Hugh O'Connell

{{short description|American actor}} {{For|the Wisconsin jurist|Hugh R. O'Connell}} {{Infobox person | name = Hugh O'Connell | image = Once In A Lifetime Wedding Scene Set.png | image_size = | caption = O'Connell (extreme right) in the 1930 play ''Once in a Lifetime''. | birth_date = August 4, 1898 | birth_place = New York, New York <br> United States | death_date = January 19, 1943 (aged 44) | death_place = Hollywood, California <br> United States | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1929–1942 (film) }}

'''Hugh O'Connell''' (August 4, 1898 – January 19, 1943) was an American film actor and performed on Broadway.<ref>Fleming p. 265</ref>

==Early years== Hugh O'Connell was born on August 4, 1898, in New York City.<ref name="ibdb">{{cite web |title=Hugh O'Connell |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/hugh-oconnell-54819 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=January 25, 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029031052/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/hugh-oconnell-54819 |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> After being orphaned at an early age, he went to live with a farmer near Green Bay, Wisconsin. He studied business at the Appleton Business College in Wisconsin. After working at a depot of the Northwestern Railroad, he became an usher at a theater in Chicago. The Cal Stewart Stock Company was playing at that venue, and when the troupe went on the road, he went with it.<ref name=":0" />

== Career == O'Connell's experience with the Stewart company led to jobs with stock companies in Juneau, Alaska, the province of Saskatchewan in Canada, and other places.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Hugh O'Connell, Orphan Once, Assists Other Orphans Now |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald-hugh-oconnell/189791226/ |access-date=January 25, 2026 |work=Portland Press Herald |date=November 3, 1939 |page=28|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> He left a touring troupe in Seattle, hoping to find better opportunities on the West Coast. When he failed to find such opportunities there and in San Francisco, he went East with another company and acted in "a lot of one-night stands" before joining road companies based in New York.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hugh O'Connell Bares Trials in Giving Theater 'New Face' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-call-bulletin-hugh-oc/189774542/ |access-date=January 25, 2026 |work=The San Francisco Call-Bulletin |date=October 31, 1935 |page=16|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> His Broadway credits include ''Face Value'' (1921), ''Zeno'' (1923), ''Cousin Sonia'' (1925), ''The Wisdom Tooth'' (1926), ''Sure Fire'' (1926), ''Ballyhoo'' (1927), ''Fog'' (1927), ''The Racket'' (1927), ''Gentlemen of the Press'' (1928), ''Week-End'' (1929), ''Once in a Lifetime'' (1930), ''Face the Music'' (1932), ''A Saturday Night'' (1933), ''The Milky Way'' (1934), ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1936'' (1936), and ''Run Sheep Run'' (1938).<ref name="ibdb" /> An Associated Press review of ''The Milky Way'' said it was "the best performance of Hugh O'Connell, who is undoubtedly the funniest actor on the stage ..."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barron |first1=Mark |title=Broadway Roars With Laughter At Hugh O'Connell In 'The Milky Way' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald-hugh-oconnell/189789894/ |access-date=January 25, 2026 |work=Portland Sunday Telegram And Sunday Press Herald |agency=Associated Press |date=May 13, 1934 |page=B 7|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>

==Personal life and death== O'Connell was married and had a son.<ref name=":0" /> He died on January 19, 1943, in Hollywood, California.<ref name=ibdb/>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1931|| ''The Smiling Lieutenant'' || Niki's Orderly || |- |1931|| ''Secrets of a Secretary'' || Charlie Rickenbacker || |- |1931|| ''Personal Maid'' || Kipp || |- |1933|| ''Broadway Through a Keyhole'' || Chuck Haskins || |- |1933|| ''All at Sea'' || || |- |1934|| ''Gift of Gab'' || Patsy || |- |1934|| ''Cheating Cheaters'' || Steve Wilson || |- |1934|| ''Strange Wives'' || Warren || |- |1934|| ''The Man Who Reclaimed His Head'' || Minor Role || Uncredited |- |1935|| ''It Happened in New York'' || Greg Haywood || |- |1935|| ''Chinatown Squad'' || Sergeant McLeash || |- |1935|| ''Manhattan Moon'' || Speed || |- |1935|| ''She Gets Her Man'' || Windy || |- |1935|| ''The Affair of Susan'' || Dudley Stone || |- |1935|| ''Diamond Jim'' || Charles B. Horsley || |- |1937|| ''Ready, Willing, and Able'' || Truman Hardy || |- |1937|| ''Fly-Away Baby'' || Hughie Sprague || |- |1937|| ''Marry the Girl'' || Michael 'Mike' Forrester || |- |1937|| ''The Footloose Heiress'' || John C. Allyn || |- |1937|| ''That Certain Woman'' || Virgil Whitaker || |- |1937|| ''The Perfect Specimen'' || Waldorf Hotel Clerk || |- |1938|| ''Swing Your Lady'' || Smith || |- |1938|| ''Accidents Will Happen'' || John Oldham || |- |1938|| ''Torchy Blane in Panama'' || Skinner || |- |1938|| ''Women Are Like That'' || George Dunlap || |- |1938|| ''Mystery House'' || Newell Morse || |- |1938|| ''Penrod's Double Trouble'' || Professor Caligostro || |- |1940|| ''My Favorite Wife'' || Johnson - Insurance Adjuster || |- |1940|| ''Lucky Partners'' || Niagara Clerk || |- |1941|| ''The Mad Doctor'' || Lawrence Watkins || |- |1941|| ''The People vs. Dr. Kildare'' || Process Server || Uncredited |- |1941|| ''Puddin' Head'' || Kincaid || |- |1941|| ''My Life with Caroline'' || Muirhead || |- |1941|| ''Three Girls About Town'' || Chief of Police || |- |1941|| ''Moonlight in Havana'' || Charlie || (final film role) |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Fleming, E.J. ''Carole Landis: A Tragic Life in Hollywood''. McFarland, 2005.

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0640078}} *[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/hugh-oconnell-54819 Internet Broadway Database] *[https://books.google.com/books?id=kgwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT29 Billboard Jan 30, 1943 Biography]

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Hugh}} Category:1898 births Category:1943 deaths Category:American male film actors Category:Male actors from New York City Category:20th-century American male actors