Red Buttons
Known for: Acting
Although Red Buttons is best known as a stand-up comic, he is also a successful songwriter, an Academy Award-winning actor (and has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards) and an accomplished singer. Born Aaron Chwatt on February 5, 1919 (Aquarius) in New York City's Lower East Side, stood at a height of 5' 6" (1.68 m). Buttons (who got his name from a uniform he wore while working as a singing bellhop), also known as Cpl. Red Buttons, started his show-business career singing on street corners as a child. At 16 he got a job as part of a comedy act playing the famed Catskills resort area in upstate New York (his partner was future actor Robert Alda). Buttons worked the burlesque circuit as a comic and even landed a role in a Broadway play, "Vicki", in 1942. He soon joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and in 1943 was picked for a role in Moss Hart's service play "Winged Victory" on Broadway, and soon afterwards journeyed to Hollywood to make the film version. After his discharge from the service he returned to Broadway, both in plays and as a comic with several big-band orchestras. He was successful enough that he got his own TV series, The Red Buttons Show (1952), on CBS. It lasted three years and won Buttons an Emmy for Best Comedian. He worked steadily for the next several years, and in 1957 got his big film break in the drama Sayonara (1957) with Marlon Brando, in which he played an American soldier stationed in Japan who struggled against the societal and racist pressures of both American and Japanese cultures because of his love for a Japanese woman. His performance garnered him an Academy Award, and more film roles followed. He played a paratrooper in The Longest Day (1962), was nominated for a Golden Globe for Harlow (1965) and again for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). He had a part in the TV series The Double Life of Henry Phyfe (1966) and has done pretty much every kind of TV show there is, from variety to comedy to soap operas. He gained further renown in the 1970s for his appearances on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" where he performed his "Never Got a Dinner" act to great acclaim. He has played Las Vegas for years, has a star on Hollywood Boulevard (corner of Hollywood and Vine) and has appeared in numerous telethons and charitable events, for which he has been honored by such organizations as the Friars Club and the City of Hope Hospital. He died July 13, 2006 at the age of 87 in Century City, California, USA from vascular disease.
Filmography
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
Series
The Love Boat
Cyrus Foster
1977
Series
The Love Boat
Buddy Redmond
1977
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Host
1961
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Co-Host
1961
Series
ER
Ruby
1994
Series
Little House on the Prairie
William 'Willie' O'Hara
1974
Series
Great Performances
Self
1971
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
Series
The Cosby Show
Jake Bennett
1984
Series
Fantasy Island
Tony Emerson
1978
Series
Fantasy Island
Cornelius Kelly
1978
Series
Knots Landing
Al Baker
1979
Series
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
1962
Series
Love, American Style
Norman
1969
Series
Early Edition
Walter Stites
1996
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
Self
1957
Series
What's My Line?
Self
1950
Series
Studio One
St. Emergency
1948
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Series
Ben Casey
1961
Series
Suspense
1949
Series
Family Law
Carl Porter
1999
Series
Kraft Music Hall
Self
1958
Series
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Series
Vega$
1978
Series
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
1956
Series
227
1985
Series
Cosby
1996
Series
Wonder Woman
Ashley Norman
1975
Film
The Longest Day
Pvt. John Steele
1962
Series
The United States Steel Hour
1953
Series
Street Time
Sam Kahan
2002
Series
It's Garry Shandling's Show
Red Buttons
1986
Series
The Dean Martin Show
1965
Series
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Self
1973
Series
Startime
Joe Henders
1959
Series
Presidio Med
Chick
2002
Film
The Poseidon Adventure
James Martin
1972
Series
The Hollywood Palace
Self
1964
Film
Pete's Dragon
Hoagy
1977
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
Series
The Eleventh Hour
1962
Film
It Could Happen to You
Walter Zakuto
1994
Film
One, Two, Three
MP Sergeant (uncredited)
1961
Series
The Jackie Gleason Show
1952
Series
Roseanne
1988
Series
Password
1961
Film
The Story of Us
Arnie Jordan
1999
Series
Alice in Wonderland
White Rabbit
1985
Series
The Danny Thomas Hour
1967
Series
Saints and Sinners
Joe Roganyan
1962
Film
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Sailor
1969
Film
Hatari!
Pockets
1962
Film
18 Again!
Charlie
1988
Series
Philly
2001
Film
Sayonara
Joe Kelly
1957
Film
The Ambulance
Elias Zacharai
1990
Film
Stagecoach
Peacock
1966
Series
Aloha Paradise
Nick
1981
Series
General Electric Theater
Lieutenant George Poole
1953
Series
General Electric Theater
Tippy-Top
1953
Series
Power
Solly Weiss
1980
Series
Frontier Circus
1961
Series
Pink Lady
Red Buttons
1980
Series
Pink Lady
Police Sergeant
1980
Film
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
1985
Film
Movie Movie
Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
1978
Series
The Dream Merchants
Bruce Benson
1980
Series
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
1966
Film
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Self
1979
Film
Gay Purr-ee
Robespierre (voice)
1962
Film
A Ticklish Affair
Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
1963
Film
Joys
Self
1976
Film
Up from the Beach
PFC Harry Devine
1965
Film
The Big Circus
Randy Sherman
1959
Film
When Time Ran Out...
Francis Fendly
1980
Film
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Donald O'Shay
1962
Film
Gable and Lombard
Ivan Cooper
1976
Film
C.H.O.M.P.S.
Bracken
1979
Film
Harlow
Arthur Landau
1965
Film
Reunion at Fairborough
Jiggs Quealy
1985
Film
The All-Star Christmas Show
Self
1958
Ghosts of Fear Street
Grandpa
1998
Film
Goodnight, We Love You
Self
2004
Film
Playboy's Playmate Party
1977
Film
Viva Knievel!
Ben Andrews
1977
Film
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Milton (voice)
1979
Film
George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom
Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
1989
Murder at N.B.C.
1966
Film
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Self
1997
Film
Leave 'Em Laughing
Roland Green
1981
Film
The Users
Warren Ambrose
1978
Film
Telethon
Marty Rand
1977
Film
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
Mickey Isadore
1971
Film
Imitation General
Cpl. Chan Derby
1958
Film
Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
1976
Film
Side Show
Harry Hubbell
1981
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
Self
1988
Film
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
Self
1983
Film
Winged Victory
Whitey / Andrews Sister
1944
Film
Your Cheatin' Heart
Shorty Younger
1964
Film
Flannery and Quilt
Luke Flannery
1976
Film
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Self
1995
Film
Off Your Rocker
Seymour Saltz
1982
Film
Breakout
Pipes
1970
Film
The New Original Wonder Woman
Ashley Norman
1975
Film
Footlight Varieties
Himself
1951
Hansel and Gretel
Hansel
1958
Film
George M!
Sam Harris
1970
The Red Buttons Show
Host
1952
Film
A Marriage of Strangers
Jerry
1959