Job Dancer, singer, actor
Years active 1937-1999
Top Roles Beau at age 12, Harvey Granson, Lt. Peter Stirling / Bosun's Mate Slicker Donovan, Peter Stirling, Don Warren
Top GenresComedy, Musical, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, War
Top TopicsRomance (Comic), Show Business, World War II
Top Collaborators (Director), , (Director), (Director)
Shares birthday with Charles Boyer, Ben Gazzara, Simon Oakland  see more..

Donald O'Connor Overview:

Legendary actor, Donald O'Connor, was born Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor on Aug 28, 1925 in Chicago, IL. O'Connor died at the age of 78 on Sep 27, 2003 in Calabasas, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills) Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.

MINI BIO:

Cheerful, slimly-built, non-stop American dancing star and light comedian with a thick bush of brown hair. A child actor of the late 1930s (the offspring of a family vaudeville act), he blossomed in medium-budget musicals at Universal, and later proved a more-than-useful foil for Hollywood's leading musical lights. Was also for many years the master of Francis the talking mule, but his film career faded in the 1950s as musicals fell from fashion, and he embarked on a fresh career as a composer of light symphonic music.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of Motion Pictures and Television. Donald O'Connor's handprints and footprints were 'set in stone' at Grauman's Chinese Theater during imprint ceremony #103 on Feb 25, 1953. O'Connor was never nominated for an Academy Award.

BlogHub Articles:

Seven Things to Know About

By Rick29 on Apr 20, 2020 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

1. Show business was in his blood. His father, John, worked as an acrobat, clown, trapeze artist, and strong man for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. His mother Effie was a circus bareback horse rider and dancer. When Donald was thirteen-months-old, he and his sister Arlene, who w... Read full article


, Making Us Laugh

By KC on Nov 21, 2009 From Classic Movies

Hey Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I appreciate your love for 's Make 'Em Laugh from Singin' In the Rain (1952). The great pleasure you took in performing it was the best part of your version on SNL, but I needed to watch this right after: Ah, much better.... Read full article


Remembering

By Caftan Woman on Aug 29, 2008 From Caftan Woman

1925 - 2003I have been reminded that we missed the opportunity to recall upon his August 28th birthday. Shame on us. I do hope that that doesn't mean that we have been neglecting to make room in the entertainment portions of our busy lives for the wonderfully talented, warm-hearted g... Read full article


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Donald O'Connor Quotes:

Cosmo Brown: The price of fame. You've got the glory, you gotta take the little heartaches that go with it. Now look at me: I've got no fame, I've got no glory, I've got no big mansions, I've got no money! But I've got - what have I got?
Don Lockwood: I don't know, what have you got?
Cosmo Brown: I gotta get out of here.


Cosmo Brown: Make 'em laugh!


Tom Milford: You know, Harv, I hate to see you so hacked up. I wish there was something I could do.
Harvey Granson: Mary Leona. Get me off the alimony hook.
Tom Milford: That good a friend I am not.
Harvey Granson: I'll give you three of my paintings in your apartment.
Tom Milford: How much are they worth?
Harvey Granson: $25,000 a piece.
Tom Milford: I have to take Leona?
Harvey Granson: Yeah.
Tom Milford: Forget it.
Harvey Granson: Fairweather friend.


read more quotes from Donald O'Connor...



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Grauman's Imprints

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Donald O'Connor on the
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Donald O'Connor Facts
In 1994, he and his wife, Gloria Noble, had a close brush with death. It was about four in the morning and he had just finished reading something in bed. All at once, the house started to shake (earthquake). The house started sliding off its foundation. Luckily, the house wedged up against a big tree and that kept it from crashing into a canyon.

He left Universal Pictures due to unhappiness over the studio's decision of type-casting him to the "super-polite boy" roles almost throughout his acting career, despite starring in many box office hits released by Universal. It was a bitter-sweet departure as Donald had been with Universal for most of his acting career. The studio held a small party for him and gave him a camera along with 14 films as a departure gift. Sadly, his acting career in Hollywood ended soon after his departure from Universal.

Danced with Beverly Yissar (nee Scherrer) when she was 5 or 6; he, 10 or 11.

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