He Faced A Terrible Tragedy
Everyone knows Carroll O’Connor for his portrayal of the opinionated and just plain obnoxious Archie Bunker from All in the Family. But what most people don’t know is that the real O’Connor was nothing like the prejudiced Bunker.
Also on the list of little-known facts is a family tragedy that shook O’Connor to his core. He felt it so deeply that he took the case to the government and demanded a change of law.
1. He Was A New York City Baby
Carroll O’Connor was born in Manhattan on August 2, 1924. His father was a lawyer, and his mother a teacher. Connor had every intention of following in his parents’ footsteps and getting a university degree, but when America entered WWII, he had to do something.
He immediately dropped out of university and declared that he would fight for his country. But there was a problem he didn’t see coming.
2. They Didn’t Want Him
With WWII making Americans nervous, O’Connor selflessly offered up his services to the United States Navy. To his surprise, they gave him a hard pass. Luckily, O’Connor had a second choice: the US Merchant Marine. After serving his country this way, O’Connor did manage to get back on the university track.
But here, he only ran into more trouble.
3. He Had A Political Edge
O’Connor had a political edge, and it came out when he was editing the school newspaper at the University of Montana. When the university threatened to destroy an issue of the newspaper due to a political cartoon they objected to, O’Connor refused to continue working there and walked off the job in protest.
For O’Connor, the drama at university was just getting started.
4. He Loved Drama
O’Connor wasn’t studying theater at university, but he did appear in student productions. When performing in Our Town he fell in love. This was with Nancy Fields, who worked in lighting and makeup. They were head over heels for one another, but their new relationship was soon put to a difficult test.
Fate put an ocean between them.
5. He Was A Good Brother
O’Connor had two brothers—and the younger one, Hugh, needed help getting into medical school. Hugh was in Dublin, Ireland but this didn’t stop O’Connor from being the good big brother. He packed his bags and went to where his brother needed him. O’Connor ended up with a degree from University College Dublin, but he never forgot about his sweetheart, Fields.
6. She Came To Get Hm
As it turned out, Fields had also not forgotten O’Connor. When she graduated, she caught a ship to Ireland, and the two made it official while there. Eventually, they ended up back in the States and, after getting a master's degree, O’Connor began acting in theater. It wasn’t long before television called his name.
WWD, Getty Images7. He Hit The Tube
O’Connor soon started getting roles as a character actor. It seemed that a lot of shows needed someone with O’Connor’s looks and personality. He appeared in TV shows like The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, and I Spy. While appearing in small roles in TV shows was good work, what O’Connor truly needed was a regular role—that, and a little luck.
An Experiment Gets Out Of Control | The Outer Limits, MGM Presents
8. He Wasn’t Quite Right
TV genius Sherwood Schwartz was busy casting his sitcom Gilligan’s Island. He was having a tough time finding the right actor to play the lovable—but sometimes gruff—Skipper. Schwartz considered O’Connor, but thought that he just didn’t quite hit the perfect balance. Instead, they went with Alan Hale Jr.
O’Connor had missed out on a legendary TV show. Somehow, the disappointments kept coming.
Gilligan's Island | Gilligan's Best Moments | Compilation | Warner Classics, Warner Bros. Classics
9. He Lost Out
Another cult-status TV show that O’Connor was up for was Lost in Space. This sci-fi retelling of The Swiss Family Robinson novel would see O’Connor playing Dr Smith—a scientist with an evil plot against the Robinsons. Sadly, O’Connor lost out to actor Jonathan Harris who made the role into an entire career.
It was yet another dashed opportunity—and yet, somehow, there was more hardship on the horizon for O'Connor.
CBS Television., Wikimedia Commons
10. He Gave Him A Special Name
In 1962, O’Connor was in Italy, having taken on a small role in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor. He and his wife were there together, and they decided to enlarge their family. They adopted a son who was just six days old at the time. In a touching move, O’Connor named the boy Hugh, after his brother Hugh, who he'd lost in a motorcycle accident the year before.
