Carroll O'Connor

Personal tragedy struck O'Connor in 1995 when his only son Hugh committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction.
. In fact, he was once an English teacher before turning to acting. Quayle was knighted in 1985. 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 was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1969 for his role in Anne of the Thousand Days. Mister O'Connor also appeared on episodes of many popular television series such as Gunsmoke, I Spy, The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West. His film roles included parts in Ice Cold in Alex (1958), The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

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). His own Shakespearian roles included Falstaff and Othello; he also appeared in contemporary plays. He served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and began his acting career shortly afterwards. From 1948 to 1956 he directed at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and laid the foundations for the creation of the Royal Shakespeare Company. 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. After appearing in vaudeville, he joined the Old Vic in 1932. 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. He was born in Ainsdale in Lancashire and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

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. John Anthony Quayle (7 September 1913 — 20 October 1989) was an English actor and director. 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. O'Connor later starred in the television series In the Heat of the Night as Police Chief Bill Gillespie from 1988 to 1994. 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).