1970-71 Television Season 50th Anniversary: All in the Family (Carroll O'Connor 1971 Cavett Show) 

It is amazing how great television used to be back then. And it is amazing how awful television later became and is now.

Carol O'Connor is the greatest sitcom actor of all time. Jean Stapleton is just as brilliant as he is.

It’s sad most people saw carol as the character Archie Bunker. But the truth was that he was a highly educated man and deep thinker. I wish he was alive today so we could unravel more of this complex man. R.I.P. Mr O’Connor. You are missed….

4:49 *_SATIRE_* coming out of Archie’s mouth. ☠️ Such an unforgettable actor. RIP Mr. Carroll O’Connor, and thanks for those days.

Blown away by his intelligence and his articulate speech.

I can still hear my father's belly laugh watching this show when I first came out in the early 70's.

Cavett was one of a kind, almost a cross between Paar and Carson. Can you imagine this level of discourse on today's late night TV?

every one of those character's were deeply LOVED and still missed till this very day god bless all of them all in the family and the Jeffersons brought a magic that could never be replaced by ANY sitcom today or tomorrow

He was a brilliant actor!

The way he speaks with his regular voice shows you what an amazing actor he was

Love Carroll O'Connor and his intellect. May he continue to RIP.

I heard an interview with an All in the Family director. These days, sit-coms take hours to film, with mistakes, outtakes (many done deliberately for gag reels) and other delays. This director said that O'Connor and Stapleton were so professional, that they went on set and had the entire episode shot in 40 minutes. They were both class-act in their skills and talents.

30+ years of solid, thoughtful entertainment and laugh-out-loud comedy. Well done, Carroll O'Connor.Well done.RIP

He does a really fine job as Archie Bunker. He sells the performance every time. He’s so great that when he sits down in an interview and presents his truest self to the world, it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that this is the same man who plays Archie on tv.

Archie was exactly like my dad. RIP Arch and Dad. ☹️ And Mr O Connor was a brilliant smart articulate educated man. Love him.

I'm a big Carroll O'Connor fan Bronx boy New York great actor rest in peace Archie Bunker

Simply a amazing man! My boy hood grandfather I wish I had! I’m a huge fan of Carroll O’Connor! I hate the thoughts we lost him 20 years ago! 1 of a kind! Love you Carroll!

Really miss All in the Family, What a great cast!! Still watch it on U Tube. RIP Carol O conner,Jean Stapleton!!

....Carroll was a "thinking man's actor" with a deep. long dedication to working in the theater....unknown to most of us who only know him from ALL IN thE FAMILY and some small/er parts in movies.

All in the Family, the best.Great writing and acting!

I love hearing Mr. O’Connor speak so intelligently about his work. It was most certainly NOT your typical tv show by any shape, form or fashion. It’s uniqueness showed up in every performance. It was a true masterpiece. 👏👏👏👏

Nice hearing about a character, by the actor.

3 of HOLLYWOODS GOLDEN ACTORS!!! Top of the list , each one. ❤️👍

The key to his success after "All In The Family" was waiting a few years before going on to "In The Heat of The Night". There was enough time for people to be ready for a new character. He took Rod Steiger's role and really expanded it. Plus him being able to do a light southern accent, was amazing. If he had done a deep accent, it would have been to much.

Each time I see a show of All in the Family .. I see more in the depth of the humor! They mirrored almost exactly what so many of us were thinking then & now. Thank you

i loved all in the family show, because its a clean comedy.

He was an amazing man and very perceptive. He nailed the summary of his character. Very sad and very true.

Very intelligent actor and I love "All in the Family."

The show made all of us see too much of ourselves and the way we had been raised, and in such a funny way that made us realize how much we needed to change a lot of our attitudes. It was very gutsy for TV of the 70s and people were ready for it.

His NY accent was very distinctive and classy

A wonderful man ❤️🌟 ……the genius can always play the clown, however the clown doesn’t have the capacity to be a genius! Mr. O’Conner was indeed a genius 🌟

The greatest television actor/character of ALL time.

He was such a great actor that I totally forgot about Archie Bunker while watching In The Heat Of The Night.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Handsome guy

For people to believe that Carroll was the character that he played on All in the Family, just proved that he was a terrific actor. In real life, everything that I have read about him is the exact opposite. A sweet caring intelligent man. RIP Carroll.

