparisons with M-G-M's pairing of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.
O'Connor joined the armed forces in 1944. Upon his return, Universal (now reorganized as Universal-International) cast him in lightweight musicals and comedies. In 1949, he was given the leading role in ''Francis'', the whimsical story of a sad-sack soldier befriended by a talking mule. The film was a huge success, and a mixed blessing for O'Connor: the momentum of his musical career was constantly interrupted because the studio insisted on his making one "Francis" picture a year until 1955. It was because of Francis that O'Connor missed out on a plum role: Bing Crosby's sidekick in ''White Christmas''. O'Connor was forced to bow out when he contracted an illness transmitted by the mule. He was replaced in the film by Danny Kaye.
Donald O'Connor was a TV favorite in the 1950s, and was one of the regular hosts of NBC's popular ''Colgate Comedy Hour''. He hosted a color television special on NBC in 1957, which was among the first color programs to be videotaped; an excerpt of the telecast was included in NBC's 50th anniversary special in 1976. He also had a short-lived television series during the late 1960s.
After overcoming a drinking problem in the 1970s, he appeared as a gaslight-era entertainer in the 1981 film ''Ragtime'', notable for similar encore performances by James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. O'Connor also appeared in the short-lived ''Bring Back Birdie'' on Broadway in 1981, and continued to make film and television appearances into the 1990s. Donald 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. One of the last known on-camera interviews with Donald O’Connor was arranged by friend David Ruprecht and conducted by Steven F. Zambo. A small portion of this interview can be seen in the 2005 PBS special ''Pioneers of Primetime''.

Death

O'Connor died from congestive heart failure on September 27, 2003 at the age of 78. Among his last words, he is reported to have expressed tongue-in-cheek thanks for the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement that he expected to win at some future date. He was cremated at the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
He left behind his wife, of over 40 years, Gloria, and four children.

Filmography

★ ''It Can't Last Forever'' (1937)

★ ''Men with Wings'' (1938)

★ ''Sing You Sinners'' (1938)

★ ''Sons of the Legion'' (1938)

★ ''Tom Sawyer, Detective'' (1938)

★ ''Boy Trouble'' (1939)

★ ''Unmarried'' (1939)

★ ''Million Dollar Legs'' (1939)

★ ''Beau Geste'' (1939)

★ ''Night Work'' (1939)

★ ''Death of a Champion'' (1939)

★ ''On Your Toes'' (1939)

★ ''What's Cookin'?'' (1942)

★ ''Private Buckaroo'' (1942)

★ ''Give Out, Sisters'' (1942)

★ ''Get Hep to Love'' (1942)

★ ''When Johnny Comes Marching Home'' (1942)

★ ''It Comes Up Love'' (1943)

★ ''Mister Big'' (1943)

★ ''Top Man'' (1943)

★ ''Chip Off the Old Block'' (1944)

★ ''Follow the Boys'' (1944)

★ ''This Is the Life'' (1944)

★ ''The Merry Monahans'' (1944)

★ ''Bowery to Broadway'' (1944)

★ ''Patrick the Great'' (1945)

★ ''Something in the Wind'' (1947)

★ ''Are You with It?'' (1948)

★ ''Feudin', Fussin', and A-Fightin''' (1948)

★ '' (1949) (short subject)

★ ''Yes Sir That's My Baby'' (1949)

★ ''Francis'' (1950)

★ ''Curtain Call at Cactus Creek'' (1950)

★ ''The Milkman'' (1950)

★ ''Double Crossbones'' (1951)

★ ''Francis Goes to the Races'' (1951)

★ ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952)

★ ''Francis Goes to West Point'' (1952)

★ ''I Love Melvin'' (1953)

★ ''Call Me Madam'' (1953)

★ ''Francis Covers the Big Town'' (1953)

★ ''Walking My Baby Back Home'' (1953)

★ ''Francis Joins the WACs'' (1954)

★ ''There's No Business Like Show Business'' (1954)

★ ''Francis in the Navy'' (1955)

★ ''Anything Goes'' (1956)

★ ''The Buster Keaton Story'' (1957)

★ ''Cry for Happy'' (1961)

★ ''The Wonders of Aladdin'' (1961)

★ ''That Funny Feeling'' (1965)

★ ''Just One More Time'' (1974) (short subject)

★ ''That's Entertainment!'' (1974)

★ ''Ragtime'' (1981)

★ ''Pandemonium'' (1982)

★ ''A Time to Remember'' (1987)

★ ''Toys'' (1992)

★ ''Father Frost'' (1996)

★ ''Out to Sea'' (1997)

TV work

★ as a producer - ''The Milton Berle Show'' - 1948

★ as a director - one episode of ''Petticoat Junction'' - 1964

★ as an actor

★
★ ''Colgate Comedy Hour'' - 1953-54

★
★ ''Bell Telephone Hour'' - 1964-66

★
★ ''The Donald O'Connor Show'' - 1968

★
★ ''The Bionic Woman'' - episode "A Thing of the Past" (February 18, 1976)

★
★ ''Love Boat'' - 1981-84

★
★ ''The Nanny'' - episode ''Freida Needa Man'' 1996

External links

★ Multimedia Essay on Donald O'Connor

★

★ Mindy Aloff's 1979 Interview with Donald O'Connor

★ Photos

★ Film-shots