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Things You Didn’t Know About Carroll O’Connor
I didn’t find a whole lot of dirt on Carroll.
I’ve done a lot of short pieces about actors and celebrities. Generally, I find a lot of unsavory information about them. Much of it I didn’t include. However, in Carroll’s case, there really wasn’t much there. Often there were numerous spouses and kids to sort out, plus affairs and children produced as a result of those affairs. You really needed a scorecard to sort it out in some cases.
In Carroll’s case, it was a pretty clean scorecard. One wife, and one adopted son, Hugh.
Of course, Carroll is most known for his portrayal of Archie Bunker, but he had a good run as Bill Gillespie in The Heat of the Night. Beyond that, here are some things you didn’t know about the Carroll O’Connor.”
1: Carroll was considered for the role of the Skipper in “Gilligan’s Island.”
I really don’t think Carroll would have won an Emmy as the Skipper.
2: Mickey Rooney was Norman Lear’s first choice to play Archie Bunker.
Lear wanted a big name to play the role, but nobody flushed a toilet like Carroll O’Connor.
