Universal-International. Finally, the studio paired O'Connor opposite their biggest female star, Deanna Durbin, in Something in the Wind (1947). He starred in Are You with It? (1948) with Olga San Juan, Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1949) with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, and Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1949) with Gloria DeHaven. "I wasn't really a dancer, a good dancer, until I got older," he said later. "I could do those wings and stuff and I looked very good, but my heavens it was very, very hard for me to pick up on — pick up steps. It was just oh — so laborious for me. I didn't have a short cut like the other dancers do." Francis In 1949, O'Connor played the lead role in Francis, the story of a soldier befriended by a talking mule. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the film was a huge success. As a consequence, his musical career was constantly interrupted by production of one Francis film per year until 1955. O'Connor later said the films "were fun to make. Actually, they were quite challenging. I had to play straight in order to convince the audience that the mule could talk." O'Connor followed the first Francis with comedies: Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950), The Milkman (1950), and Double Crossbones (1951). He did Francis Goes to the Races (1951), another big hit. In February 1951 he signed a new contract with Universal for one film a year for four years, enabling him to work outside the studio. Singin' in the Rain In January of 1952 O'Connor signed a three-picture deal with Paramount. He also received an offer to play Cosmo the piano player in Singin' in the Rain (1952) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer That film featured his widely known rendition of "Make 'Em Laugh", which he choreographed with help from the assistant dance directors and his brother. O'Connor's unassuming yet extreme athleticism is on full display, with the number featuring dozens of jumps, pratfalls, and two backflips launched by running halfway up a wall. "The scene was building to such a crescendo, I thought I'd actually have to kill myself," said O'Connor. He maintained he was forced to go to the hospital during the film's production due to injuries and exhaustion. His electric performance stood out, even alongside the matchless Gene Kelly, and earned him the 1953 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in