Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995                   TAG: 9509080025
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: EUN-KYUNG KIM ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SEDONA, ARIZ.                                LENGTH: Medium

ACTOR WOULD JUST AS SOON STAY AT HOME

The 70-year-old actor says it's a fluke he landed so many roles in musicals - among them ``Singin' in the Rain'' with Gene Kelly.

``I started out as a `straight' actor, as they used to call it. I didn't learn to dance until I was 15,'' O'Connor says. ``It was very embarrassing making mistake after mistake and not being able to do what some 5-year-old kid could.''

O'Connor moved to Sedona last year after he and his wife lost their Los Angeles home in an earthquake. During a recent interview, he reminisced about his career as he sat in his living room overlooking the red stone columns of Bell Rock.

O'Connor was born to vaudeville parents and placed on stage when he was 3 days old. He started making movies 13 years later after a talent scout spotted him in an act.

``I had three dance routines and I looked like the world's greatest dancer, but I never knew any of the basic steps. I just didn't have the formal training,'' he said. ``I come from a circus and vaudeville family and that's really all I can do.''

It was enough to land him roles in several dozen films and tag him a ``song and dance'' man, a characterization he appreciates but doesn't necessarily care for.

``Back then, when you were typecast that way, it was very difficult to get dramatic parts,'' he recalled. ``Look at Fred Astaire, who was a darn good actor. Gene Kelly was even better, although he did get to do some dramatic things.''

Many still remember O'Connor for his ``Make 'Em Laugh'' routine with Kelly in ``Singin' in the Rain,'' but his several dozen movie roles are varied.

O'Connor made his movie debut in 1938 with Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray in ``Sing, You Sinners.'' A year later, he was in ``Beau Geste'' as the young version of the character played by Gary Cooper.

Other film credits include ``On Your Toes,'' ``There's No Business Like Show Business'' and six Francis the Talking Mule movies.

O'Connor was one of the few stars under contract to three studios at the same time. He made movies at Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures and MGM.

He starred on television at the same time he performed in such big musicals as ``Singin' in the Rain'' and ``Call Me Madam.'' He won an Emmy as host of TV's ``Colgate Comedy Hour'' and starred in the show, ``Here Comes Donald.''

O'Connor said he now only accepts projects that he thinks would be fun and different, such as appearing in an episode of ``Tales From the Crypt.'' He had a part in ``Toys'' with Robin Williams in 1993.

He said he still sifts through scripts but has little desire to leave his home for more than a few weeks at a time.

``Revivals are so popular now. But doing one would mean being out in cold, cold New York for a year, a year and a half,'' he said. ``I'd rather do something where I go in and work a week, maybe three days. Get it done and come back home.''

O'Connor said he has a hard time understanding current movies that are filled with what he sees as gratuitous sex and violence. He said when he first began making films, violent scenes involving stabbings or shootings were done off screen or shown in shadows.

``Sex, violence and crime have been going on forever but with the advent of television it's a more personal thing,'' he said. ``And now, of course, with the technology they've got for killing, it's unbelievable. They're so many ways of doing it now.''

While ``Singin' in the Rain'' is better known, O'Connor said one of his favorite films was his first, ``Sing, You Sinners,' in which he played kid brother to his idol, Crosby.

``In between the [vaudeville] shows, I would go out and watch movies, so I knew Bing Crosby from the movies very well. He was like a friend,'' he said. By the time O'Connor met co-stars Fred MacMurray and Elizabeth Patterson, ``it was a big thrill. It was like a big family. That was the biggest thing that happened to me at the time. I've got to say that still is one of my favorites.''