<P> John Carroll O'Connor ( August 2 , 1924 -- June 21 , 2001 ) was an American actor , producer , and director whose television career spanned four decades . A lifelong member of the Actors Studio , O'Connor first attracted attention as Major General Colt in the 1970 film Kelly 's Heroes . The following year , he found fame as the bigoted working man Archie Bunker , the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family ( 1971 -- 1979 ) and Archie Bunker 's Place ( 1979 -- 1983 ) . O'Connor later starred in the NBC / CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988 to 1995 , where he played the role of southern Police Chief William ( Bill ) Gillespie . At the end of his career in the late 1990s , he played the father of Jamie Buchman ( Helen Hunt ) on Mad About You . </P>
<P> John Carroll O'Connor ( August 2 , 1924 -- June 21 , 2001 ) was an American actor , producer , and director whose television career spanned four decades . A lifelong member of the Actors Studio , O'Connor first attracted attention as Major General Colt in the 1970 film Kelly 's Heroes . The following year , he found fame as the bigoted working man Archie Bunker , the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family ( 1971 -- 1979 ) and Archie Bunker 's Place ( 1979 -- 1983 ) . O'Connor later starred in the NBC / CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988 to 1995 , where he played the role of southern Police Chief William ( Bill ) Gillespie . At the end of his career in the late 1990s , he played the father of Jamie Buchman ( Helen Hunt ) on Mad About You . </P>
who played archie bunker on all in the family
who played archie bunker on all in the family
John Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor