Red Buttons
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.
Fotos
Películas (55)
Goodnight, We Love You
2004 · Self
The Story of Us
1999 · Arnie Jordan
Ghosts of Fear Street
1998 · Grandpa
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
1997 · Self
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
1995 · Self
It Could Happen to You
1994 · Walter Zakuto
The Ambulance
1990 · Elias Zacharai
George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom
1989 · Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
1988 · Self
18 Again!
1988 · Charlie
Reunion at Fairborough
1985 · Jiggs Quealy
Night of 100 Stars II
1985 · Self
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
1983 · Self
Off Your Rocker
1982 · Seymour Saltz
Side Show
1981 · Harry Hubbell
Leave 'Em Laughing
1981 · Roland Green
When Time Ran Out...
1980 · Francis Fendly
C.H.O.M.P.S.
1979 · Bracken
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
1979 · Milton (voice)
The Muppets Go Hollywood
1979 · Self (uncredited)
Movie Movie
1978 · Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
The Users
1978 · Warren Ambrose
Telethon
1977 · Marty Rand
Pete's Dragon
1977 · Hoagy
Playboy's Playmate Party
1977
Viva Knievel!
1977 · Ben Andrews
Joys
1976 · Self
Gable and Lombard
1976 · Ivan Cooper
Flannery and Quilt
1976 · Luke Flannery
Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
1976
The New Original Wonder Woman
1975 · Ashley Norman
The Poseidon Adventure
1972 · James Martin
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
1971 · Mickey Isadore
Breakout
1970 · Pipes
George M!
1970 · Sam Harris
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
1969 · Sailor
Murder at N.B.C.
1966
Stagecoach
1966 · Peacock
Harlow
1965 · Arthur Landau
Up from the Beach
1965 · PFC Harry Devine
Your Cheatin' Heart
1964 · Shorty Younger
A Ticklish Affair
1963 · Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
Gay Purr-ee
1962 · Robespierre (voice)
The Longest Day
1962 · Pvt. John Steele
Five Weeks in a Balloon
1962 · Donald O'Shay
Hatari!
1962 · Pockets
One, Two, Three
1961 · MP Sergeant (uncredited)
The Big Circus
1959 · Randy Sherman
A Marriage of Strangers
1959 · Jerry
The All-Star Christmas Show
1958 · Self
Imitation General
1958 · Cpl. Chan Derby
Hansel and Gretel
1958 · Hansel
Sayonara
1957 · Joe Kelly
Footlight Varieties
1951 · Himself
Winged Victory
1944 · Whitey / Andrews Sister
Series (52)
Presidio Med
2002 · Chick
Street Time
2002 · Sam Kahan
Philly
2001
Family Law
1999 · Carl Porter
Early Edition
1996 · Walter Stites
Cosby
1996
ER
1994 · Ruby
Roseanne
1988
It's Garry Shandling's Show
1986 · Red Buttons
Alice in Wonderland
1985 · White Rabbit
227
1985
The Cosby Show
1984 · Jake Bennett
Aloha Paradise
1981 · Nick
The Dream Merchants
1980 · Bruce Benson
Pink Lady
1980 · Red Buttons, Police Sergeant
Power
1980 · Solly Weiss
Knots Landing
1979 · Al Baker
Vega$
1978
Fantasy Island
1978 · Tony Emerson, Cornelius Kelly
Vacaciones en el mar
1977 · Cyrus Foster, Buddy Redmond, Jimmy Morrow
Wonder Woman
1975 · Ashley Norman
Little House on the Prairie
1974 · William 'Willie' O'Hara
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973 · Self
Great Performances
1971 · Self
Love, American Style
1969 · Norman
The Danny Thomas Hour
1967
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
1966 · Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
The Dean Martin Show
1965
The Hollywood Palace
1964 · Self
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
The Eleventh Hour
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
The Merv Griffin Show
1962 · Self
Saints and Sinners
1962 · Joe Roganyan
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · Self - Host, Self - Co-Host
Frontier Circus
1961
Password
1961
Ben Casey
1961
Startime
1959 · Joe Henders
Kraft Music Hall
1958 · Self
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
1957 · Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
1956 · Self
The United States Steel Hour
1953
The Oscars
1953 · Self
General Electric Theater
1953 · Lieutenant George Poole, Tippy-Top
The Red Buttons Show
1952 · Host
The Jackie Gleason Show
1952
What's My Line?
1950 · Self
Suspense
1949
Studio One
1948 · St. Emergency
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · Self