Frank O'Connor (actor, born 1897)

For the actor and director born in the 1880s, see Frank O'Connor (director).
Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor in his twenties. He is a caucasian man with short, well-groomed hair. He wears what appears to be a collared shirt, likely button-up, possibly with a necktie, underneath a jacket with a popped up collar.
O'Connor in the late 1920s, photographed by Melbourne Spurr[1]
Born
Charles Francis O'Connor

(1897-09-22)September 22, 1897
Lorain, Ohio, U.S.
DiedNovember 9, 1979(1979-11-09) (aged 82)
New York City, U.S.
Burial placeKensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • painter
  • rancher
Notable work
Spouse
​
(m. 1929)​

Charles Francis "Frank" O'Connor (September 22, 1897 – November 7, 1979) was an American actor, painter, and rancher and the husband of novelist Ayn Rand. Frank O'Connor performed in several films, typically as an extra, during the silent and early sound eras. While working on the set of the 1927 film The King of Kings, O'Connor met Rand, and they eventually dated each other steadily. They married in 1929. When O'Connor and Rand moved to California so Rand could work on the movie adaptation of her novel The Fountainhead, O'Connor purchased and managed a ranch in the San Fernando Valley for several years. In addition to raising numerous flora and fauna on the ranch, he there developed the Lipstick and Halloween hybrids of Delphinium and Gladiolus.

After the couple moved to New York City in 1951, he took up painting and became a member of the Art Students League of New York. He provided the cover art for some of Rand's published work after this time. Rand attributed to O'Connor inspiration for some of the themes and characters in her writing, and he provided the title for her novel Atlas Shrugged.

In 1954, Rand pressured O'Connor into assenting to her having a sexual affair with Nathaniel Branden. The affair deeply troubled O'Connor and lasted until 1968. Late in his life, O'Connor struggled with excessive alcohol consumption. He died in 1979 and was buried in Kensico Cemetery; after Rand died in 1982, she was buried alongside him.

According to cognitive psychologist Robert L. Campbell, O'Connor "eludes" Rand's biographers.[2] Rand said that O'Connor was an inspiration for her writing and the model for her idealized male protagonists, like Howard Roark and John Galt. Other associates of Rand and O'Connor have objected and said that Rand's claims about O'Connor's personality were inaccurate and that their marriage struggled because he was more soft-spoken and gentle than she preferred.

  1. ^ Britting (2004, pp. 38–39, 132)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).