Donald O'Connor makes acrobatic skill funny by putting it to such undignified use. We rate him highly as a dancer and comedian, though the light roles that kept him busy gave too little space to anything else.
Fi1m perspective
Donald O'Connor runs up a wall and takes pratfalls in ‘Make 'Em Laugh’, his number in Singin' in the Rain (1952). We laughed at the falls because he gives looking ridiculous as much care as he gives the dancing. The athletic skill is there to be admired, but he does not let admiration get in the way of the joke. His boyish manner keeps all that exertion from feeling grimly strenuous. We rate him highly for making difficult physical comedy feel so companionable.
The Universal youth musicals of the 1940s often paired him with Peggy Ryan and put his singing, dancing and comedy to work. Francis (1950) cast him as Peter Stirling opposite a talking mule, with Arthur Lubin directing the series. Those comedies ran until 1955 and depended on his straight-man timing. The limitation was the lightweight material and the shortage of dramatic opportunities, a frustration he felt himself. Being able to do several things well did not mean being offered several different kinds of part.
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's Singin' in the Rain gave him a better use for his energy as Cosmo Brown. The romance is slight, but the comic timing and pleasure of the performances make the film an easy recommendation. O'Connor choreographed ‘Make 'Em Laugh’ himself, trying pratfalls before Kelly's assistants and having the ones that amused them written down. That practical method suits the result: the routine keeps finding fresh ways for him to make a fool of himself.
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) kept him in musicals as Tim Donahue. His work also took him to television and the stage, with occasional film parts including Evelyn's dance instructor in Ragtime (1981). The limited dramatic opportunities leave us wary of grand claims about what else he might have done; there is enough to value in the comedy without inventing a different career for him. Start with Singin' in the Rain, and give the footwork and the falls equal attention.
