Don Ameche | |
|---|---|
 Ameche on the set ofInternational Showtime in 1964 | |
| Born | Dominic Felix Amici (1908-05-31)May 31, 1908 Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | December 6, 1993(1993-12-06) (aged 85) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
| Resting place | Resurrection Cemetery Asbury, Iowa, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Loras College Marquette University University of Wisconsin |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1928–1993 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6 |
| Relatives | Jim Ameche (brother) Alan Ameche (cousin) |
Don Ameche (/əˈmiːtʃi/; bornDominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993)[1] was an American actor, comedian andvaudevillian. After playing in college shows,repertory theatre, andvaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer of a movie contract from20th Century Fox in 1935.
In the 1950s, he worked on Broadway and in television and was the host of NBC'sInternational Showtime from 1961 to 1965. Returning to film work in his later years, Ameche enjoyed a fruitful revival of his career, beginning with his role as a villain inTrading Places (1983). He won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance inCocoon (1985) and theVolpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance inThings Change (1988).
Don Ameche was born asDominic Felix Amici on May 31, 1908, inKenosha, Wisconsin. His father, Felice Amici, was a bartender fromMontemonaco,Ascoli Piceno,Marche, Italy. His mother, Barbara Etta Hertel, was ofScottish,Irish, andGerman ancestry.[2][3][4] Ameche was the second oldest of eight children: sisters Elizabeth, Catherine, Mary and Anna, and brothers Louis, Umberto (Bert) and James (Jim Ameche), who was also a well-known actor.[5][6] Ameche attendedMarquette University,Loras College, and theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, where his cousinAlan Ameche played football and won theHeisman Trophy in 1954.[7]
Ameche had done well in college dramatics at theUniversity of Wisconsin, and when a lead actor for a stock company production ofExcess Baggage did not turn up, a friend persuaded him to stand in for the missing actor. He enjoyed the experience and got a juvenile lead inJerry For Short in New York, followed by a tour invaudeville withTexas Guinan until she dropped him from the act, dismissing him as "too stiff".[8]
Ameche then moved to Chicago, where "he began a radio career in 1930 onEmpire Builders, a program broadcast from theMerchandise Mart. By 1932, Ameche had become the leading man on two other Chicago-based programs: the dramatic anthologyFirst Nighter andBetty and Bob, the latter considered by many to be the forerunner of the soap-opera genre."[4]
Brought to Hollywood by20th Century Fox producerDarryl Zanuck, Ameche played mostly romantic leads paired with many of the top female stars of the era. In 1939, he played a lead character in comedy filmMidnight (1939). He also played thetitle character inThe Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) which led to the use of the word "ameche" as juvenile slang for a telephone. As noted by Mike Kilen in theIowa City Gazette (December 8, 1993), "The film prompted a generation to call people to the telephone with the phrase: 'You're wanted on the Ameche.'"[9] Such an identity between Ameche and the telephone was forged, that in the 1940 filmGo West, Groucho Marx proclaims, "Telephone? This is 1870, Don Ameche hasn't invented the telephone yet."
Ameche wasAlice Faye's leading man inHollywood Cavalcade (1939), then played another real-life figure,Stephen Foster, inSwanee River (1939). He did a third biopic,Lillian Russell (1940), with Faye, and was top billed in a war film,Four Sons (1940). He also starred in two popular musicals,Down Argentine Way (1940), which helped make stars ofBetty Grable andCarmen Miranda, andMoon Over Miami (1941), also with Grable. In 1940, he was voted the 21st-most-popular star in Hollywood.[10]
Ameche didHeaven Can Wait (1943),Happy Land (1943),Wing and a Prayer (1944) andGreenwich Village (1944). In 1944, he reportedly earned $247,677 for 1943[11] ($4,495,498 in 2024 dollars),[12] making him the second-highest earner at 20th Century Fox afterSpyros Skouras.[citation needed]
Following his appearances as announcer and sketch participant onThe Chase and Sanborn Hour, Ameche achieved memorable success during the late 1940s playing oppositeFrances Langford inThe Bickersons, thePhilip Rapp radio comedy series about a combative married couple. It began onNBC in 1946, moving toCBS the following year. He also had his own program,The Old Gold Don Ameche Show, on NBC Red in the early 1940s.[13]
In 1950 Ameche became the star ofHoliday Hotel, on ABC-TV.[14]
Over the years he released many singles and albums, two albums charted, both withFrances Langford.The Birckersons, in 1962, (No. 76 onBillboard Top LPs), andThe Bickersons Fight Back, released later that year, (No. 109 onBillboard Top LPs).[15]
Ameche appeared regularly in films until 1970, as he shifted to television and the stage. He returned to films after thirteen years withTrading Places (1983), where he was cast when directorJohn Landis had someone in mind from the 1930s and 1940s who had not played many villainous roles and came upon Ameche (afterRay Milland was passed over due to not being able to pass the insurance physical).[16] After having to track him down inSanta Monica, California due to not being able to reach him through theScreen Actors Guild, who said that his royalty payments were going to his son in Arizona, Ameche took on the role.[16] This started a comeback where Ameche would appear more regularly in films,[17] includingCocoon (1985, which earned him anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor),Harry and the Hendersons (1987),Coming to America (1988) andCocoon: The Return (1988).
He earned good reviews for the David Mamet and Shel Silverstein-pennedThings Change (1988);The New York Times said that he showed "the kind of great comic aplomb that wins actors awards for other than sentimental reasons."[18] His later credits included an episode ofThe Golden Girls (1990), the filmsOscar (1991),Folks! (1992), and the voice of Shadow inHomeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993). His final appearance was in the filmCorrina, Corrina (1994), which was released posthumously.
