Frank O'Connor (actor)

Infobox Actor
name = Frank O'Connor
birthdate = birth date|1897|9|22
location = Lorain, Ohio
deathdate = death date and age|1979|11|9|1897|9|22
deathplace = New York City, New York
spouse = Ayn Rand (1929-1979)

Frank O'Connor (September 22, 1897 — November 9, 1979) was an American actor and later floral arranger and representationalist painter, most known for his marriage to the novelist Ayn Rand, which lasted from April 15, 1929, until his death.

O'Connor was born Charles Francis O'Connor in Lorain, Ohio. In light of his marriage to Ayn Rand, it is usually assumed that he was an Objectivist, though her philosophy was not yet formulated when they began their romantic relationship. Rand does suggest that O'Connor shared her view of the world: "The essence of the bond between us is the fact that neither of us has ever wanted or been tempted to settle for anything less than the world presented in "The Fountainhead". We never will". [cite book|first=Ayn|last=Rand|authorlink =Ayn Rand|year=1994|title=The Fountainhead|publisher=Plume|location=New York|origyear = 1968|edition = 25^th Anniversary Edition|id = ISBN 0-452-27333-1]

Rand credited O'Connor with having provided her with indispensable "fuel for the spirit" during the writing of "The Fountainhead" and the long, discouraging quest for a publisher willing to take it. Therefore, through she in general disapproved of the practice of dedicating books to people, she felt that her husband's part in this book deserved the exception of dedicating it to him.

Further, she noted that several well-known passages in the book were inspired by things which O'Connor said. Ellsworth Toohey's question "What do you think of me?", answered by Howard Roark's "But I don't think of you" were inspired by words which O'Connor said "to a different type of person in a rather similar context". Dominique Francon's saying that Roark was "casting pearls without even getting a pork chop" (by constructing buildings which "the world did not deserve") was originally said by O'Connor regarding his wife's writings.

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*imdb name|2900486