Don Ameche
Birth : 1908-05-31, Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
Death : 1993-12-06
History
Don Ameche born Dominic Felix Amici May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film career surged in a comeback in the 1980s with fine work as an aging millionaire in Trading Places (1983) and a rejuvenated oldster in Cocoon (1985). Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor.
Ameche, standing in at a height of 5' 11" (1.8 m) was born May 31, 1908 (Gemini) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA as Dominic Felix Amici to mother, Barbara Edda (Hertel) and father, Felice Amici, a bartender. Has a younger brother Jim Ameche. His father was an Italian immigrant. His mother had German, English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. Americans pronounced his last name incorrectly in Italian ("Ah-mee-see"). So he changed it from "Amici" (correctly pronounced "Ah-mee-chee") into "Ameche", in order to keep the original Italian pronunciation. He had the nickname "The Latin Lover". Married Honore Prendergast on the 6th of December 1932. They had 6 children together. Became a father for the first time at age 25 when his wife Honore gave birth to their son Dominic Felix Ameche--aka Don Ameche Jr. on October 3, 1933. Became a father for the second time at age 27 when his wife Honore gave birth to their son Ronald Ameche on December 30, 1935. He died on January 2, 2001 in Iowa, aged 65. Became a father for the third time at age 31 when his wife Honore gave birth to their son Thomas Anthony Ameche on July 20, 1939. Became a father for the fourth time at age 32 when his wife Honore gave birth to their son Lawrence Michael Ameche on July 20, 1940. Became a father for the fifth time at age 36 when his wife Honore gave birth to their daughter Barbara Balinda Ameche on March 13, 1945. Became a father for the sixth time at age 39 when his wife Honore gave birth to their daughter Constance Victoria Ameche on February 22, 1948. His wife of 54 years, died on the 5th of September 1986. He died on December 6, 1993 at the age of 85 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA from prostate cancer.
Self (archive footage)
A film scrapbook, images, phrases from our past, hiding their meanings behind veils. Let's lift those veils, one by one, to find how images, at one time seeming innocent, have revealed, after decades, to have homosexual overtones.
Grandpa Harry
When Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper Corrina Washington, who coaxes Molly out of her shell and shows father and daughter a whole new way of life. Manny and Corrina's friendship delights Molly and enrages the other townspeople.
Shadow (voice)
Remake of the popular Disney classic, this time featuring some well known voices as two dogs and a cat trek across America encountering all sorts of adventures in the quest to be reunited with their owners.
Jake
After a bitter divorce, Teresa embarks on a noir journey to recover custody of her daughter. Murder, blackmail, and a mysterious stranger await her at a Scottsdale motel.
Harry Aldrich
A slightly self absorbed yuppie takes in his parents including his senile father, after their home burns down. But his personal and professional life fall apart soon after.
Father Clemente
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets about to keep his promise.
G. Paul Siebriese
Elderly jewel thieves on the run from the law pass themselves off as wizards to a village of bewildered Africans.
Gino
Jerry, a misfit Mafia henchman, is assigned the low-level job of keeping an eye on Gino, a shoe repairman fingered by the Mob to confess to a murder he didn't commit. But Gino's mistaken for a Mafia boss, and the two are suddenly catapulted to the highest levels of mobster status. Only friendship will see them through this dangerous adventure alive!
Art Selwyn
The reinvigorated elderly group that left Earth comes back to visit their relatives. Will they all decide to go back to the planet where no one grows old, or will they be tempted to remain on Earth?
Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited)
An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.
Dr. Wallace Wrightwood
Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this). As you guessed, it isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant.
Fern Stobbs
Two retired fishing buddies stumble on an unmarked suitcase filled with three million dollars in cash. Then the fun starts flying as fast as bullets.
Frank Aherne
An over-the-hill gumshoe reluctantly teams with worldly retired master thief to solve a string of art thefts and murders.
Arthur Selwyn
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
Mortimer Duke
A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers payed up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and costume changes, tape rewinding, and the like. Executive producer Alexander Cohen estimated that the 5,800 Radio City Music Hall seats sold out at prices ranging from $25 to $1,000. The show itself cost about $4 million to produce and was expected to yield around $2 million for the new addition to the Actors Fund retirement home in Englewood, N. J. ABC is reputed to have paid more than $5 million for the television rights.
Otis Ramsey
Gidget finally gets married and rebels against the social caste system in her new husband's company.
Col. Flanders
War is brewing between the soldiers at an otherwise quiet army base and the civilians of a nearby Southern town. Brian Keith is an officer who tries to keep the peace. However, peace is hard to come by with Ernest Borgnine as a stereotypical dumb hick sheriff who's quick to call in the local militia. Tony Curtis plays a skirt-chasing sergeant who can't stay out of trouble and soon lands in jail. Brian Keith borrows a tank to release his friend from jail. Things get more chaotic after that.
