Entertainer Donald O'Connor Dies at 78

Sunday, September 28, 2003

(5:24 AM ET)

By Jeremiah Marquez

Associated Press Writer

He said it was a fluke that he landed in so many musicals, noting he started out as a ``straight'' actor. He also said his song-and-dance image came with a downside. ``Back then, when you were typecast that way, it was very difficult to get dramatic parts,'' he recalled. ``Look at Fred Astaire, who was a darn good actor.'' The ``Francis'' comedies, which featured a bumbling O'Connor and a talking mule (voice by Chill Wills), began in 1949. A few years later, the man who directed them created the ``Mr. Ed'' TV series.

Entertainer Donald O'Connor is shown in the Sept. 1952 handout photo. O'Connor, who combined comedy and acrobatics in the show-stopping "Make 'Em Laugh'' number in the classic movie "Singin' in the Rain,'' died Saturday, Sept. 27, 2003 his daughter said. He was 78.

Image Credit: AP Photo – Courtesy NBC & HO

LOS ANGELES -- AP
Entertainer Donald O'Connor, who combined comedy and acrobatics in the show-stopping ``Make 'Em Laugh'' number in the classic movie ``Singin' in the Rain,'' died Saturday, his daughter said. He was 78.

O'Connor, who had been in declining health in recent years, died of heart failure at a retirement home in Calabasas, his daughter, Alicia O'Connor, told The Associated Press.

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 won an Emmy, but never an Oscar. He was best known for films he made in the 1950s - a series of highly successful ``Francis the Talking Mule'' comedies and movie musicals that put his song and dance talents to good use.

``He was such a fine man and was one of the great ones,'' actor Tony Curtis said Saturday.

Songs in movie musicals are often touching or exciting, but O'Connor performed a rare feat with a number that were laugh-out-loud funny.

The best, 1952's ``Singin' in the Rain,'' also starred Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and took a satirical look at Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound pictures.

As he sings ``Make 'Em Laugh,'' O'Connor dances with a prop dummy and performs all manner of amusing acrobatics.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan