Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.
O'Connor was born into a vaudeville family, where he learned to dance, sing, play comedy, and perform slapstick. The most distinctive characteristic of his dancing style was its athleticism, for which he had few rivals. Yet it was his boyish charm that audiences found most engaging, and which remained an appealing aspect of his personality throughout his career. In his Universal musicals of the early 1940s, O'Connor was a wisecracking, fast-talking teenager, much like Mickey Rooney of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). But by 1952 and Singin' in the Rain, MGM had cultivated a much more sympathetic sidekick persona for him, and that remained O'Connor's signature image.
His best-known work was his "Make 'Em Laugh" dance routine in Singin' in the Rain (1952), for which O'Connor was awarded a Golden Globe. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award from four nominations and received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Connor was born on August 28, 1925 in Chicago to Vaudevillians Edward "Chuck" O'Connor and Effie Irene (née Crane), the 200th child born at St. Elizabeth Hospital there. Both the O'Connors struggled to remember where and when exactly Donald was born, due to the family's extensive travel. Effie was a bareback rider and Chuck was a circus strongman and acrobat. His father's family was from Ireland.
O'Connor later said, "I was about 13 months old, they tell me, when I first started dancing, and they'd hold me up by the back of my neck and they'd start the music, and I'd dance. You could do that with any kid, only I got paid for it."
When O'Connor was only two years old, he and his seven-year-old sister, Arlene, were hit by a car while crossing the street outside a theater in Hartford, Connecticut; Donald survived, but his sister died. A few weeks later, his father died of a heart attack while dancing on stage in Brockton, Massachusetts.
O'Connor's mother was extremely possessive of her youngest son due to these traumas, not allowing him to cross the street on his own until he turned 13. Effie also stopped O'Connor from learning hazardous dance routines, and made sure she always knew where he was when he was not performing.
O'Connor joined a dance act with his mother and elder brother Jack. They were billed as the O'Connor Family, the Royal Family of Vaudeville. They toured the country doing singing, dancing, comedy, and acting. "Our entire family composed an act," he says. "We really didn't have a choice; if you were in the family you appeared in the act. I loved vaudeville. The live audiences created a certain spontaneity."
When they were not touring they stayed with O'Connor's Uncle Bill in Danville, Illinois. O'Connor never went to school, but performed in the Danville High School dramatic club with Dick Van Dyke and Bobby Short.
He later said, "I learned two dance routines. I looked like the world's greatest dancer. I did triple wings and everything. But I had never had any formal training. So, when I went into movies and started working with all those great dancers, I had a terrible time. I couldn't pick up routines because I didn't have any formal training. At the age of 15 — from 15 on, I really had to learn to dance. And that's quite old for someone to start dancing real heavy, professionally."
Contrasting the vaudevillian style of dance with that of ballet and musicals he observed, "All hoofers, they dance from the waist down. And I had to learn to dance from the waist up. And then, I became what's known as a total dancer."
O'Connor began performing in movies in 1937, making his debut at age 11 in Melody for Two appearing with his family act. He was also in Columbia's It Can't Last Forever (1937).
O'Connor signed a contract at Paramount Studios. He appeared in Men with Wings (1938), directed by William Wellman, as Fred MacMurray's character as a boy. He was billed fifth in Sing You Sinners (1938) playing Bing Crosby's and MacMurray's younger brother.
He was in Sons of the Legion (1938), then had the second lead in a B-picture, Tom Sawyer, Detective (1938), playing Huckleberry Finn opposite Billy Cook's Tom Sawyer. O'Connor third billed in both Boy Trouble (1939) and Unmarried (1939), playing John Hartley as a young boy in the latter.
O'Connor was billed fourth in Million Dollar Legs (1939) with Betty Grable. He played Gary Cooper as a young boy in Beau Geste (1939), directed by Wellman.
Night Work (1939) was a sequel to Boy Trouble and O'Connor was in Death of a Champion (1939).
He went to Warner Bros to play Eddie Albert as a young boy in On Your Toes (1939). He then returned to his family act in vaudeville for two years.
In 1941, O'Connor signed with Universal Pictures for $200 a week, where he began with What's Cookin'? (1942), a low-budget musical with The Andrews Sisters, the studio's teenage singing star Gloria Jean, and Peggy Ryan. The film was popular and Universal began to develop O'Connor and Ryan as their version of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.