Sadly, there was only tragedy ahead for little Hugh O’Connor.
Lonnie - Why not me, LonnieLover111. He Got A Call
O’Connor and his wife liked Italy and ended up living there. In 1968, O’Connor got an interesting call from TV legend Norman Lear. Lear knew of a British sitcom that was just begging for an American remake. The show was Till Death Us Do Part, and Lear needed O’Connor to come back to America to play the leading role.
But there was something very wrong with this part.
12. He Thought It Was Impossible
Weirdly enough, O’Connor knew all about Till Death Us Do Part. Before getting the call from Lear, he’d read about it. The show dealt with topics like racial prejudice that O’Connor was sure you couldn't touch in America. Because O’Connor was skeptical about the show, he handed Lear a strange request.
13. He Wanted A Way Back
O’Connor agreed to come to New York and take the role, but he asked something of Lear that probably made him very nervous. He asked for a return ticket. O’Connor was so sure the show would fail, he wanted to make sure he could get back to Italy when it did. Still, O’Connor was ready to do what he could to make this show a success.
14. He Had To Be Loveable
The US version of this British TV show was getting the name Justice For All, and there was a good reason that Lear needed O’Connor. You see, the main character had some very unpopular opinions and Lear knew that O’Connor could find the right tone to make him still lovable enough to carry the show.
But the initial execution of the pilot wasn't smooth sailing in the slightest.
Justice for All 1968 Unaired pilot 1968, Retro Videos
15. It Didn’t Work
O’Connor appeared in the ABC’s pilot for Justice for All, and so did co-star Jean Stapleton as his wife. But the actors that played his daughter and son-in-law were not working out. In fact, they had to make yet a second pilot—with the same script, a different title, and some new cast members.
Still, something wasn’t quite right.
Justice for All 1968 Unaired pilot 1968, Retro Videos
16. They Wanted To Shelve It
After two pilots, ABC was having second thoughts about a show that had such an unlikable person as a main character. Even if O’Connor could make Archie Bunker lovable, they wanted to shelve the idea. Rival network CBS liked the concept for the show, and they decided to take it on. Luckily, CBS was happy with O’Connor in the lead role.
But they demanded some other changes.
CBS Photo Archive, Getty Images17. They Kept Trying
CBS changed the show's title to All in the Family and also nixed Lear’s idea to film it in black and white. Though he agreed to film in color, he still used the most muted colors possible. This way, the look of the show evoked something out of an old photo album.
Now under CBS's wing, the show embarked on creating a third pilot. If this didn’t work, they’d probably call it quits and O’Connor would be back on a plane to Italy. Well, that didn’t happen.
CBS Photo Archive, Getty Images
18. They Got The Laughs
CBS decided to film All in the Family on videotape in front of a live studio audience. This meant that O’Connor and the other actors had to get real laughs and not rely on a laugh track. Well, they did get laughs, and the show was a total hit. But, sometimes the laughter on All in the Family could get wildly out of control.
Donaldson Collection, Getty Images
19. The Laughed Till It Hurt
In 1972, O’Connor’s friend Sammy Davis Jr appeared on the show playing himself. At the end of the episode, Davis surprises Bunker with a kiss on the cheek. The kiss—and O’Connor’s reaction to it—resulted in the longest recorded audience laughter the show ever experienced. It was so long they had to edit it to ensure that the show wouldn’t go overtime.
But the show was not just about the laughs.
Bettmann, Getty Images20. They Tackled Issues
All in the Family was tackling issues that most TV shows—let alone sitcoms—steered clear of. Besides the almost constant exploration of prejudice, the show referenced controversial topics like religion, education, women’s rights, politics, and—maybe most divisively—America’s involvement in Vietnam.
But it wasn’t always so serious.
21. They Heard It Here First
While it may not be something to be proud of, All in the Family used a sound cue that American prime time audiences had never heard through their TVs before—although they’d all heard it live many times. This was the sound of a toilet flushing, and it even made an appearance during Gloria and Mike’s wedding.
