Frank O'Connor (April 11, 1881 – November 22, 1959) was an American character actor and director, whose career spanned five decades and included appearances in over 600 films and television shows. Early in his career he was also billed as Frank A. Connor and Frank L.A. O'Connor. During the silent film era, he directed or was the assistant director on numerous films; he also penned several screenplays in both the silent and sound film eras. He is sometimes erroneously identified with the Frank O'Connor who was married to author Ayn Rand. Life and career Born on April 11, 1881, in New York City, O'Connor would begin his film career with a starring role in the 1915 silent film, The Voice in the Fog, which also starred Donald Brian and Adda Gleason. He starred or had featured roles in six more films between 1917 and 1920, before focusing on work behind the camera. During the remainder of the silent film era, he would write and/or direct over two dozen films, May McAvoy (several films, including Everything for Sale, 1921), Ralph Lewis (several films, including One of the Bravest, 1925), Clara Bow (several films, including Free to Love, 1925), Owen Moore (Go Straight, 1925), Jean Arthur (The Block Signal, 1926, which O'Connor also wrote), Gayne Whitman (Exclusive Rights, 1926), Wanda Hawley (Hearts and Spangles, 1926), Madge Bellamy (Colleen, 1927), Phyllis Haver (Your Wife and Mine, 1927), and Betty Compson (Masked Angel, 1928). He also wrote four screenplays for silent films during the 1920s. With the advent of sound in films, O'Connor would once again move in front of the camera. After 1930 he would only direct 2 sound films, The Call of the Circus in 1930, starring Francis X. Bushman, and 1939's The Mystic Circle Murder, which starred Robert Fiske and Betty Compson, and which O'Connor also wrote. He would write the story for Sailor Be Good (1933), directed by James Cruze and starring Jack Oakie, as well as Adventure in Diamonds, directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring George Brent and Isa Miranda. From 1930 right up to the year of his death in 1959, O'Connor would appear in over 600 films, serials, shorts, and television shows, mostly in small roles. Some of the more notable films he appeared in include: the original King Kong (1933), starring Fay Wray, as well as its sequel, The Son of Kong, also in 1933; 1935's