Don Ameche
Known for: Acting
Don Ameche (born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor and radio entertainer whose career spanned over six decades. Known for his charming, dapper presence and signature mustache, Ameche became one of 20th Century Fox's premier leading men throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to an Italian immigrant father and a mother of European descent, he adapted his family's surname from "Amici" to "Ameche" to preserve its original Italian pronunciation in the United States. He began his entertainment career in vaudeville and radio, where he achieved nationwide fame as the host of popular broadcasts like The Chase and Sanborn Hour. He transitioned to film in 1935, starring in a string of successful musical comedies and dramas, most notably Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), and Ernst Lubitsch’s classic comedy Heaven Can Wait (1943). As film roles slowed in the 1950s, Ameche worked extensively in live theatre and television. His screen career experienced a celebrated renaissance in the 1980s, beginning with his role as the scheming commodities broker Mortimer Duke in Trading Places (1983). Two years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a revitalized retiree in Ron Howard’s Cocoon (1985). In his final years, Ameche introduced himself to a new generation of filmgoers providing the warm, patriarchal voice of Shadow the Golden Retriever in Disney's Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), before completing his final screen appearance in Corrina, Corrina (1994). Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986; the couple had six children. Ameche died of prostate cancer in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993 at the age of 85.
Filmography
Series
Columbo
Frank Simpson
1971
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Co-Host
1961
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
Series
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
1962
Series
What's My Line?
Self
1950
Series
The Love Boat
Stewart Coolidge
1977
Series
The Love Boat
Henry Dobson
1977
Series
The Love Boat
Hollis Witkin
1977
Series
Quincy, M.E.
Harry Whitehead
1976
Series
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
Self
1957
Series
Petticoat Junction
Uncle George
1963
Series
Climax!
Sam Waterman
1954
Series
The Golden Girls
Brother Martin
1985
Series
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Series
Burke's Law
Whitman Saunders
1963
Series
McCloud
1970
Series
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Series
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
1978
Series
Ellery Queen
Dr. Norman Marsh
1975
Series
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
1973
Film
Coming to America
Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited)
1988
Film
Trading Places
Mortimer Duke
1983
The Greatest Show on Earth
Collie McCullough
1963
Series
DuPont Show of the Month
Harry Graves
1957
The Lux Show
Self
1957
Film
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Shadow (voice)
1993
Film
Cocoon
Arthur Selwyn
1985
Series
Good Heavens
1976
Film
Oscar
Father Clemente
1991
Film
Cocoon: The Return
Art Selwyn
1988
Film
Harry and the Hendersons
Dr. Wallace Wrightwood
1987
Film
Heaven Can Wait
Henry Van Cleve
1943
Film
Corrina, Corrina
Grandpa Harry
1994
Film
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Self (archive footage)
1997
Film
Guest Wife
Joseph Jefferson 'Joe' Parker
1945
Film
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
1939
Film
Night of 100 Stars
Self
1982
Film
Sleep, My Love
Richard W. Courtland
1948
Film
Girl Trouble
Pedro Sullivan
1942
Film
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Charlie Dwyer
1938
Film
You Can't Have Everything
George Macrae
1937
Film
Folks!
Harry Aldrich
1992
Film
Hollywood Cavalcade
Mike Connors
1939
Film
That Night in Rio
Larry Martin / Baron Manuel Duarte
1941
Film
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
Col. Flanders
1970
Film
Things Change
Gino
1988
Film
That's My Man
Joe Grange
1947
Film
Picture Mommy Dead
Edward Shelley
1966
Film
The Chinese Typewriter
Armand Beller
1979
Film
A Fever in the Blood
Senator Alex S. Simon
1961
Film
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
Lloyd Lloyd
1941
Film
Wing and a Prayer
Bingo Harper
1944
Film
The Boatniks
Commander Taylor
1970
Film
Down Argentine Way
Ricardo Quintana
1940
Film
Confirm or Deny
'Mitch' Mitchell
1941
Film
Midnight
Tibor Czerny
1939
Film
So Goes My Love
Hiram Stephen Maxim
1946
Film
In Old Chicago
Jack O'Leary
1938
Film
Happy Landing
Jimmy Hall
1938
Film
One in a Million
Bob Harris
1937
Film
Love Is News
Martin J. Canavan
1937
Film
The Three Musketeers
D'Artagnan
1939
Film
The Magnificent Dope
Dwight Dawson
1942
Film
Land of Liberty
Alexander Graham Bell (archive footage)
1939
Film
Greenwich Village
Kenneth Harvey
1944
Film
Happy Land
Lew Marsh
1943
Film
Ramona
Alessandro
1936
Film
Fifty Roads to Town
Peter Nostrand
1937
A Masterpiece of Murder
Frank Aherne
1986
Film
Something to Shout About
Ken Douglas
1943
Coke Time with Eddie Fisher
1953
Film
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
Self (archiveFootage)
1997
Film
Slightly French
John Gayle
1949
Film
It's in the Bag!
Don Ameche
1945
Film
Ladies in Love
Dr. Rudi Imre
1936
Film
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
(archive footage)
2009
Film
Pals
Art Riddle
1987
Film
Sunstroke
Jake
1992
Film
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Don Ameche
1939
Film
Lillian Russell
Edward Solomon
1940
Film
Moon Over Miami
Phil O'Neil (Credits) / Phil 'Mac' McNeil
1941
Film
The Feminine Touch
John Hathaway
1941
Film
Shadow Over Elveron
Justin Travers
1968
Film
Gidget Gets Married
Otis Ramsey
1972
Film
Josette
David Brassard Jr.
1938
Film
Sins of Man
Karl Freyman / Mario Signarelli
1936
Film
Rings Around the World
Host/Ringmaster
1967
Film
Gateway
Dick Court
1938
Film
Love Under Fire
Tracy Egan
1937
Film
Four Sons
Chris Bern
1940
Film
Swanee River
Stephen Foster
1939
Our Shining Moment
John 'Papa' McGuire Sr.
1991
Film
Oddball Hall
G. Paul Siebriese
1990