Commander Taylor
Young and awkward, The Coast-Guard's ensign Thomas Garland suffers from the comparison with his late father, a war hero. Which does not prevent him from falling for pretty Kate Fairchild, a young woman who runs a sailing school. Of course the way he expresses his deep sympathy for the lady leaves to be desired. And the situation does not improve when a trio of bumbling jewel thieves interferes.
Justin Travers
A corrupt sheriff knows the secrets of everyone in town and uses that information to go unchallenged. But after the arrest of an innocent teenager, the new doctor cannot keep quiet and tries to get the community to stand up for what is right.
Host/Ringmaster
While writing a book on the circus, author John Shawcross reflects upon the great acts he has seen over the years and the mystique of circus people. He recalls the solo trapeze act of La Mara; Tarzan, Sahib, and their elephant; Marco's sword-balancing act; an archery act in which Grey Arrow shoots an apple off the head of Zuni, his wife; the Mascott Sisters' head-to-head balancing act on a high ladder; the juggling of Rudy Cardenas; high bar specialists, the Tongas; Gunther Gebel Williams with his tiger; the flying bar act of the Laribles; Carl Sembach-Krone's trained horses; lion tamer Pablo Noel; the Gaonas and the Four Titos on the trampoline; the Flying Armors on the flying trapeze; Frieda Krone and her elephants; Fredy Knie, Sr., and his Lippizaner; the Francesco Clowns; Lilly Yokoi on her bicycle; Mendez and Seitz on the tightrope; and Pauline Schumann on the trick horse.
Edward Shelley
Susan Shelley is released from an asylum where she's been confined to after the shock suffered over the fiery death of her mother. Her father has a new wife, who has only married him for the money left to him by his dead wife. Susan is still haunted by her mother's memory, and her step-mother is conspiring with her lover to get the troubled girl to lead them to her mother's missing diamond necklace.
Senator Alex S. Simon
A judge, a district attorney and a U. S. senator--each hoping to be elected the next governor--attempt to manipulate a murder trial to advance their own political ambitions. Director Vincent Sherman's 1961 drama stars Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Don Ameche, Jack Kelly, Angie Dickinson, Herbert Marshall, Jesse White, Parley Baer, Carroll O'Connor, Ray Danton, Andra Martin, Rhodes Reason and Louise Lorimer.
John Gayle
A film director, in bad standing with his studio, tries to turn a local carnival dancer into a "French" movie star and pass her off as his big new discovery
Richard W. Courtland
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Joe Grange
A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he starts becoming successful, he begins to lose sight of what mattered to him before.
Hiram Stephen Maxim
Country girl Jane Budden goes to the big city, determined to find and marry a wealthy man. Instead, she meets and marries Herman Maxim, a struggling inventor.
Joseph Jefferson 'Joe' Parker
Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. But Chris's wife, Mary, is none to fond of Joe and tired of her husband's idolizing. On the eve of the Price's second-honeymoon trip to New York City, Joe arrives and tells Chris that he needs someone to pose as his wife in order to fool his boss in NYC, who thinks Joe got married to an overseas woman while on an assignment. Chris pushes Mary into posing as Joe's wife. In New York, this leads to many complications and misunderstandings, with Mary finally deciding to teach Chris and Joe a lesson by making them believe she is in love with Joe.
Don Ameche
The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.
Kenneth Harvey
In 1922, a would-be classical composer gets involved with people putting on a musical revue.
Bingo Harper
An aircraft carrier is sent on a decoy mission around the Pacific, with orders to avoid combat, thus lulling Japanese alertness before the battle of Midway.
Lew Marsh
An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence.
Henry Van Cleve
Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy. The devil, however, isn't so sure Henry meets Hell's standards. Convinced he is where he belongs, Henry recounts his life's deeds, both good and bad, including an act of indiscretion during his 25-year marriage to his wife, Martha, with the hope that "His Excellency" will arrive at the proper judgment.
Ken Douglas
A press agent, a composer and a landlord of a theatrical boardinghouse revive vaudeville on Broadway.
Pedro Sullivan
A South American in New York rents the apartment of a socialite who pretends to be his maid.
Dwight Dawson
Dwight Dawson, who runs an unsuccessful success school, stages a contest to find the biggest failure in the USA, for publicity value when the "dope" takes his course. But winner Tad Page is contented with his idle, lazy life and threatens to convert Dawson's other students to his philosophy. Dawson captalizes on Tad's attraction to Claire Harris to win him over; but will Tad find out Claire is really engaged to Dawson?
'Mitch' Mitchell
Newsman Mitch and teletype operator Jennifer, whose job is to see he doesn't send inappropriate stuff out of the country, dodge bombs during the blitz of London while falling in love.
John Hathaway
A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Russell), to New York where he plans to publish a book on the subject. Meeting with publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin), who falls head over heels for Julie, John is assigned to his assistant Nellie (Kay Francis), who only has eyes for her boss. Working closely with Nellie, who Julie thinks is after her husband, John continues his high-minded ways while his angry spouse schemes to make him so jealous he'll knock Elliott's block clean off.
