Donald O'Connor
Highest Rated: 100% Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Lowest Rated: 29% Toys (1992)
Birthday: Aug 28, 1925
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
The exuberant singer-dancer-actor Donald O'Connor honed his skills from a young age on the vaudeville circuit as part of a long running family act. His amazing acrobatics, winning personality and incredible comedic timing were quickly noticed by Hollywood and he was featured in a series of B-pictures from the late 1930s through the 1940s, including "Sing, You Sinners" (1938) with Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray, and the popular talking mule comedy "Francis" (1949). However, it was the MGM masterpiece "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) that finally gave O'Connor a first class vehicle for his skills. Even decades after its release, the performer's instantly famous "Make 'em Laugh!" song and dance number remained a knockout. Further assignments in major musicals like "Call Me Madam" (1953) and "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954), as well as numerous turns on television variety programs and in stage shows gained him a well deserved following. His abilities were so well known that when gigs in movies or on television were not available to O'Connor, he could easily find work on stage or as a top flight Las Vegas performer. Although O'Connor's career in later years was temporarily derailed by health issues, his incredible smile, winning personality and seemingly boundless energy stayed with him throughout the decades and his best work ranked among the most exhilarating to be found in the golden age of Hollywood musicals.
Photos
Donald O'Connor
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
36% |
|
Out to Sea | Jonathan Devereaux (Character) | $28.0M | 1997 |
No Score Yet |
|
Bandit: Bandit's Silver Angel | Uncle Cyrus (Character) | - | 1994 |
29% |
|
Toys | Kenneth Zevo (Character) | $21.3M | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Time to Remember | Father Walsh (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet |
|
Alice in Wonderland | The Lory Bird (Character) | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet |
|
Pandemonium | Glenn's Dad (Character) | - | 1982 |
84% |
|
Ragtime | Evelyn's Dance Instructor (Character) | - | 1981 |
100% |
|
That's Entertainment! | Self | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Just One More Time | Self | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet |
|
That Funny Feeling | Harvey Granson (Character) | - | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Brilliant Benjamin Boggs | Benjamin Boggs (Character) | - | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cry for Happy | Murray Prince (Character) | - | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wonders of Aladdin | Aladdin (Character) | - | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Buster Keaton Story | Buster Keaton (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet |
|
Anything Goes | Ted Adams (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis in the Navy |
Lt. Peter Stirling/ |
- | 1955 |
73% |
|
There's No Business Like Show Business | Tim Donahue (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis Joins the WACS | Peter Stirling (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet |
|
I Love Melvin | Melvin Hoover (Character) | - | 1953 |
80% |
|
Call Me Madam | Kenneth Gibson (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Walking My Baby Back Home | Clarence "Jigger" Millard (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis Covers the Big Town | Peter Stirling (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis Goes to West Point | Peter Stirling (Character) | - | 1952 |
100% |
|
Singin' in the Rain | Cosmo Brown (Character) | $23.9K | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Double Crossbones | Davey Crandall (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis Goes to the Races | Peter Stirling (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Milkman | Roger Bradley (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Curtain Call at Cactus Creek | Edward Timmons (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
Francis | Peter Stirling (Character) | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet |
|
Yes Sir, That's My Baby | William Waldo Winfield (Character) | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' | Wilbur McMurty (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Are You With It? | Milton Haskins (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet |
|
Something in the Wind | Charlie Read (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Patrick the Great | Pat Donahue Jr. (Character) | - | 1945 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Merry Monahans | Jimmy Monahan (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chip Off the Old Block | Donald Corrigan (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | This Is the Life | Jimmy Plum (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Top Man | Don Warren (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mister Big | Donald J. O'Connor, Esq. (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet |
|
Private Buckaroo | Donny (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | It Comes Up Love | Ricky Ives (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Get Hep to Love | Jimmy Arnold (Character) | - | 1942 |
92% |
|
Beau Geste | Beau (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Boy Trouble | Butch (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Death of a Champion | Small Fry (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Night Work | Butch Smiley (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Unmarried | Ted Streaver (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Million Dollar Legs | Sticky Boone (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sons of the Legion | Butch Baker (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sing You Sinners! | Mike Beebe (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tom Sawyer, Detective | Huckleberry Finn (Character) | - | 1938 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 72% | The Nanny | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
95% | 94% | Frasier | Harlow Safford (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Building | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1993 |
82% | 90% | Tales From the Crypt | Unknown (Character) | 1992 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Barry Barnes (Guest Star) | 1990 |
No Score Yet | 64% | Highway to Heaven | Jackie Clark (Guest Star) | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hotel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Simon & Simon |
George Decova/ |
1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fantasy Island | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Littlest Hobo | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alice | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bionic Woman | Harry Anderson (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Girl With Something Extra | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bobby Darin Show | Guest | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Carol Burnett Show | Guest | 1969-1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Vacation Playhouse | Donald Dugan (Character) | 1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Petticoat Junction | Director | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Judy Garland Show | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1963 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | I've Got a Secret | Guest | 1961 |