From 1946 to 1949, together with other Los Angeles entertainment figures includingBing Crosby andBob Hope, Ameche owned theLos Angeles Dons of theAll-America Football Conference, a rival to theNational Football League.[19] He was instrumental in forming and leading the ownership group the year before play began[20] and initially served as team president.[21]
Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986. They were separated from each other at the time of her death and Ameche did not attend her funeral according to her 1986 obituary.[22] They had six children: two daughters, Connie and Bonnie, and four sons, Lonnie, Dominic, Thomas and Ronald,[3][22] who owned a restaurant called "Ameche's Pumpernickel" inCoralville, Iowa. Ameche's younger brother, Jim, died in 1983 at the age of 67.[23]
Ameche wasRoman Catholic[24] and aRepublican who supported the campaign ofThomas Dewey in the1944 United States presidential election.[25]
On December 6, 1993, Ameche died at his son Richard Ameche's house inScottsdale, Arizona, ofprostate cancer[26] at age 85.[3][27] He wascremated and his ashes are buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery inAsbury, Iowa.[28]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Clive of India | Prisoner in the Black Hole | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Dante's Inferno | Man in Stoke-Hold | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Sins of Man | Karl Freyman / Mario Signarelli | |
| 1936 | Ramona | Alessandro | |
| 1936 | Ladies in Love | Dr. Rudi Imre | |
| 1936 | One in a Million | Bob Harris | |
| 1937 | Love Is News | Martin J. Canavan | |
| 1937 | Fifty Roads to Town | Peter Nostrand | |
| 1937 | You Can't Have Everything | George Macrae | |
| 1937 | Love Under Fire | Tracy Egan | |
| 1938 | In Old Chicago | Jack O'Leary | |
| 1938 | Happy Landing | Jimmy Hall | |
| 1938 | Alexander's Ragtime Band | Charlie Dwyer | |
| 1938 | Josette | David Brassard Jr. | |
| 1938 | Gateway | Dick Court | |
| 1939 | The Three Musketeers | D'Artagnan | |
| 1939 | Midnight | Tibor Czerny | |
| 1939 | The Story of Alexander Graham Bell | Alexander Graham Bell | |
| 1939 | Hollywood Cavalcade | Michael Linnett 'Mike' Connors | |
| 1939 | Swanee River | Stephen Foster | |
| 1940 | Lillian Russell | Edward Solomon | |
| 1940 | Four Sons | Chris Bern | |
| 1940 | Down Argentine Way | Ricardo Quintana | |
| 1941 | That Night in Rio | Impersonator Larry Martin / Baron Manuel Duarte | |
| 1941 | Moon Over Miami | Phil O'Neil (Credits) / Phil 'Mac' McNeil (in Film) | |
| 1941 | Kiss the Boys Goodbye | Lloyd Lloyd | |
| 1941 | The Feminine Touch | Prof. John Hathaway | |
| 1941 | Confirm or Deny | 'Mitch' Mitchell | |
| 1942 | The Magnificent Dope | Dwight Dawson | |
| 1942 | Girl Trouble | Pedro Sullivan | |
| 1943 | Something to Shout About | Ken Douglas | |
| 1943 | Heaven Can Wait | Henry Van Cleve | |
| 1943 | Happy Land | Lew Marsh | |
| 1944 | Wing and a Prayer | Flight Cmdr. Bingo Harper | |
| 1944 | Greenwich Village | Kenneth Harvey | |
| 1945 | It's in the Bag! | as himself | (cameo appearance) |
| 1945 | Guest Wife | Joseph Jefferson 'Joe' Parker | |
| 1946 | So Goes My Love | Hiram Stephen Maxim | |
| 1947 | That's My Man | Joe Grange | |
| 1948 | Sleep, My Love | Richard W. Courtland | |
| 1949 | Slightly French | John Gayle | |
| 1954 | Phantom Caravan | Lawrence Evans | |
| 1961 | A Fever in the Blood | Senator Alex S. Simon | |
| 1966 | Rings Around the World | Himself | |
| 1966 | Picture Mommy Dead | Edward Shelley | |
| 1970 | The Boatniks | Commander Taylor | |
| 1970 | Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came | Col. Flanders | |
| 1971 | Columbo | Frank Simpson | Episode: "Suitable for Framing", Season 1 |
| 1983 | Trading Places | Mortimer Duke | |
| 1985 | Cocoon | Art Selwyn | Won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1986 | A Masterpiece of Murder | Frank Aherne | TV movie |
| 1987 | Pals | Art Riddle / Arthur James Van Pelt | TV movie |
| 1987 | Harry and the Hendersons | Dr. Wallace Wrightwood | |
| 1988 | Coming to America | Mortimer Duke | Cameo[29][30][31] |
| 1988 | Things Change | Gino | |
| 1988 | Cocoon: The Return | Art Selwyn | |
| 1990 | Oddball Hall | G. Paul Siebriese | |
| 1990 | The Golden Girls | Brother Martin | Episode: "Once in St. Olaf" |
| 1991 | Oscar | Father Clemente | |
| 1992 | Folks! | Harry Aldrich | |
| 1992 | Sunstroke | Jake | |
| 1993 | Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey | Shadow | Voice; final film role and only voice role |
| 1994 | Corrina, Corrina | Grandpa Harry | Posthumous release |
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Lux Radio Theatre | Manhattan Melodrama[32] |
| 1947 | Family Theater | "Flight from Home"[33] |
