Singin' in the rain star dies at 78

Donald O’Connor, who combined comedy and acrobatics in the show-stopping Make ’Em Laugh number in the classic movie Singin’ In The Rain, has died at 78.

The actor, who had been in poor health in recent years, died of heart failure yesterday at a retirement home in Calabasas, California, his daughter, Alicia O’Connor, told The Associated Press.

In a brief statement, the family said that among O’Connor’s last words was the following quip: “I’d like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get.”

O’Connor won an Emmy, but never an Oscar. He was best known for films he made in the 1950s – a series of highly successful Francis The Talking Mule comedies and movie musicals that put his song-and-dance talents to good use.

Songs in film musicals are often touching or exciting, but O’Connor performed a rare feat with a number that was laugh-out-loud funny.

The best, 1952’s Singin’ In The Rain,” also starred Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and took a satirical look at Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound pictures.

As he sings Make ’Em Laugh, O’Connor dances with a prop dummy and performs all manner of amusing acrobatics.

“Someone handed me a dummy that was on the stage,” he recalled in a 1995 interview. “That was the only prop I used. I did a pratfall and we wrote that down. Every time I did something that got a laugh, we wrote it down to keep in the number.”

The American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 American films made ranked Singin’ In The Rain at 10.

“He was incredible, a consummate performer. Always entertaining, always talking, always laughing,” said Tim Fowlar his musical director for 30 years. “He loved to perform and that’s pretty much all he knew.”

Among O’Connor’s other 50s musicals were Call Me Madam, Anything Goes and There’s No Business Like Show Business.