Donald O'Connor

Trivia

• Donald O'Connor's last feature film was the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy "Out to Sea", in which he played a dance host on a cruise ship.
• O'Connor also appeared in the short-lived Bring Back Birdie on Broadway in 1981, and continued to make film and television appearances into the 1990s.
• He had a huge career boost when he hosted the Oscars, which earned him two Primetime Emmy nominations.
• He hosted a color television special on NBC in 1957, which was among the first color programs to be videotaped; an excerpt of the telecast was included in NBC's 50th anniversary special in 1976.
• Donald O'Connor was a TV favorite in the 1950s, and was one of the regular hosts of NBC's popular Colgate Comedy Hour.
• In 1949, he was given the leading role in Francis, the whimsical story of a sad-sack soldier befriended by a talking mule. The film was a huge success.
• O'Connor was drafted into the armed forces in 1944.
• He received gradually larger roles in four of the studio's Gloria Jean musicals, and achieved stardom at 17 with Mister Big (1943), co-starring Gloria Jean and comic dancer Peggy Ryan.
• In 1942 O'Connor joined Universal Pictures' troupe of talented teenagers.
• He scored a huge personal success opposite Bing Crosby in "Sing, You Sinners", and even at age 12 displayed excellent comedic timing.

Quotes

• "I was born and raised to entertain other people. I've heard laughter and applause and known a lot of sorrow. Everything about me is based on show business - I think it will bring me happiness. I hope so."
• "I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. I can still leap over the furniture and dance on the wall. And recite 24 bars of that popular tongue twister 'Moses Supposes."
• "It's not easy working with a genius - but Gene was very patient with me." - On his Singin' in the Rain (1952) co-star, Gene Kelly, in 1988.
• In a brief statement, the family said that among O'Connor's last words was the following quip: "I'd like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get."
• O'Connor quit the "Francis" series in 1955, saying, "When you've made six pictures and the mule still gets more fan mail than you do ...."
• "Revivals are so popular now. But doing one would mean being out in cold, cold New York for a year, a year and a half," he said. "I'd rather do something where I go in and work a week, maybe three days. Get it done and come back home."