O'connor Testifies About His Son

LOS ANGELES - The ruddy face and receding hairline were familiar, but the man in the witness chair wasn't playing a southern sheriff or Archie Bunker. Carroll O'Connor was in a real-life drama as the grieving father of a dead son.

Called to testify by the man who is suing him for slander, O'Connor spoke of his son's slide into drug addiction and his futile effort to save Hugh O'Connor, who committed suicide in March 1995.

O'Connor was questioned yesterday by a lawyer for Harry Perzigian, the man convicted of furnishing cocaine to the younger O'Connor. Perzigian, 41, is suing O'Connor for slander because the star of "All in the Family" and "In the Heat of the Night," called Perzigian a "partner in murder" after his son's death.

Perzigian, who served jail time for furnishing cocaine to the younger O'Connor, is seeking $10 million but insisted money isn't his motivation.

"I want to set the record straight," he said. "I didn't kill Hugh O'Connor."

The trial was interrupted briefly yesterday when Perzigian was arrested on a warrant for a probation violation, an arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol.

O'Connor was to continue testifying today. Perzigian's lawyer, Allan Sigel said he called O'Connor to show that Hugh O'Connor had access to drugs from many sources and Perzigian was not responsible for his death.

The elder O'Connor said he first discovered marijuana in his home when Hugh was 16.

By the time Hugh was 20, O'Connor said he knew his son was using cocaine.

When he took his son to Georgia to remove him from the Los Angeles drug scene, O'Connor said there were more problems because cocaine use was rampant on the set of his TV series, "In the Heat of the Night."

He said Hugh, who acted in the series, became close to co-star Howard Rollins, who later was written out of the show because of his drug problems.

O'Connor said he tried to discourage Rollins' drug use as well, once asking the actor how he got the drugs. "Pops, you get 'em everywhere," Rollins replied. "Put your head out the window and yell `heroin' and guys will come up with it. Yell `coke' and guys come running."