Singin’ in the Rain star O’Connor dies aged 78

ENTERTAINER Donald O’Connor, who combined comedy and acrobatics in the show-stopping Make ’Em Laugh number in the classic movie Singin’ in the Rain, died on Saturday, his daughter said. He was 78.

Mr O'Connor, who had been in declining health in recent years, died of heart failure at a retirement home in Calabasas, his daughter, Alicia O'Connor said.

In a brief statement, the family said that among Mr 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." Mr 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.

"He was such a fine man and was one of the great ones," actor Tony Curtis said Saturday.

Songs in movie musicals are often touching or exciting, but Mr O'Connor performed a rare feat with a number that were 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, Mr O'Connor dances with a prop dummy and performs all manner of amusing acrobatics.

Born in Chicago to circus performers who went into vaudeville, he joined his family's act when he was an infant.

Mr O'Connor He made his film debut at age 11 in a dancing scene with two of his brothers in Melody for Two.

As a contract actor for Paramount, Mr O'Connor played adolescent roles in several films, including Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer Detective (1938).

In recent years, he continued working when he found a project he liked, such as appearing in an episode of Tales From the Crypt.