O’Connor Joins ‘Party Of Five’
It could be the best thing to ever happen to “Party of Five” - and it almost didn’t, because the producers were afraid to ask.
The existence of a long-lost grandfather to the Salinger clan was suggested in the show’s first episode. This story line went unpursued through the first season and a half, as traumatic events in the lives of the five children, whose parents perished in a car crash, were explored.
Meanwhile, the creators of the Fox series, Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman, debated who to cast in this important role. “The story of the grandfather was going to be complicated,” Keyser says. The character had a dark side. He abandoned the children’s mother when she was a child. But, Keyser adds, “He also had to be warm and inviting and a fatherly figure. We needed an actor who could be all those things.”
One name always topped the producers’ wish lists: “Carroll O’Connor,” Keyser says. But they convinced themselves that the former Archie Bunker and Chief Bill Gillespie would never agree to a secondary role on a relatively low-rated program, whose appeal is primarily to teens and young adults. (Expanding those demographics would be an O’Connor bonus.)
Finally, like a wallflower getting up the nerve to ask someone to dance, they decided to just pop the question. “We thought, there’s no way this is going to happen, no way he’s going to say yes,” Keyser says. “But we took a chance and went out there, and amazingly it worked out. He’ll be in five episodes this season.” O’Connor’s first appearance was last week.
O’Connor says it wasn’t a difficult decision to make it a party of six. “The writing is very careful, very thoughtful, creative and good,” he said.
Moreover, after overseeing as well as starring in “All in the Family” and “In the Heat of the Night,” he enjoys just having to act. “I don’t have any responsibility beyond my part. I get my lines. I look them over. I look them over again, coming in and in the makeup chair. I go in, rehearse and shoot. They do all the work for you.”
O’Connor says it also is invigorating to work with the youthful cast. “They’re really wonderful young actors,” he said. “They’re the best I’ve seen around.”
Considering their reaction to O’Connor’s presence, it’s a wonder they are able to do their jobs. Lippman recalls O’Connor’s first day on the set. “Chris and I were standing outside the trailers when Neve (Campbell) came running up to us shouting, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ This was all she said for a very long time.”
Finally Campbell, who plays middle sibling Julia, composed herself enough to exclaim, “It’s Carroll O’Connor.” Then she went back to, “Oh my God! Oh my God,” Lippman says.
“Just the idea of working with someone you grew up watching and idolizing is such an incredible thing. It’s such an honor to work with someone who is this amazing,” Campbell says.
Better yet, O’Connor turned out to be a neat guy. “I was hoping and I thought he would be a good person,” Campbell says. “Luckily, he ended up being wonderful.”
xxxx TUNE IN “Party of Five” airs Wednesday nights at 9 on KAYU-Channel 28 (channel 3 on Cox Cable).