Frances O'Connor (performer)

Frances Belle O'Connor (September 8, 1914, in Granite Falls, Minnesota, – January 30, 1982, in Long Beach, California, California), born entirely without arms, made her living by appearing in various circus sideshows as the armless wonder or the living Venus de Milo. She would perform normal actions, such as eating, drinking, and smoking a cigarette with her feet.

She also appeared in the controversial 1932 film, Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, in which a number of real people with physical abnormalities played themselves or other characters. During the sequence at the wedding feast, O'Connor wears a pretty costume that has no sleeves at all, leaving her shoulders entirely bare and revealing that she does not even have stumps where her arms should be.

O'Connor never married, although it was said that she was never short of admirers. She died in relative obscurity in Long Beach, California in 1982.

External links

• "Frances O'Connor, Living Venus de Milo" from Prodigies by James G. Mundie