When O’Connor wasn’t busy in the upstairs toilet, he was busy landing insults.
'You're Still My Little Girl And Always Will Be' | All In The Family, All In The Family
22. He Was Insulting
O’Connor’s loveable Archie Bunker became known for his various catchphrases that were almost all insults. He called his wife a “dingbat," his son-in-law a “meathead,” and told many people to “stifle”. Sadly, these were almost all taken from Lear’s own father.
Because O’Connor had to be so mean, some fans couldn't separate the actor from the character.
23. They Were Opposites
Maybe because O’Connor was a convincing actor, many viewers assumed that O’Connor had similar views to his character Archie Bunker. The truth was actually the opposite. O’Connor and Bunker, if they had somehow had a chance to meet, would not have seen eye to eye on anything.
Still, some viewers had to take matters into their own hands.
24. He Got An Angry Letter
Some viewers couldn’t separate O’Connor from his character Archie Bunker. One piece of mail came that was an angry letter telling O’Connor off for his prejudiced beliefs. O’Connor’s son got to the letter before his dad saw it, and it angered the nine-year-old. Hugh O’Connor loved his dad, and he was going to do something about that letter.
Archie Bunker's racial ranking system, Martin Caidin
25. His Son Had His Back
Hugh O’Connor had had enough of people thinking his dad was a hater, so he wrote a letter back to the TV viewer. In the letter, he explained that his dad was playing a role, and that he actually liked people from every “Nation, Country, State, and Contenant (sic)”. O’Connor eventually found the letter and kept it as a souvenir in his wallet.
But there were some problems on All in the Family not easily solved by a letter.
Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images
26. He Was AWOL
Just before season five of All in the Family, O’Connor had contractual beef with CBS. As the fifth season was about to begin, it looked like O’Connor would not be there. The writers got nervous and started creating a storyline that had Archie AWOL from the Bunker household.
The situation was getting tense, and most believed that All in the Family without O’Connor was not a show at all.
Donaldson Collection, Getty Images
27. They Had A Plan
If O’Connor didn’t agree to continue with All in the Family, CBS had a plan. They would end Bunker’s life and have his TV best friend Stretch Cunningham move into the Bunker household. O’Connor did eventually resolve the dispute—and got a raise. But now O’Connor knew about their plan to replace him with Cunningham.
This did not sit right with O’Connor.
28. He Wanted Him Gone
Stretch Cunningham—hilariously played by James Cromwell—was still part of the cast of All in the Family. Since CBS had threatened to replace O’Connor with Cromwell, O’Connor felt a little uncomfortable having his potential replacement lurking in the background. To fix this, O’Connor had CBS write Cunningham off the show.
O'Connor had a bit of a ruthless streak and was quite good at playing an unlikable character. But few know that he was actually an inspiration for one of DC Comics' villains.
29. He Joined The DC Universe
If you’re a Batman fan and think O’Connor looks a little familiar, there’s a reason. In 1976, while All in the Family was at its popularity peak, DC Comics introduced a new enemy for Batman. This was Rupert Thorne, and the artists used O’Connor—and his trademark cigar—as the key likeness they based their character off of.
While some saw Archie Bunker as a villain, others saw him in a different way.
Batman: Caped Crusader Ep 1 | Rupert Thorne Tells Penguin About The Mole Scene, My Animated Studio
30. Some People Didn’t Get It
Even though O’Connor’s Archie had some repulsive ideas, audiences couldn't help but love him. In fact, when TV Guide asked its readers who the best TV Dads were of all time, Bunker got the 24th spot. Which makes you wonder how bad these people’s real dads were.
It seemed that viewers' love for Archie Bunker had no limits.
Best Of Archie Bunker's Catchphrases (ft. Carroll O'Connor) | All In The Family, All In The Family
31. It Wasn’t A Spin Off
As it turned out, O’Connor also loved Archie Bunker. So, when CBS canceled All in the Family, O’Connor decided to continue on in a new series called Archie’s Bunker’s Place. The setting of the show is a bar that Bunker bought around the end of All in the Family. Mike and Gloria were now gone, but Bunker’s wife, played by Stapleton, remained by his side.
