Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1925 - June 21, 2001) is an actor, famous for his portrayal of the character Archie Bunker in the television sitcom All in the Family. He also starred in the television series In the Heat of the Night.
O'Connor's own politics were left-wing, but he understood Archie Bunker, and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. The writing on the show was consistently left of center but O'Connor deftly used every chance he had to skewer the liberal pieties of the day. The result was an absorbing, entertaining television show, which was based on the BBC show Til Death Us Do Part and its follow up, In Sickness and in Health with Archie Bunker based on Alf Garnett, but somewhat less abrasive.
O'Connor was born in The Bronx, New York and he lived during much of his youth in the New York City borough of Queens, the same borough where his character Archie Bunker would later live.
