Kevin J. O’Connor is particularly good at making a dubious companion worth keeping around. We enjoy his comic sidekicks, but the quieter supporting parts suggest directors need not always ask him to be devious.
Fi1m perspective
Beni Gabor is a poor choice of travelling companion and a useful addition to The Mummy (1999). Kevin J. O'Connor makes the opportunistic sidekick funny without asking us to excuse him. We laughed at Beni’s shameless self-interest; the pleasure is in how little dignity O’Connor allows this treacherous man. Stephen Sommers’s adventure is cheerful and loud, and O’Connor suits it, though the script too often settles for a shrug where a joke should be.
His breakthrough came as Michael Fitzsimmons in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), before the recurring work with Sommers. Deep Rising (1998) preceded The Mummy, and Igor, the devious servant in Van Helsing (2004), followed it. That sequence helps explain why the eccentric accomplices are so central to his reputation. Sommers finds a clear comic use for him in these broad genre films, but repeated casting risks making each new scoundrel too easy to anticipate.
Gods and Monsters (1998), directed by Bill Condon, gives O’Connor a less noisy setting as Harry. We rate it more highly than The Mummy, chiefly for the warm, awkward friendship played by Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser. O’Connor works within that more restrained ensemble, a useful reminder that a supporting part need not be built around eccentricity to suit him. The script over-explains its connections with James Whale’s films, but there is enough warmth in the performances to make the explanation tolerable.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s films make the quieter side harder to overlook. As Henry in There Will Be Blood (2007), opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, O’Connor has a part built around quiet introversion rather than comic deviousness. Anderson brought him back as Bill White in The Master (2012), another ensemble in which he was not required to lead. We would be sorry if the scoundrels kept directors from considering him for more work like this.
Biography
Kevin J. O'Connor is an American character actor. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he trained at the Theatre School at DePaul University, graduating with a BFA in 1985 after studying at the Goodman School of Drama.
He is known for roles including Beni Gabor in The Mummy (1999), Henry in There Will Be Blood (2007), Igor in Van Helsing (2004), and appearances in Lord of Illusions (1995), The Master (2012) and Widows (2018). He has frequently collaborated with director Stephen Sommers.