But now it wasn’t that easy to keep Stapleton in her place.
Let Edith Open Her Gift (ft Jean Stapleton) | All In The Family, All In The Family32. He Played God
It was hard to get Stapleton to commit fully to Archie Bunker’s Place. Maybe she’d grown tired of being Archie’s "dingbat" wife. While Stapleton appeared in some episodes, O’Connor thought her role had gone stale. However, the solution to this problem was horrifying: They planned to kill her character, Edith, off. Since O’Connor was now producing the show, that’s exactly what happened.
It sounds like O’Connor was a little heartless to his good friend Stapleton. Well, CBS was about to outdo him.
Let Edith Open Her Gift (ft Jean Stapleton) | All In The Family, All In The Family
33. He Got No Warning
In 1983, CBS shockingly canceled Archie Bunker’s Place. It was so sudden, they didn’t even tell the actors before they did it. O’Connor’s nose was out of joint, and refused to work for CBS ever again. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. His next show, In the Heat of the Night, moved from NBC to CBS and he was back again.
But O’Connor had other, more serious things to worry about.
In The Heat Of The Night (1967) | Official Trailer | MGM Studios, Amazon MGM Studios34. His Son Got A Diagnosis
Remember, O’Connor and his wife had adopted a baby in Italy, who they named Hugh. Sadly, when Hugh was 16 years old he received a scary diagnosis: Hodgkin’s lymphoma. On the plus side, chemotherapy helped Hugh recover from this. But the downside was that he became addicted to some of the medicine used to help with the pain.
Sadly, this was only the beginning of the nightmare.
35. He Knew He Needed Help
While Hugh had survived cancer, he wasn’t doing well at all. During his recovery, he grappled with his addiction problems. Amid his son's struggles, O’Connor was able to provide, at least, some help with his son's acting career. Hugh starred in both Archie Bunker’s Place and In the Heat of the Night.
However, O'Connor's son wasn't the only one with health issues.
36. They Took Him In
In 1989, O’Connor had a health scare of his own. While on the set of In the Heat of the Night, O’Connor had to take a dramatic trip to the hospital. Once there, the doctors realized the actor was in serious trouble—and they performed open heart surgery. O’Connor survived and only missed four episodes of the acclaimed show.
Next stop for O’Connor: a strange holiday recording.
Gillespie Is Reunited With His Daughter | In The Heat Of The Night, MGM Presents
37. They Got Festive
While In the Heat of the Night was a drama about the darker side of humanity, in 1991, something odd transpired. They recorded a Christmas album. O’Connor’s contribution to Christmas Time's A Comin’ was French Christmas carol, “Bring A Torch Jeanette Isabella". He also joined in on a cast-wide rendition of “Jingle Bells”.
It looked like O’Connor could do it all, and his rewards were numerous.
38. He Took Home Some Trophies
Over his career, O’Connor took home one Golden Globe for All in the Family. He also received the honor of five Primetime Emmys. One for In the Heat of the Night and four for All in the Family. In 1990, he entered the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
It was a career to be proud of, and there were things at home for O’Connor to be equally proud of.
39. He Was A Grandfather
In spite of his addiction problems, O’Connor’s son Hugh managed to find a wife and even have a son. This made O’Connor a grandfather to Sean Carroll O’Connor. Sadly, enjoying his growing family was going to be short-lived. Tragedy was waiting in the wings for the O’Connor clan.
TPLP, Getty Images40. His Son Was Desperate
Having a wife and child—and even a role on his father's TV show—wasn’t helping Hugh O’Connor with his addiction issues. On March 28, 1995, O’Connor was on the phone with his son and trying to help him once again. Hugh's response to his father's advice was deeply disturbing.
41. His Last Phone Call With His Son Was Heartbreaking
Hugh seemed more desperate than ever. Replying to his father's insistence that he get professional help, he said something that likely sent a chill down O'Connor's spine: "No, I think I'm going to cap myself today". O'Connor knew he had to get to his son, but when he offered to pick him up, Hugh uttered six unforgettable words: "No Pops, gotta go. So long".
