Carroll O'Connor

Personal tragedy struck O'Connor in 1995 when his only son Hugh committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction. Soon afterwards he died of cerebral thrombosis. In fact, he was once an English teacher before turning to acting. His last public appearance was in 1974 as a guest in the TV show Milleluci hosted by Mina and Raffaella Carrā. Although O'Connor was famous for murdering the English language as Archie Bunker, it should be pointed out he was highly educated and cultured. He performed in musical reviews and commedies by Garinei and Giovannini. Mister O'Connor also appeared on episodes of many popular television series such as Gunsmoke, I Spy, The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West. Rabagliati was active also on the stage until mid 1950s.

O'Connor's many film roles include Lonely Are The Brave (1962), Cleopatra (1963), In Harm's Way (1965), Hawaii (1966), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Kelly's Heroes (1970). From 1940 to 1965 he starred in some twenty movies, including The Barefoot Contessa, Montecarlo, Il Vedovo. He served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and began his acting career shortly afterwards. His enormous fame as a singer helped his acting career restart. O'Connor was born in The Bronx, New York and he lived during much of his youth in the New York City borough of Queens, the same borough where his character Archie Bunker would later live. Indeed, the Fascist government decided to make use of his popularity by choosing his song Sposi (c'č una casetta piccina) ("Wed (there's a little home)") as their demographic campaign anthem. The result was an absorbing, entertaining television show, which was based on the BBC show Til Death Us Do Part and its follow up, In Sickness and in Health with Archie Bunker based on Alf Garnett, but somewhat less abrasive. At a time when anything foreign was banned, the idol Rabagliati was allowed to maintain his American-influenced style.

The writing on the show was consistently left of center but O'Connor deftly used every chance he had to skewer the liberal pieties of the day. Female audience went crazy for him, and covered him with red roses at every performance. O'Connor's own politics were left-wing, but he understood Archie Bunker, and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. He was so popular that his name was sung in the lyrics of La famiglia canterina, Quando canta Rabagliati, Quando la radio. O'Connor later starred in the television series In the Heat of the Night as Police Chief Bill Gillespie from 1988 to 1994. Every Monday night EIAR aired Canta Rabagliati ("Rabagliati sings"), with the singer presenting his most famous songs such as Ma l'amore no, Mattinata fiorentina, Ba-ba-baciami piccina, Silenzioso slow, Bambina innamorata. John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1925 - June 21, 2001) was an American actor, famous for his portrayal of the character Archie Bunker in the television sitcoms All in the Family (1971-1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983). Rabagliati soon became a radio star, and in 1941 even had his own radio show.

While with the Lecuona Cuban Boys he met Giovanni D'Anzi who proposed him an audition with Italian state radio station EIAR. He performed with his face painted black and made a hit with the song Maria la O. After a brief experience with Pippo Barzizza's orchestra, he joined the Lecuona Cuban Boys, a Cuban band. Back in Europe he became a singer.

During his stay he had however the opportunity to get to know new musical genres such as jazz, swing, scat. He remained four years in America, but his career as an actor never took off. He later recalled: "For someone like me, who had seen no more than Lake Como or Monza's cathedral so far, finding myself on board a luxury steamer with three cases full of clothes, a few rolls of dollars, granduchesses and countesses flirting with me was something extraordinary". In 1927 Alberto Rabagliati moved to Hollywood from native Italy as the winner of a Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest.

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. Alberto Rabagliati (Milan, 26 June 1906 - Rome, 7 March 1974) was Italy's first pop star.