Lloyd Lloyd
New York chorus girl Cindy Lou Bethany becomes frustrated when she prepares for an audition for a Broadway musical, but the auditions close and her roommate, Gwen Abbott, is hired to be secretary to Top Rumson, the show's financial backer. Gwen tells Cindy that the director, Lloyd Lloyd, and composer, Dick Rayburn, have been sent to the South on a talent search for a classic Southern belle type to star in the show, although their shows usually feature Myra Stanhope, an actress whose style is hopelessly inappropriate for this show. Desperate for work, Cindy returns to her aunt Lily Lou and uncle Jefferson Davis Bethany's home in the South and schemes to get Lloyd and Rayburn to audition her.
Phil O'Neil (Credits) / Phil 'Mac' McNeil
After losing nearly all of an inheritance to taxes, sisters Kay (Betty Grable) and Barbara Latimer (Carole Landis), waitresses at a drive-in restaurant in Texas, scheme to find rich husbands. With the aid of their aunt Susan (Charlotte Greenwood), the sisters take the last of their money and head to a well-known Miami resort where they soon meet two wealthy young men, Phil (Don Ameche) and Jeff (Robert Cummings), who begin a fierce rivalry for Kay, not realizing that Barbara has fallen in love with one of them.
Larry Martin / Baron Manuel Duarte
An entertainer in Rio impersonates a wealthy aristocrat. When the aristocrat's wife asks him to carry the impersonation further, complications ensue.
Ricardo Quintana
The story—in which an American heiress on holiday in South America falls in love with an Argentine horse breeder against the wishes of their families—takes a backseat to the spectacular location shooting and parade of extravagant musical numbers, which include the larger-than-life Carmen Miranda singing the hit “South American Way” and a showstopping dance routine by the always amazing Nicholas Brothers.
Chris Bern
Four Sons is a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo. It stars Don Ameche and Eugenie Leontovich. It is a remake of the 1928 film of the same name.
Edward Solomon
Alice Faye plays the title role in this 1940 film biography of the early-20th-century stage star.
Stephen Foster
Swanee River is a 1940 American biopic about Stephen Foster, a songwriter from Pittsburgh who falls in love with the South, marries a Southern girl, then is accused of sympathizing when the Civil War breaks out. Typical of 20th Century Fox biopics of the time, the film is more fictional than factual biography.
Mike Connors
Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.
Alexander Graham Bell (archive footage)
This film tells the history of the United States from pre-Revolution through 1939.
Don Ameche
Ice skating is the theme; at the Tropical Ice Garden, in Westwood Hills, are seen a flock of skating stars including Irene Dare and Phyllis Ann Thomoson, as well as Hollywood luminaries such as Franklyn Pangborn, Norma Shearer, Rita Hayworth, Mickey Rooney, Dick Purcell and Ann Sheridan.
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. She urges him to put off thoughts of marriage until his experiments are complete. He invents the telephone, marries and becomes rich and famous, though his happiness is threatened when a rival company sets out to ruin him.
Tibor Czerny
An unemployed showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian society.
D'Artagnan
A parodic remake of the story of the young Gascon D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris, his heart set on joining the king's Musketeers. He is taken under the wings of three of the most respected and feared Musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Together they fight to save France and the honor of a lady from the machinations of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
Dick Court
Irish immigrant meets returning war correspondent on a liner bound for New York. When she resists the amours of another passenger, charges result in her being detained at Ellis Island.
David Brassard Jr.
Two young men try to wrest their father from the clutches of a gold digger but by mistake think the woman is a young nightclub singer with whom they both fall in love.
Charlie Dwyer
Classical violinist, Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls in love with the band's singer, Stella, but his reluctance to lose her leads him to thwart her efforts to become a solo star. When the World War separates them in 1917, Stella marries Roger's best friend and, when Roger returns home after the war, an important concert at Carnegie Hall brings the corners of the romantic triangle together.
Jack O'Leary
The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
Jimmy Hall
Bandleader and manager discover skater in Norway. They become rivals as she returns with them to America.
Tracy Egan
A supense-thriller-comedy set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.
George Macrae
Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve...
Peter Nostrand
A man on the lam in the Canadian wilds encounters a young woman in a remote lodge who is also on the run.
Martin J. Canavan
When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are engaged. Suddenly he's front page news, every salesman is at his doorstep, and he loses his job. A series of misadventures ensues with him alternately back on his job and fired and her ex-fiancé showing up.
Bob Harris
American theatrical manager (Menjou) discovers Henie preparing for the Olympics in Switzerland and brings her to Madison Square Garden.
Dr. Rudi Imre
Three young women in Budapest share living quarters while searching for romance.
Señora Moreno
Half-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his family's wishes and loves another Indian employed by the household.
Karl Freyman / Mario Signarelli
Austrian church bell ringer Freyman loves music and wants his two sons (both played by Ameche) to love it too. The first goes to America and the second is born deaf-mute but gains hearing during WWI bombing.