VERY GOOD Interview! 👍

Wow, what a cool guy!!! 💛💛

Just love carol occonor a wonderful great actor gone too soon rip beautiful carol😔🇨🇦🇨🇦

I have loved Carroll O Connor since I was a little kid. I do have to kind of disagree with him about Archie not being lovable tho. I have always sensed that Archie's heart was more times than not if not always in the right place and was very lovable. He just simply lacked the type of upbringing or education that allowed him to see certain things from a different point of view. He was abused by his father as a child and teased by other kids for being poor. Then goes off to fight in ww2 and certainly saw death and pain and sorrow. The loss of life and friends and what innocents he had left and the trauma that he was exposed to didn't help his world view very much I'm sure. Then comes home from war to work a job that barely allows him to scrape by and care for his family that he deeply cares for and loves (even if he lacks the ability to show it sometimes). Then his precious little girl and only child whom he sees so much potential in brings home a very different man (politically) from himself. A man who (in my opinion) is quite disrespectful to Archie and his home and not to mention is every bit as stubborn and hot tempered as Archie. There's no doubt that Archie realizes how book smart Mike is but also believes that Mike doesn't know much about how the world really works outside of a classroom. Yet to spite all that Archie agrees to take this man into his home because his daughter loves him. He keeps food on the table and a roof over their heads all while constantly being belittled and disrespected by Mike (something Edith points out to mike in one episode) . Now I'm not saying that Archie is a victim because he certainly brings a lot of it on himself but at the end of the day I always felt that Archie just wanted what he thought was best for the people he loved. He even learned to love the meat head better than his own father had ever loved him. Oh and whether the writers meant to or not, Archie had some opinions that would go on to prove to be quite accurate. and the meat head?...yeah he cheated on Gloria and left her and Joey. So at the end of the day you tell me who's heart was in the right place.

A truly fascinating, intelligent man.

The time when an actor/actress just picks up a cigarette and pulls a puff, and no one says boo! Grew up through the tail end of that, but that caught me off guard... 🤣

I miss this Carroll O Conner…

Great insights into his character. Thank you for sharing.

From Queens NYC, Love, Archie & Carroll.

I wish he could have lived longer too. I got to where I really liked him. I would have loved to try to meet him in person! I've had thoughts of taking a flight from DFW to LA to pay respects at his interment. Those of us who are fans we will remember him until it is our turn to go! 72 year old from Fort Worth.

Great interview!

I used to watch him when I was a little girl with my Father I was about 7 years old or so. I think he's a blast. 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

My favorite character, in any single show in my 48 years on planet earth, of all time

Phenomenal Actor

I can’t imagine life without Archie

3:27 - 3:47/ Very telling how Mr. O'Connor didn't mind publicly switching to his Archie persona and get the cheap laughs out of the audience. Meanwhile, Jean Stapleton, who portrayed Edith, very diplomatically declined to put on the Edith voice when asked by the same interviewer, Dick Cavett!

Love that show

Does anyone remember that O'connor played Casca in the movie Cleopatra? A fine actor.

You don't have actors of his skill these days.

That’s an interesting point, about being raised to have these “errors” that lead to burdens being put on one’s shoulders - that these folks with these “errors” and burdens could be living much better lives.

I really love the show I m part of the generation Y a millenial and my father is a portuguese Archie Bunker lol Being a conservative this days is really hard because society and the new social standards force us to act in phony way. No one cares about your convictions and true belifs and if you think in another away you are out. I learn a lot about this magical times in america and Archie for me is hilarious, wrong in manny ways...but at the same time so right ! lol

What I find so engaging about O'Connor is how basically he understands that Archie is a despicable guy who could be better but is gonna stay the way he does because of hatred , Carroll a great actor who i respect now more than ever . And I especially like the fact that he was Denise Nicholas inevitable luv interest in Heat of the Night

The only 2 shows that could do drama and comedy and make both work were MASH and All in the Family. You would think Carroll would be type cast. Not for a great actor like O'Connor. He went on for years to play a Southern Sherriff. A GREAT actor.

Back when you could smoke anywhere

“Satire”… Well said…

I didn’t know until now that they were busy rewriting and shaping the plays all the way up to show day! Oof! And there was no small amount of blocking, camera movement, framing, reframing, and boom work that had to be following that progress as well. I wish there were some BTS but I don’t think there’s any. Well spoken guy, O’Connor.

The greatest, really.

