Nancy Fields O’Connor: What Happened To Carroll O’Connor’s Wife?

Nancy Fields O’Connor is the wife of American actor, producer, and director John Carroll O’Connor. Nancy’s late husband Carroll O’Connor was a lifelong member of the Actors Studio. His television career spanned more than four decades. He won five Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards.

Nancy Fields O’Connor: Bio Summary

Nancy Fields O’Connor was born on 13 December 1929, in Spokane, Spokane County, Washington, USA. She was the daughter of Ralph and Hulda Miller Fields. She has a brother called John Fields who was also born in Spokane, Washington. She holds American nationality.

Nancy Fields O’Connor’s early life details are few on the internet. She was raised away from the spotlight. She graduated from Paxson Grade School, Missoula County High School. She was a University of Montana Graduate.

How Did Nancy And Carroll Meet?

Nancy Fields O’Connor and Carroll O’Connor were both at the University of Montana at Missoula. They reportedly worked on the Drama and Fine Arts Department production of “Life With Father.” Nancy had worked as a makeup artist and lighting technician in a student-produced production of Our Town.

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Nancy Fields graduated from the University of Montana in 1951, where she earned degrees in drama and English. Following her graduation, she sailed to Ireland to study at Trinity College Dublin. She met Carroll O’Connor who was visiting his brother, Hugh.

The lovers got married on July 28, 1951, in Dublin. The couple adopted a son and named him Hugh after Carroll’s younger brother, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1961. Hugh was born in Rome, Italy, and was adopted when he was six days old.

Hugh Edward Ralph O’Connor became an actor. He is for his role as James Flynn in the 1984 film Brass and his portrayal of Lonnie Jamison in In the Heat of the Night. Nancy was very supportive of her husband Carroll’s career.

What Did Nancy Do For A Living?

Nancy Fields O’Connor was a philanthropist, artist, author, activist, humanitarian, actress, and documentary film producer. She was a founding member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute. She and her husband Carroll O’Connor took the award for the Institute’s Duke Award in 1990 for “their outstanding support for cancer research.”

Nancy Fields O’Connor helped develop a charitable support group for a melanoma cancer research and treatment center at UCLA. She and her partner Carroll O’Connor donated $1 million to the University of Montana’s Center for the Rocky Mountain West, regional studies, and public policy institute.

The Center was renamed Carroll and Nancy Fields O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in September 1997. Nancy was a member of the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which she helped design in 2004.

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Nancy O’Connor developed a celebrated exhibition and catalog of her grandfather Fred E. Miller’s historic collection of over 600 photographs of the Crow Indian Tribe from 1895-1920. The Fred E. Miller Collection is currently on loan to the Great Plains Museum at the University of Nebraska.

Nancy was also an actress. She is known for A Whale of a Tale (1976), The Celluloid Closet (1995), and The Mike Douglas Show (1961). She is the author of Fred E. Miller: Photographer of the Crows (Carnan Vidfilm; 1985) and was executive producer of the 2007 documentary Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer.

What Happened To Carroll O’Connor’s Wife?

Nancy Fields O’Connor died on 10 November 2014, in Malibu, Los Angeles County, California, USA, at the age of 84. She suffered from complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. Her husband Carroll O’Connor died on June 21, 2001, in Culver City, California, U.S., at the age of 76. He died of a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes.

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Nancy Fields O’Connor and Carroll O’Connor’s son Hugh Edward Ralph O’Connor died on March 28, 1995, at age 32, in Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. He took his own life after a long battle with drug addiction. He married Angela Clayton on March 28, 1992. They had one son, Sean Carroll O’Connor.