Charles Francis "Frank" O'Connor (September 22, 1897 – November 7, 1979) was an American actor, painter, and rancher and the husband of novelist Ayn Rand.

In addition to raising numerous flora and fauna on the ranch, he there developed the Lipstick and Halloween hybrids of Delphinium and Gladiolus.

Rand attributed to O'Connor inspiration for some of the themes and characters in her writing, and he provided the title for her novel Atlas Shrugged.

[2] Rand said that O'Connor was an inspiration for her writing and the model for her idealized male protagonists, like Howard Roark and John Galt.

[11] Perhaps partly in order to help her obtain legal residence before her temporary visa expired, O'Connor married Rand on April 15, 1929, in the Los Angeles City Hall of Justice.

[14] Soon, however, O'Connor's acting career improved, and for a few years he had regular employment in small roles for early talkies.

[15] O'Connor performed in several films released in 1933 and 1934, though he continued landing relatively small roles, sometimes as humorous characters; this dismayed Rand, who believed he deserved to play a romantic lead.

"[18] When Rand received a producer's offer to take her play Night of January 16th to Broadway, she convinced O'Connor to move with her to New York City; they departed in November and arrived in December.

[19] In New York, O'Connor's career idled, and he joked that he was "Mr. Ayn Rand" as she was the breadwinner while he took care of paying bills, doing household chores, and decorating their apartments.

[21] O'Connor returned to Connecticut in July 1937, this time accompanied by Rand, and they stayed in Stony Creek where he performed for several plays, including reprising his role as Guts Regan for Night of January 16th.

At social gatherings, he secretly passed Rand notes with suggestions about what to talk about, and she found his sense of humor hilarious.

[26] While they started out in a small apartment in Hollywood, O'Connor researched purchasing land in the San Fernando Valley.

[42] In New York City, O'Connor obtained part-time work as a florist, making flower arrangements for hotels.

[43] He also took up visual art with what archivist Jeff Britting calls "serious interest", drawing sketches and painting people, urban landscapes and floral still lifes.

[58] When a circle of Rand's associates threw a party to celebrate Atlas Shrugged's publication, O'Connor put together flower arrangements for the event.

[59] O'Connor oil painted Man Also Rises, which Rand reported was his depiction of a sunset they saw in San Francisco.

[60][61] A reproduction of Man Also Rises was used as the cover art for the 1968 twenty-fifth anniversary edition of The Fountainhead; Rand dubbed it "the proper climax of the book's history".

A surgery temporarily staved off painful contractions in his hands' tendons in the late 1960s, but the difficulty recurred in 1968, and he withdrew from the Art Students League and resigned from its Board of Control.

[74] Literary scholar Mimi Gladstein summarizes, "there is not much public evidence to corroborate Rand's" claims about O'Connor.

[76] Unlike Rand, O'Connor had little interest in books or the ideas she enjoyed thinking about, and he was kind and insisted on politeness.

[77] An acquaintance later reported that during their time in the San Fernando Valley, Rand actually considered divorcing him out of frustration with his lack of intellectuality and sexual drive.

[80] Writing for Variety, reviewer David Kronke observed that Fonda lends "an air of Quaalude dependency" to his depiction of O'Connor through acting with a "droopy and curious turn".

[82] For his performance as O'Connor, Fonda received the 2000 Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries, or film made for television.