Carroll O' Connor has died :(

Emmy-Winning Actor Carroll O'Connor Dead at 76


By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Carroll O'Connor, who became one of television's biggest stars as grumpy, bigoted but lovable Archie Bunker on the landmark 1970s TV series ``All in the Family,'' died on Thursday. He was 76.

The Bronx-born O'Connor died at Brotman Medical Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City of a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes, his publicist Charles Sherman said. His wife, Nancy, was at his side.

``He was having chest pains at home,'' Sherman said. ``They rushed him to the hospital and they tried to revive him without any luck. He'd been in and out of the hospital but his heart seemed fine so this kind of took us by surprise.''

Though O'Connor had a long career in show business that included scores of stage and film roles, he was indelibly linked to Bunker and ``All in the Family,'' which was hailed for its groundbreaking social satire -- the likes of which had never before been seen on American television.

The show, which was based on a popular British series, ''Till Death Us Do Part,'' debuted on CBS in January of 1971 and ran for eight seasons before the show was revamped and premiered under a new title, ``Archie Bunker's Place.''

The original show opened with O'Connor and co-star Jean Stapleton as his scatterbrained wife Edith behind the piano in the living of their working-class home in Queens, singing the standard ``Those Were The Days.''

The groundbreaking series first drew controversy over the comic rantings of Bunker, who called blacks ``jungle-bunnies'' and ``spades,'' Puerto Ricans ``spics'' and Asians ``chinks.''

But the show became a major hit and transformed O'Connor from a journeyman actor into a household name with critics hailing his performance as a masterpiece. He won four Emmys for the part.

'MEATHEAD' AND THE JEFFERSONS

Bunker's foils on the show were his liberal, intellectual son-in-law, portrayed by Rob Reiner -- who the irascible dock foreman referred to as ``Meathead'' -- and the black family next door, the Jeffersons, who later had a hit television series of their own.

O'Connor once described his portrayal of the narrow-minded Bunker this way: ``I'm not playing him to make people hate him for his attitude or make them like him. I'm just playing his attitude as truthfully as I know how.''

That portrayal showed Bunker as a loser trapped in his own prejudices and was praised for ultimately advancing race relations.

As he once told the Los Angeles Times: ``The funny thing about Archie is that he wouldn't change his mind. That was the fun, the comedy and the satire. That was what you laughed at. He never laughed at anything himself .... The world was a painful place to him. And because it was painful to him, it was funny to you.''

``Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker was genius at work, God's gift to the world,'' Norman Lear, producer of ``All in the Family,'' said after learning of his death.

O'Connor returned to series television in the late 1980s, winning his fifth Emmy as the small-town sheriff in the NBC series ``In the Heat of the Night,'' which was based on an Academy Award-winning film.

TRAGEDY PROMPTS ANTI-DRUG CRUSADE

Tragedy struck for O'Connor in March of 1995 when his only son, who had been battling drug addiction, shot himself to death. Hugh O'Connor's death inspired O'Connor to launch an anti-drug crusade, which culminated in his public condemnation of the man he said had sold his son drugs.

O'Connor called the drug dealer, Harry Perzigian, a ''partner in murder'' and a ``lawbreaker'' and gave out his address so that he could be ostracized, saying in one interview: ``Harry Perzigian, you sleazeball, we're going to get you.''

Perzigian sued O'Connor for slander but lost the case after a jury trial in Los Angeles.

Film critic Leonard Maltin has said that were it not for O'Connor's ``long-running gig as TV's loudmouth bigot Archie Bunker,'' the actor would not have scored very high based on his work in movies, in which he often played nasty heavies and gruff, boorish characters.

Born Aug. 2, 1924, he was educated at the University of Montana and at Dublin's National University.''

His last screen role was as Minnie Driver's grandfather in the romantic comedy ``Return to Me.''

[theshark8777]

May he rest in peace.

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Alex: Skippy, remember when we were little kids and I accidently ran over you with my bicycle?
Skippy: Yeah
Alex: I drive a car now.

[ISmellFine]

I found out last night. That's so sad.

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~*~*NMRox*~*~
[But you can just call me Jinny Exstead]

Jinny and Teddy rock!

Proud member of the Jinny and Teddy shouldn't break up club.

On April 24, 2008, Dana and I are to meet in LA and handcuff ourselves to Nancy McKeon [Jinny Dearest] and Jay Harrington [Teddy Dearest], and you're not. Hahaha!

Teddy: Be honest with me, not my parents!
Jinny: All right, fine. You want honesty? Why don't you let me tell you a little bit about my family? See, I never really had a birthday party unless of course you wanna count my 15th, when my father showed up for cake, plastered in his underwear! Oh... yeah, by the way, my mom couldn't make it that year either because, well, sadly, six months earlier she BLEW HER BRAINS OUT!!!!!
Teddy: Jinny, my God.
Jinny: As for my brother, ugh... yeah, John... see, he just doesn't like you unless your American, white, and straight... and for me... a few weeks ago when uh... I had that nut case after me... yeah, I had to make a little list, of all the guys that I've slept with in the last two years. I couldn't remember some of their names.
Teddy: Stop.
Jinny: Ya know what? THIS IS WHO I AM, THIS IS MY FAMILY!!!! Come on, it's your turn. You go ahead, flash that all-American, prep school, choir boy smile and you tell me that it doesn't matter.

Visit my Nancy McKeon website at: www.angelfire.com/stars2/NancyMcKeon

[Bluestone]

I found out too. It's really sad. Also dead is musician John Lee Hooker, on the same day.


"Till Death do us Part", indeed.

[Max Whittaker]

[FolFanatic151]

That guy was pretty cool. I mean, even at Mass today they said Caroll O'Connor's name along with the rest of the deceased (in our parish) during the General Intercessions/Prayer of the Faithful.

[MARFAR104]

CARROLL O'CONNOR WAS THE BEST!!!! I JUST LOVED HIS PORTRAYAL OF CHIEF GILLESPIE ON IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT!I THINK THAT THAT MAN COULD PLAY ANY ROLE! SERIOUS OR FUNNY. I WILL MISS HIM SO MUCH!


P.S. I LOVED JOHN LEE HOOKER TOO! SO COOL!

[This message has been edited by MARFAR104 (edited 06-25-2001).]

[This message has been edited by MARFAR104 (edited 06-25-2001).]

[Warm & Fuzzy]

As N@N says... "THOSE WERE THE DAYS" ...I get all teary eyed everytime I see that commerical, I can't stand it...so sad..

It's hard to believe it's almost been 2 months...