42. They Were Too Late
Terrified that his son would follow through with his plans, O’Connor tried to get him back on the line. With no response, he called the authorities and got them to rush to Hugh’s home. Sadly, just as the officers pulled up, they heard a loud, ominous pop. It was the shot that ended Hugh O’Connor’s life. It was a horrible tragedy that left O’Connor dealing with not only with the loss of his son, but a deep sense of guilt.
43. He Couldn't Stop Thinking About It
O'Connor couldn't help but dwell on the final phone call he shared with his son, wondering what would have happened if they hadn't spoken: "I keep thinking that maybe if I had done the right thing, refused that last phone call, he wouldn't have shot himself. I ask myself if telling me added to his compulsion to do it".
44. He Found The Source
In the wake of this unthinkable tragedy, Carroll O’Connor sprang into action. You see, six months before the tragedy, his son’s wife had given him the name of Hugh's dealer. Just hours after his son’s passing, O’Connor called up authorities and named the dealer.
He was Harry Thomas Perzigian, and O’Connor was going to make sure he got his punishment.
Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images45. He Sent Him Away
Officers listened to O’Connor’s information and the very next day brought Perzigian into the station. In the end, Perzigian’s punishment added up to a fine, community service, a year behind bars, and probation. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something. Perzigian wasn’t about to go quietly. He still had a score to settle with O’Connor.
Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images
46. He Got Sued
Putting Perzigian away wasn’t enough for O’Connor. He went on TV and called him a “sleazeball” and “a partner in murder”. Perzigian didn’t like this much and sued O’Connor for defamation in a civil trial. Perzigian wanted his revenge, but the jury saw it a different way, and in the end, they sided with O’Connor.
But the grieving actor wasn’t through yet.
47. He Changed The Law
O’Connor could see how dealers in America were ruining the lives of many people, and he decided to go after them. He pushed the California government to let families of addicted people sue the dealers to help pay for rehab and medical bills. From O’Connor’s instigation,16 states uphold this law today.
Fighting dealers was serious stuff, but O’Connor still had time for some fun.
48. He Showed Them Off
One thing O’Connor and his late son had in common was the love of cars. In the late 1990s, O’Connor went into business and opened Carroll O’Connor’s Classics. Here he proudly displayed both his own cars and ones that his son Hugh had owned. Included in the showroom were a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and a Maserati 3500 GT.
But O’Connor hadn’t given up on acting.
49. He Did His Last One
O’Connor’s first studio film in 25 years was also his last. This was the Bonnie Hunt-helmed romcom Return to Me about two people brought together by a heart transplant. On June 21, 2001, O’Connor passed due to a heart attack.
When it came time to celebrate his life, the stars were ready to come out.
Ron Galella, Getty Images50. It Was Star-Studded
O’Connor’s funeral was a star-studded affair. Of course, the co-stars from his three TV shows were all there, as was his best friend, fellow TV actor Dallas’ Larry Hagman. Giving the eulogy was film and TV star Martin Sheen, who was then appearing in the rating juggernaut The West Wing.
But the love for O’Connor didn’t stop there.
Getty Images, Getty Images51. There Was A Marathon
Pay television channel TV Land had to do something to mark the passing of the beloved Carroll O’Connor and they had to do something big. They looked at their schedule for the week and decided to move it all forward. In its place, they ran a marathon of non-stop All in the Family episodes.
There was little doubt that the world would miss O’Connor.
Donaldson Collection, Getty Images
52. He Was Number 20
When TV Land named their "50 Greatest TV Icons," O’Connor certainly made the shortlist. In fact, he beat out some fairly hefty competitors. He outdid MASH’s Alan Alda, Dallas’ Larry Hagman, Family Ties’ Michael J Fox, and even Kermit the Frog to take the number 20 spot. Clearly, O’Connor had won the hearts of Americans.
Silver Screen Collection, Getty Images
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