The breezy, eternally youthful Irish-American song-and-dance man, who died last weekend in California at age 78, will probably be remembered longest and most fondly for his performance as Cosmo Brown in ?Singin? in the Rain,? MGM?s 1952 classic movie musical, a film many people, critics included, consider the best example of the genre ever made.
What he might be just as happy to see expunged from his record are the six movies he made from 1949-55 co-starring with Francis, the Talking Mule. There was a seventh film in the series, but O?Connor opted out of it, saying, ?When you?ve made six pictures and the mule still gets more fan mail than you do, it?s time to stop.?
In the final film of the series, O?Connor, having declined to participate, was replaced by Mickey Rooney.
Donald O?Connor was born on Aug. 28, 1925, in Chicago. It was not so much that the O?Connors lived there, but that was where the family act happened to be playing when his mother went into labor.
The O?Connors were circus people who had moved over into vaudeville, and O?Connor always said that he was 11 months old when he was carried onstage to become part of the act. The troupe was often referred to as the Royal Family of Vaudeville.
With vaudeville?s great days fading, O?Connor turned to the movies, making his film debut at age 11, along with his brothers Jack and Billy, in a short called ?Melody for Two? in 1937. The next year he made his first significant feature, appearing with Bing Crosby in the beloved film, ?Sing You Sinners,? in which the crooner sat on a swing with O?Connor and sang a song, ?Small Fry,? which became something of a hit and established the youthful performer as a genuine screen presence.
Most of the movies he made were minor events, but in 1957, he played the title role in ?The Buster Keaton Story,? in which he impersonated another Irish-American vaudevillian, a star who, like O?Connor, had come from a performing family.
Among the few high-budget films O?Connor ever made were ?Call Me Madam,? opposite Ethel Merman, ?There?s No Business Like Show Business,? in which he kissed Marilyn Monroe, and the remake of ?Anything Goes,? in which he co-starred with Crosby and Mitzi Gaynor.
If there is a single scene, a single moment or a single song which encapsulated everything about Donald O?Connor?s grace, wit and style, it is probably the ?Make ?Em Laugh? number from ?Singin? in the Rain.?
The moment might not exist at all, but for that fact that the film?s major star, Gene Kelly, who was also the movie?s co-director, with Stanley Donen, was bothered by the fact that O?Connor didn?t have a significant solo number.
In ?Make ?Em Laugh,? O?Connor sang and danced so athletically and so acrobatically, overturning furniture and literally climbing the walls of the set and, finally, crashing through one of them, that the number is still, half a century later, absolutely astonishing.
In interviews, over the years, O?Connor often conjectured about the number of children who might have suffered scrapes and bruises trying to recreate the number, and the stunts, at home.
O?Connor made few films after the mid-1960s, but in 1974, when MGM put together a compilation film celebrating dozens of their most memorable screen moments, O?Connor was the on-screen co-narrator. The movie, ?That?s Entertainment,? was a great success and sufficiently popular to inspire ?That?s Entertainment Part 2? in 1976.
For the sequel, the producers dug deeper into MGM?s treasure trove and constructed a film that included highlights from a few of Donald O?Connor?s less memorable movies, the names of which were long forgotten, for the most part.
In 1983, the actor appeared in a Broadway revival of ?Show Boat,? playing Cap?n Andy and interpolating a tap dance number into Act II. O?Connor received cordial reviews, but the run of the production was brief.
In 1997, he was he subject of a tribute on the part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, involving personal appearances at screenings of some of his films.
In recent decades, Donald O?Connor devoted more and more time to composing music for the concert hall. In 1956, he had conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the premiere performance of his first symphony, ?Reflections d?un Comique.?
An album of O?Connor?s music was recorded in Europe by the Brussels Symphony Orchestra.
In 1981, the actor had a small role in Milos Forman?s film adaptation of E. L. Doctorow?s novel, ?Ragtime.? It was the first time Donald O?Connor had appeared on screen in 16 years.