This a fascinating interview for me. I totally understand Archie as an individual. But if you take time to read through the comments sections of all of his videos you will see one consistent thing. That is that Conservatives see Archie as a prophet of truth for the american way of life. Carol, though, is a Liberal, as was Norman Lear, satirizing the Conservative Republican mindset. I think that is hilarious, as they all revere him when he is being ridiculed as a racist misogynistic bigot. That says much about them as people to me.

I love the interviews by Cabot he asked such intelligent questions of the guests

I don't believe O'Connor was ever on The Tonight Show with Carson, which is unfathomable due to his popularity. Only 46 during this taping...

Carroll O'Conner got away with saying Atheistic Pinko Meathead among other things, but he was loveable cuz at the end of the day he truly loved his family.

Sadly actors of today don't even have an ounce of O'connor 😎

To see him smoking, shocked me but it is true about what he says… Archie was a very unhappy soul but Edith could break that and show him love. Enjoyed watching him while he was still acting. 😊

Does anyone know about his new contract and the control he had with the show! That’s why Seasons 5-9 were so good…….

What's fascinating is hearing Carrol use a Mid-Atlantic accent (a British-influenced American accent). There are very few Americans that speak like this anymore, and it's more an affectation than a genuine accent. If you listen to interviews of his from years later, he completely dropped this way of speaking, and just spoke like your typical non-descript American. I wonder if he was purposely trying to distance himself from the character at this time.

He would speak as Archie at interviews, but Jean Stapleton would never do it. All the family today is still my favorite show of all time.

Archie was HAPPY in his own little world. That's all any have in this REALM.

He is is telling the audience to think. To realize they are enjoying a pretty lousy , sad person.

He knew the 70s would change TV.

Clearly it was good for the country. Why isn't it STILL good for the country?

I liked his other show Heat of the Night too

The same thing that happen to Carol O’Connor is the same thing that happens to most actors people forget that they’re playing a fictional character in a tv show & people or fans try to make that fictional character into a real person.

*Was the Laura Hobson that Carroll O'Connor mentioned in this interview the same person that wrote "Gentleman's Agreement"?*

He is a intelligent archie.

What a beautiful description that Carol gave of the Archie Bunker character. Yes he’s a funny, silly character, but underneath it all he’s a very sad man who’s let these bigoted beliefs poison his mind. Wonderfully said.

Archie Bunker made Mr. O'Connor rich famous and remembered for forever

A time when people were pragmatic and able to smoke anywhere...those were the days.

Smoking!!! Lol

Have Always ❤❤ Archie !! 👍👍 my Hero 😁😆

I think the American public really enjoyed the character of Archie Bunker more so than the actual real man Carroll O’ Connor. To prove my point, if he would of went out there dressed as Archie and did a few minutes of Cavett interviewing Archie, I think it would of been a riot and the audience would love it. I really don’t think the audience really gave a crap about his in-depth analysis of interpreting the scripts. Give the people what they want-P.T. Barnum

I thought Archie smoked cigars

years later, after Lear left, they did make an obvious (and wrongheaded imho)effort to make Archie "lovable"

I didn’t know Cher smoked once it threw me off seeing her grab a cigarette

Days would where Smoking was norm

Wow, to think of All in The Family as the original satire, the groundbreaker. TV is so filled with satire now, much of it lame and not well written or as well acted as AITF was.

what about the Honeymooners? That was also satire.

Not a bad show--Burt Reynolds,Carol Burnett and Carroll O'Connor--with a talented host.Now we're treated to...Hashan Minhaj(?),Jared Leto,Jamie Dornan(?),Dave Franco(?)the past week on the "Tonight Show" with a lousy host.

Did dick do this show from Hollywood once or twice year[a month or so at a time]i remember Robert Stack and Eddie Albert on and it was done in New York

Not a sitcom.. it was a satire

Dick Cavett way more intelligent than Johnny Carson.Johnny Carson is a bit like Bob Hope, they needed cue cards.Cavett is a pro with that deep voice and great questions and he let the guests talk!

(In my Archie Bunker voice) AWWWWWWWWL IN DA FAMILY THERE, IS RECORDED ON TAPE BEFORE WHADDYA CALL A SHTUDIO AUDIENSH.....😊

@news603reduxJack Paar, not Carson!

WHAT A SMART INTELLIGENT NICE MAN HE IS IN REAL LIFE NO WAY LIKE HIS ARCHIE BUNKER CHARACTER ON ALL IN THE FAMILY HE TAUGHT SCHOOL AT ONE TIME A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN HIS EARLIER LIFE

Archie, no cigahhh? 😂

Christ, he never stops talking.