Carroll O'Connor Add to My Celebs Age 76 (passed away Jun. 21st, 2001) Birthday Aug. 2nd, 1924 Born in Manhattan, New York, USA Height 5' 11"

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

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB


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:

• As executive producer of _"In the Heat of the Night" (1988)_ (qv), he often asked longtime friends and musicians to guest-star. Two of his favorites were Miss 'Jean Simmons (I)' (qv) and 'Bobby Short' (qv). He gave long-time friend, 'Lois Nettleton' (qv), a significant recurring role in the first few seasons.
• 'Mickey Rooney (I)' (qv) was 'Norman Lear' (qv)'s first choice to play Archie in the pilot of _"All in the Family" (1971)_ (qv). Rooney had reservations about the character, so he refused.
• Archie Bunker, O'Connor's character on _"All in the Family" (1971)_ (qv), was ranked #24 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].
• Underwent heart bypass surgery in 1989 and angioplasty to prevent a stroke in 1998.
• 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.)
• (17 January 1994) Lost his restaurant in the Northridge earthquake.
• He met his wife, Nancy, while both were performing in the play "Life with Father" at the University of Montana.
• Passed away 37 days before what would have been his golden wedding anniversary with Nancy Fields.

Carroll O'Connor Photos

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