Don Ameche

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Dominic Felix Ameche (May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning American actor and director.

Ameche was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin to Felix Ameche, an immigrant from Italy whose original surname was "Amici", and Barbara, who was of Irish and German descent.^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 Filmography 4 Notes 5 External link

Career

Ameche began his career in vaudeville with Texas Guinan until Guinan dropped him from the act, dismissing him as "too stiff".^[2] He made his film debut in 1935 and, by the late thirties, had established himself as a leading actor in Hollywood. He appeared successfully in such films as Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), as the title character in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), and Heaven Can Wait (1943) co-starring Gene Tierney.

He was so associated by the public with his role as Bell that for a time, "Ameche" was slang for telephone. By the end of the decade, his films had lost their appeal, and he turned to radio, as the announcer and 'sketch' participant for the show of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. He then achieved great success during the late 1940's and early 1950's playing opposite Frances Langford in The Bickersons.

Ameche enjoyed a substantial Broadway career with roles in Silk Stockings, Goldilocks, Holiday for Lovers, Henry, Sweet Henry, and Our Town.

Between 1961 and 1965, Ameche sat in the grandstand of a different European resident circus each week to serve as host/commentator on International Showtime. The program aired on NBC television.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ameche directed the NBC television drama series Julia, starring Diahann Carroll. For three decades, he was virtually absent from films, until he was cast alongside fellow veteran actor Ralph Bellamy in the film Trading Places in 1983. The actors played rich brothers intent on ruining an innocent man for the sake of a one-dollar bet. The film's great success, and their acclaimed comedic performances, brought them both back into the limelight. In an interview some years later on Larry King Live, co-star Jamie Lee Curtis stated that Ameche, a proper old-school actor, apologized ahead of time to everyone on the set when he had to utter the "f-word" in the film.

Ameche's next role, in Cocoon (1985), won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He continued working for the rest of his life (including a role in the sequel, Cocoon: The Return). His last films were Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), and Corrina, Corrina (1994), and his final scenes for the film Corrina, Corrina (1994) were completed only days before his death in Scottsdale, Arizona from prostate cancer.

For his contribution to radio, Ameche received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6313 Hollywood Boulevard and a second star at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard for his television work.

Personal life

He was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986, with whom he had six children. One of them, Ron Ameche, owned the restaurant "Ameche's Pumpernickel" in Coralville, Iowa. Ameche's late younger brother Jim Ameche was also an actor.

Ameche died on December 6, 1993. He was buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, also known as St. Philomena Cemetery, in Asbury, Iowa.

Filmography

• Clive of India (1935)
• Dante's Inferno (1935)
• Sins of Man (1936)
• Ramona (1936)
• Ladies in Love (1936)
• One in a Million (1936)
• In Old Chicago (1937)
• Love Is News (1937)
• Fifty Races to Town (1937)
• You Can't Have Everything (1937)
• Love Under Fire (1937)
• Happy Landing (1938)
• Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
• Josette (1938)
• Gateway (1938)
• The Three Musketeers (1939)
• Midnight (1939)
• The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
• Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
• Swanee River (1939)
• Lillian Russell (1940)
• Four Sons (1940)
• Down Argentine Way (1940)
• That Night in Rio (1941)
• Moon Over Miami (1941)
• Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941)
• The Feminine Touch (1941)
• Confirm or Deny (1941)
• The Magnificent Dope (1942)
• Girl Trouble (1942)
• Something to Shout About (1943)
• Heaven Can Wait (1943)
• Happy Land (1943)
• Wing and a Prayer (1944)
• Greenwich Village (1944)
• It's in the Bag! (1945) (Cameo)
• Guest Wife (1945)
• So Goes My Love (1946)
• That's My Man (1947)
• Sleep, My Love (1948)
• Slightly French (1949)
• Phantom Caravan (1954)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1957)
• A Fever in the Blood (1961)
• The Greatest Show on Earth (TV series) (1963)
• Rings Around the World (1966) (documentary)
• Picture Mommy Dead (1966)
• The Boatniks (1970)
• Columbo (1971)
• Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
• Trading Places (1983)
• Cocoon (1985)
• Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
• Coming to America (1988)
• Things Change (1988)
• Cocoon: The Return (1988)
• Oddball Hall (1990)
• Oscar (1991)
• Folks! (1992)
• Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) (voice)
• Corrina, Corrina (1994)

Notes

External link

• Don Ameche at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1985 for Cocoon

Succeeded by Michael Caine for Hannah and Her Sisters

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