Carroll O'Connor Carroll O'Connor 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
Teen sitcom format to "The Wonder Years", which ended before "Boy Meets World" debuted in 1993, both of which focused on a boy dealing with the challenges that come with growing into adolescence) and "Family Matters" (which originated as a family sitcom spun off from the family-friendly though adult-centered "Perfect Strangers", but soon shifted more of its focus towards its teenage characters due to the popularity of the character of nerdy high school (and later, college) student Steve Urkel). Over time, the Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) began shifting away from family-oriented comedies toward comedy series focused on adults