Carroll O'Connor's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) All in the Family Archie Bunker In the Heat of the Night Chief Willi… Archie Bunker's Place Archie Bunker

Main Movie Roles 2000 - Return to Me 1970 - Kelly's Heroes 1969 - Marlowe 1968 - The Devil's Brigade 1967 - Point Blank 1966 - What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? 1966 - Hawaii 1965 - In Harm's Way 1963 - Cleopatra 1962 - Lonely Are the Brave 1961 - Parrish

BIOGRAPHY:

Carroll was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, a community of Queens, New York. After high school in 1942, he 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 Downtown". He followed that with a production that was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. 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.


TRIVIA:

• Listed as #20 on TV Land's Top 50 TV Icons Countdown. He beat out Alan Alda, George Clooney, Matthew J. Fox, and Kermit the Frog.
• Was so displeased with CBS's axing of _"Archie Bunker's Place" (1979)_ (qv) in 1983, without a chance to film an actual series finale, that he vowed to never work for the network again. (Nonetheless, his late-1980s NBC series, _"In the Heat of the Night" (1988)_ (qv) later moved to CBS in 1992.)
• Auditioned for the role of The Skipper on _"Gilligan's Island" (1964)_ (qv).
• He was instrumental in the passage of the Drug Dealers Civil Liability Act in California. The Act states that citizens can sue drug dealers whom they feel are responsible for the drug-related deaths of family members. The Act came about as a result of his son's drug-related suicide. He and _"All in the Family" (1971)_ (qv) creator 'Norman Lear' (qv) are not speaking to one another because O'Connor wants to reprise his "Archie Bunker" character, while Lear does not. He was sued for slander and invasion of privacy by the man he accused of being an accessory to his son's suicide, by supplying his son with drugs. O'Connor won the lawsuit.
• Said that he came up with the address for the Bunker family residence (704 Hauser Street) when he was driving to work in L.A. He happened to find himself on Hauser Blvd (few blocks from CBS TV City) and thought the name sounded like part of Queens, New York where Archie was supposed to live.
• Earned a reported $250,000 a week for "All in the Family" in 1980.
• Spent some time at the Juilliard School of Fine Arts as an acting and dialogue professor.
• He met his wife, Nancy, while both were performing in the play "Life with Father" at the University of Montana.