Carroll O' Conner with his real life wife at
the Return to Me premiere (2000) . . .
"Those were the
days!":
Remembering Carroll O'Conner and All
in the Family
Carroll
O'Conner passed away
on Thursday, at the age of 76. The man was one of television's
greatest actors, on TV's most daring and groundbreaking sitcom, All in the
Family. The show, driven by O'Conner's wonderful portrayal of the
lovable racist, Archie Bunker, changed the face of television forever.
Archie Bunker said all of those things that "you can't say on
TV." The show was so bold, when it premiered in 1971, that it
literally jolted awake millions of complacent couch potatoes, and got them
thinking about, and rethinking their opinions on, serious issues such as racism,
sexism, drug legalization, police brutality, homosexuality, war, peace,
corporate monopolies, euthanasia, the environment, rape, and, more than
anything, Republicans. After All in the Family called
them on their shit, conservatives could never gain back their squeaky clean
image. The secret was out, America knew what these closet-bigots
were saying behind closed doors, and things would never be the same; the days of
Father Knows Best were gone forever. Three years after All in
the Family's television debut, Republican President Richard M. Nixon
resigned, White House tapes were released, filled with Nixon's racial slurs, and
suddenly Archie Bunker became a real person -- only, he wasn't a taxi cab driver
-- he was the President of the United States of America. The entire
Republican party bowed its head in shame. As America's right sunk to new
lows, All in the Family jumped to new heights, spending five years as the
number 1 show in America. In 2001, as America once again forgets the evil
that is Republican, All in the Family becomes as relevant, if not more
relevant, than it was 30 years ago. Maybe some daring soul will try to
wake us all up again, with an All in the Family for the new millennium.
Sadly, we won't have a Carroll O'Conner to bring it to life. After playing
Archie Bunker for 12 years, winning 4 Emmy awards in the process, O'Conner has
proven, time and again, that he is the rarest of actors . . . one that can make
us laugh until we cry, laugh until we comprehend, and laugh until we change the
world.
-Alex Sandell
Carroll
O' Conner with his real life wife at
the Return to Me premiere (2000) . . .
. . . And with his TV wife on All in the Family (1971).