Biography for
Carroll O'Connor More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 August 1924, Manhattan, New York, USA

Date of Death

21 June 2001, Culver City, California, USA (heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes)

Birth Name

John Carroll O'Connor

Height

5' 11" (1.80 m)

Mini 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.

IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder

Spouse

Nancy O'Connor

(28 July 1951 - 21 June 2001) (his death) 1 child

Trade Mark

On "All in the Family" (1971) he always smoked his cigars in his favorite woven Wingback Chair.

Trivia

Had completed part of his undergraduate studies at the University of Montana before returning to earn a master's degree in speech in 1956.

While attending University of Montana, O'Connor was an associate editor for the college newspaper, the Kaimin. In 1949, he resigned his editing position in protest to the pressure from the campus administration that lead to confiscation and destruction of an issue of the paper, which carried a cartoon depicting the Montana Board of Education as rats gnawing at a bag of university funds.

In 1997, he and his wife, also a University of Montana graduate, donated $1 million to the University of Montana's Center for the Rocky Mountain West, a regional studies and public policy institute. The Center was renamed "Carroll and Nancy Fields O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West" in September of 1997.

Spent some time at the Juilliard School of Fine Arts as an acting and dialogue professor.

Earned a reported $250,000 a week for "All in the Family" in 1980.

Father of Hugh O'Connor.

His favorite expressions on "All in the Family" (1971) were "Dingbat" and "Stifle" to his wife, Edith, and "Meathead" to his son-in-law, Michael.

Attended college in Ireland and began his career on the stage, playing in Dublin, London and Paris before making his Broadway debut in 1958.

Lost his restaurant in the Northridge earthquake. [17 January 1994]

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) creator Norman Lear 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.

Auditioned for the role of The Skipper on "Gilligan's Island" (1964).

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.

In the early 1950s, while trying to launch his acting career, he worked as a substitute high school English teacher in order to pay the rent.

He met his wife, Nancy, while both were performing in the play "Life with Father" at the University of Montana.

Was fluent in Italian.

He passed away on the same day that blues legend, John Lee Hooker did. Coincidentally, their stars are right next to one another on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mickey Rooney was Norman Lear's first choice to play Archie in the pilot of "All in the Family" (1971). Rooney had reservations about the character, so he refused.

Was a brother of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity

Was so displeased with CBS's axing of "Archie Bunker's Place" (1979) 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) later moved to CBS in 1992.)

Performed the "Archie Bunker" role for a remarkable 12 years and 307 episodes ("All in the Family" (1971) and "Archie Bunker's Place" (1979)).

Passed away 37 days before what would have been his golden wedding anniversary with Nancy Fields.

Archie Bunker, O'Connor's character on "All in the Family" (1971), was ranked #24 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].

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 before his death about the perils of drug abuse.

In real life, he was the total opposite of his "Archie Bunker" character. In fact, his "All in the Family" (1971) co-star Rob Reiner once remarked that O'Connor was even more liberal than Reiner himself.

As executive producer of "In the Heat of the Night" (1988), he often asked longtime friends and musicians to guest-star. Two of his favorites were Miss Jean Simmons and Bobby Short. He gave long-time friend, Lois Nettleton, a significant recurring role in the first few seasons.

He was a 33rd Degree Master Free Mason

Has one grandson, Sean Carroll O'Connor.

He adopted his only child, Hugh, while in Rome filming Cleopatra (1963). He named him after his own brother, who was killed years before in a motorcycle accident.

His son, Hugh, died on what would have been his third wedding anniversary. He was in the process of reconciling with his wife at the time of his death.

Attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC for at least one semester prior to enrolling at University of Montana.

Best remembered by the public for his starring role as Archie Bunker in All in the Family (1971).

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.

Underwent heart bypass surgery in 1989 and angioplasty to prevent a stroke in 1998.

Personal Quotes

"Get between your kid and drugs any way you can."

"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.

Salary

"All in the Family" (1971)

$200,000 per episode

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