Carroll O’Connor

The Risk of Being Hated

Carroll O’Connor wasn't a likable guy on screen. Or at least the character who fed him for decades wasn't. Before becoming the face of the American working class, he spent years in Dublin studying acting and working in theater. There he met his wife, Nancy Fields, in 1951.

Norman Lear called him for All in the Family in 1971. The script called for an intolerant, grumpy man who clashed with the social realities of his time. O’Connor accepted the role thinking the show wouldn't last long because of its controversial content.

He was completely wrong.

He won four Emmy Awards for playing Archie Bunker. The series broke the mold of 1960s sitcoms by tackling racism and politics head-on. But the actor did more than act. In the final seasons, he demanded writing and producing credits to control the direction of the story.

And he achieved it after several personal battles that almost cost him his job.

So the success was no accident, but a battle fought in boardrooms. Carroll understood that his character worked best when viewers felt a mix of rejection and pity. In 1979, the series was renamed Archie Bunker’s Place and stayed on the air until 1983.

The Law Behind the Tragedy

In 1988 he returned to the top with In the Heat of the Night. He played Police Chief Bill Gillespie in a rural drama that had nothing to do with the canned laughter of his earlier days. The production moved to Georgia to cut costs, and there O’Connor held absolute control over the scripts.

But his life took a turn away from the spotlight. The death of his son Hugh by suicide in 1995, after years of addiction, pulled him away from the mainstream industry. Carroll decided that his name could be good for more than selling TV commercials. He championed the Drug Dealer Liability Act in California during 1997.

This law allowed families to sue civilly anyone who supplied substances to their relatives.

In 1998, he underwent coronary bypass surgery to improve his health, which had been weakened by diabetes. He kept working in minor roles and guest appearances, but his energy was focused on social activism. He never hid his contempt for drug dealers in his television interviews.

His last big-screen appearance was in the movie Return to Me in 2000. He died in Culver City on June 21, 2001, from complications of a heart attack. He was 76 years old.