Daniel "Dan" Conner is the husband of the late Roseanne Conner and the father of Becky, Darlene, D.J., and Jerry Conner. He is the deuteragonist of the original series, and the main protagonist of the spin-off. He and Louise Goldufski get married in season 4 (The Wedding of Dan and Louise) of the spin-off. The part of Dan is played by actor John Goodman.
Biography[]
Dan was born on November 10, 1951 in Lanford, IL to Ed Conner and Audrey Conner. While Dan was growing up, his father Ed was always on the road as a salesman which put a strain on his and Audrey's marriage. He is a moderately successful drywall worker and a freelance contractor. Occasionally, running into tough times when the construction work slows down, most likely due to the fact that he found most of his job through Dwight's Hardware Store or his lumber yard connections.
He met and married his first wife Roseanne Conner (née Harris) when they were in high school. She was 16 and Dan was 17. Throughout high school, he was a major football star, but unfortunately blew out his knee during a game, so he was not able to get a college football scholarship. During the week him and Roseanne broke up at a dance, he saw Phyllis Zimmer and had a one-night stand with her at the popular make-out spot called Make Out Hill. He never told Roseanne, but she found out from Jackie when they were looking through the yearbook together.
Dan and Roseanne have four children together; Becky Conner, Darlene Olinsky (née Conner), D.J. Conner, and Jerry Conner. They also have four grandchildren; Harris Healy, Mark Healy II, Mary Conner, and Beverly Rose Conner.
In Season 3, Dan's longtime friend Ziggy suggested that they begin a bike shop business. At first, Roseanne and Dan were hesitant about it because it meant they had to put a second mortgage on their house. Eventually Roseanne agreed to do it, but still had a little doubt. They changed the bike shop name to Lanford Custom Cycle. Unfortunately the bike shop, after about a year and a half, financially failed and was sold. Dan was crushed by this and he suffered another blow soon afterwards when his and Roseanne's oldest daughter Becky, called her parents from Minnesota and told them that she had eloped with her off-again, on-again boyfriend Mark Healy at the age of 17 because she was convinced that she would lose everything that mattered to her because of her parents' financial carelessness.
Dan refused to talk to Becky for most of season 5 and became increasingly restrictive and paranoid of Darlene as she and her boyfriend David Healy, Mark's younger brother) drew closer; however, he was much more open to the idea of her going to Art School in Chicago than Roseanne was.
Dan's father Ed falls in love with Crystal Anderson. They ended up getting married and having two children together; Ed Conner Jr. and Angela. Crystal has a son named Lonnie Anderson from her previous marriage to Sonny Anderson. Dan at first disapproved of their marriage, and even almost didn't show up at their wedding until the last minute because he was afraid that his father would do the same thing to Crystal that he did to his mother.
Dan and David had a rough patch when David lied about living with Darlene in Chicago when he was supposed to be living with his mother in Michigan, resulting in Dan manhandling him and kicking him out of the house. Dan came to forgive him overtime when Roseanne pointed out that Dan was placing blame entirely on David and ignoring that Darlene was equally responsible. He was even more mad when he found out that David was living with Roseanne's sister Jackie Goldufski (née Harris) instead of going back to Michigan to his mother's.
Although Dan increasingly became exasperated with David's seeming over-sensitivity after he broke up with Darlene and often teased him about his less masculine and artistic interests, he was pleased with David's contributions to the household and congratulated him sincerely on graduating high school. They had a brief spat in Season 8 when Dan learned Darlene was pregnant and planning to marry David, but quickly reconciled with his newest son-in-law.
At David and Darlene's wedding (The Wedding) in season 8, he had a heart attack, which showed his terrible health, which had been declining over the seasons (drinking too much beer and eating whatever he wanted). He is the father-in-law of Mark Healy and David Healy. At first he didn't care for Mark, even had tried to keep Becky and Mark apart several times, but over the seasons, they bonded.
In the series, Dan had to take his mother to a mental hospital. When him and Roseanne won the Illinois State Lottery, he spent the money to send his mother to a hospital in California. There, he met a woman (his mother's nurse) and Dan and Roseanne's marriage was put in a major strain and they almost divorced.
When they finally made up, Roseanne and Dan received a call from Jackie telling them she was taking Darlene to the hospital because she had started going into preterm labor.
It was revealed at the end of Season 9 Into That Good Night, Part 2, that Dan had in fact passed away from a heart attack that happened at Darlene and David's wedding. However, later in Season 10 this is mentioned to being a part of a book that Roseanne was writing and he did not actually die.
Dan and Roseanne were married for almost 40 years when Roseanne, goes into cardiac arrest through an overdose on opioid drugs. Though this unforeseen tragedy leaves Dan heartbroken and embittered for a short time, slowly but surely, he heals from his loss and moves on with his life.
In the show The Conners, he begins dating a woman named Louise Goldufski, an attractive classmate from his high school days. As of Season 3 finale, he and Louise are engaged to be married.
Relationships[]
Ed Conner - Father (deceased)
Audrey Conner - Mother (deceased)
Crystal Conner - Friend/Step-Mother
Roseanne Conner - First wife (deceased)
Louise Conner - Second wife
Jackie Goldufski - (Roseanne's sister, Louise's sister-in-law/Ned's wife)
Neville Goldufski - Brother-in-law (Louise's brother and Jackie's husband)
Nana Mary - Grandmother-in-law (Roseanne's maternal grandmother)
Becky Conner - Daughter
Mark Healy - Son-in-law (Becky's husband) (deceased)
Beverly Rose Conner - Granddaughter (Becky and Carlos' daughter)
Darlene Conner-Olinsky - Daughter
Ben Olinsky - Son-in-law (Darlene's husband)
David Healy - Ex-Son-in-law (Darlene's ex-husband)
Harris Healy - Granddaughter (Darlene and David's daughter)
Mark Healy II - Grandson (Darlene and David's son)
D.J. Conner - Son
Geena Conner - Daughter-in-law (D.J.'s wife)
Mary Conner - Granddaughter (Geena and D.J.'s daughter)
Jerry Conner - Son
Beverly Harris - Mother-in-law
Al Harris - Father-in-law (deceased)
Chuckie Mitchell - Best friend
Anne-Marie Mitchell - Chuck's wife and Roseanne's friend
Nancy Bartlett - Friend/co-owner of The Lanford Lunch Box
Arnie Thomas - Friend
Bob Nickman - Friend
Leon Carp - Friend/Roseanne's former boss and co-owner of The Lanford Lunch Box
List of Appearances[]
Across ten seasons of Roseanne, Dan Conner was absent in 12 episodes, all from Season 9. Dan has appeared in every episode of The Conners so far.
| Roseanne (TV series) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | # | |
| Season 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 23 | ||
| Season 2 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 24 | |
| Season 3 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 25 |
| Season 4 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 25 |
| Season 5 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 25 |
| Season 6 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 25 |
| Season 7 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 26 |
| Season 8 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 25 |
| Season 9 | X | X | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | X | X | X | N/A | 12 | |
| Season 10 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | N/A | 9 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 219 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Conners | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | # | |
| Season 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 11 | |||||||||||
| Season 2 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 20 | ||
| Season 3 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 20 | ||
| Season 4 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 20 | ||
| Season 5 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 22 |
| Season 6 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | |||||||||
| Season 7 | X | X | X | X | X | X | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 112 | ||||||||||||||||||||||