Trivia of Donald O'Connor

 Trivia of Donald O'Connor (28 August 1925 - 27 September 2003)

*O'Connor was born into a vaudeville family, where he learned to dance, sing, play comedy, even slapstick.He made his film debut at age 11 in Melody for Two (1937) with his two brothers, Jack O'Connor and Billy O'Connor, doing a specialty routine. Billy died two years later after contracting scarlet fever.

*Donald never went to school, and had no dance training until he was 15, learning his first dance steps on the streets.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."

*Had appeared with Peggy Ryan in seven films: Private Buckaroo (1942), Get Hep to Love (1942), Top Man (1943), Bowery to Broadway (1944), Chip Off the Old Block (1944), The Merry Monahans (1944) and This Is the Life (1944).

* O'Connor played the lead role in Francis (1950), the story of a soldier befriended by a talking mule. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the film was a huge success. As a consequence, his career focus to production of one Francis film per year until 1955. O'Connor later said the films "were fun to make.He was main role in six Francis movies : Francis (1950), Francis Goes to the Races (1951), Francis Goes to West Point (1952), Francis Covers the Big Town (1953), Francis Join The Wacs (1954), Francis in The Navy (1955).

*While he was hesitant to select a favorite film, he was quick to single out his favorite performance: "Call Me Madam (1953) - my favorite number is in there with Vera-Ellen. It's the number I do out in the garden with her to "It's a Lovely Day Today". It's a beautiful lyrical number.

*Allegedly did not enjoy working with Gene Kelly while filming Singin' in the Rain (1952), because he found him to be rather a tyrant on set.For the "Make 'em Laugh" number, Gene Kelly asked Donald O'Connor to revive a trick he had done as a young dancer: running up a wall and completing a somersault. The number was so physically taxing that O'Connor, who smoked four packs of cigarettes a day at the time, ended up in a hospital bed for a week after its completion. He suffered from exhaustion and painful carpet burns. Unfortunately, an accident ruined all of the initial footage, so after a brief rest O'Connor agreed to do the difficult number all over again.For his performance in Singin' in the Rain (1952), Donald O'Connor won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. While Gene Kelly was not nominated.

*He was supposed to co-star with Bing Crosby in the perennial film classic White Christmas (1954) but was sidelined with pneumonia and replaced by Danny Kaye.

*Successfully portraying Buster Keaton in The Buster Keaton 's Story (1956).One day, the real Buster Keaton visited the set while they were filming a circus scene and Keaton told all of this to a surprised Donald O'Connor.