Donald O'Connor

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1680 Vine Street; and for Television at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Made his film debut at age 12 in Melody for Two (1937) with his two brothers, Jack O'Connor and Billy O'Connor, doing a specialty routine. Billy died a year or two later after contracting scarlet fever.

Born into a vaudeville family, O'Connor was the youthful figure cutting a rug in several Universal musicals of the 1940s.

From a vaudeville family act, his father John Edward "Chuck" O'Connor was an acrobat with Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Baily Circus as a "leaper". His mother was a circus bareback rider and dancer named Effie. One of seven children, three died in infancy, but the rest were incorporated into show business. His mother kept the family going with extended family members despite many deaths (including her husband) until 1941.

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).

Had to have three days bed rest after the "Make 'Em Laugh" sequence in Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Received the 1953 Sylvania Award for his work on television.

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.

Sidelined as a composer. The Brussels Symphony Orchestra recorded some of his work. In 1956, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of his first symphony "Reflections d'un comique".

Father of Donna O'Connor, Alicia O'Conner, Donald Frederick O'Connor (born 1960) and Kevin O'Connor (born 1961). Uncle of Patsy O'Connor.

In the space of two years, he appeared in two different, unrelated adaptations of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", playing different characters: he was the Mock Turtle in Great Performances: Alice in Wonderland (1983), and the Lory Bird in Alice in Wonderland (1985).

In 1994, he and his wife, Gloria Noble, had a close brush with death. It was about four in the morning and he had just finished reading something in bed. All at once, the house started to shake (earthquake). The house started sliding off its foundation. Luckily, the house wedged up against a big tree and that kept it from crashing into a canyon.

In 1998, he signed on for The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, a revue featuring 54-year-old + performers. He was their headliner, dancing and singing his way through eight performances a week. He closed out the season with the Palm Spring Follies, performing in the last four shows after recovering from a serious illness that stopped him from performing.

Despite failing health in 2003, he made appearances at the Roger Ebert Overlooked Film Festival and the opening of the Judy Garland Museum.

Posthumously inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2004.