Don Ameche

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Actor:

Corrina, Corrina (1994)

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) (voice)

Sunstroke (1992) (TV)

Folks! (1992)

"Pros and Cons" (1 episode, 1991)

Our Shining Moment (1991) (TV)

Oscar (1991)

Oddball Hall (1990)

"The Golden Girls" (1 episode, 1990)

Cocoon: The Return (1988)

Things Change (1988)

Coming to America (1988)

Harry and the Hendersons (1987)

Pals (1987) (TV)

A Masterpiece of Murder (1986) (TV)

Cocoon (1985)

Not in Front of the Kids (1984) (TV)

"The Love Boat" (3 episodes, 1979-1984)

"Mr. Smith" (1 episode, 1983)

Trading Places (1983)

"Fantasy Island" (1 episode, 1980)

"Quincy M.E." (1 episode, 1979)

The Chinese Typewriter (1979) (TV)

"Good Heavens" (1 episode, 1976)

"Ellery Queen" (1 episode, 1975)

"McCloud" (1 episode, 1975)

Gidget Gets Married (1972) (TV)

"Alias Smith and Jones" (1 episode, 1971)

"Columbo" (1 episode, 1971)

Shepherd's Flock (1971) (TV)

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)

The Boatniks (1970)

"Julia" (2 episodes, 1969-1970)

"Petticoat Junction" (1 episode, 1970)

Shadow Over Elveron (1968) (TV)

Picture Mommy Dead (1966)

"The Christophers" (2 episodes, 1963-1964)

"Burke's Law" (1 episode, 1964)

"The Greatest Show on Earth" (1 episode, 1964)

A Fever in the Blood (1961)

"Climax!" (1 episode, 1958)

"The DuPont Show of the Month" (1 episode, 1957)

"Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1 episode, 1957)

Saturday Spectacular: High Button Shoes (1956) (TV) (uncredited)

Fire One (1954) (TV)

Phantom Caravan (1954)

"The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show" (1951) TV series (1951-52)

"Holiday Hotel" (1950) TV series (1950-1951)

"The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre" (1 episode, 1949)

Slightly French (1949)

Sleep, My Love (1948)

That's My Man (1947)

So Goes My Love (1946)

Guest Wife (1945)

It's in the Bag! (1945)

Greenwich Village (1944)

Wing and a Prayer (1944)

Happy Land (1943)

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Something to Shout About (1943)

Girl Trouble (1942)

The Magnificent Dope (1942)

Confirm or Deny (1941)

The Feminine Touch (1941)

Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941)

Moon Over Miami (1941)

That Night in Rio (1941)

Down Argentine Way (1940)

Four Sons (1940)

Lillian Russell (1940)

Swanee River (1939)

Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)

Midnight (1939)

The Three Musketeers (1939)

Gateway (1938)

Josette (1938)

Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)

Happy Landing (1938)

Love Under Fire (1937)

You Can't Have Everything (1937)

Fifty Roads to Town (1937)

Love Is News (1937)

In Old Chicago (1937)

One in a Million (1936)

Ladies in Love (1936)

Ramona (1936)

Sins of Man (1936)

Dante's Inferno (1935) (uncredited)

Clive of India (1935) (uncredited)

Director:

"Julia" (1 episode, 1970)

As Himself:

"Reflections on the Silver Screen" (1 episode, 1991)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1989) (TV)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1987) (TV)

The 59th Annual Academy Awards 1987 (TV)

The 58th Annual Academy Awards 1986 (TV)

The American Film Institute Salute to Billy Wilder (1986) (TV)

The Twelfth Annual People's Choice Awards 1986 (TV)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1985) (TV)

Night of 100 Stars (1982) (TV)

"The David Frost Show" (1 episode, 1970)

The Ed Sullivan Show (2 episodes, 1957-1967)

"The Hollywood Palace" (1 episode, 1967)

Rings Around the World (1966)

"The Price Is Right" (1 episode, 1964)

"I've Got a Secret" (2 episodes, 1956-1962)

"Password" (1 episode, 1961)

"International Showtime" (3 episodes, 1961)

"To Tell the Truth" (84 episodes, 1957-1961)

"The Frances Langford Show" (1960) TV series

"The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom" (1 episode, 1958)

General Motors 50th Anniversary Show (1957) (TV)

"What's My Line?" (2 episodes, 1953-1957)

"The Arthur Murray Party" (1 episode, 1957)

Person to Person (1 episode, 1956)

"The Milton Berle Show" (1 episode, 1954)

"Coke Time" (1 episode, 1953)

"The Saturday Night Revue" (1 episode, 1953)

Screen Snapshots 5852: Hollywood Night at '21' Club (1952)

"Take a Chance" (1950) TV series

"Holiday Hotel" (1 episode, 1950)

"The Jack Carter Show" (2 episodes, 1950)

Week End in Hollywood (1947)

Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8 (1939)

Academy Awards

1986 Won Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: Cocoon (1985)

Venice Film Festival

1988 Won Pasinetti Award Best Actor for: Things Change (1988)

1988 Won Volpi Cup Best Actor for: Things Change (1988) Tied with Joe Mantegna for Things Change (1988).

Walk of Fame

Star on the Walk of Fame Television At 6101 Hollywood Blvd.

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Like all light leading men, Don Ameche was consistently underrated. Born to an Italian father and an Irish-German mother, he started out in vaudeville with singer and actress Texas Guinan until she dropped him form the act, saying he was "to stiff." After a dual role playing two sons in Sins of Man (1936), he became a Twentieth Century Fox leading man with Ramona (1936). Most often found in pleasant musicals such as Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), he occasionally starred in musical biopics, for example as Stephen Foster in Swanee River (1939). His role as the inventor in the biopic The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) even led to "Ameche" becoming the slang term of the day for the telephone. More charming than Tyrone Power, with whom he often competed for Alice Faye, his trademarks were a pencil moustache and a glittering smile. His best starring role came in Ernst Lubitsch's Heaven Can Wait (1943) as Henry Van Cleve, a likable but melancholy rogue on the road to hell, and he showed versatility as the villain in Douglas Sirk's Sleep, My Love (1948).

A star on radio with Frances Langford in "The Bickersons," he moved into TV in the 1950s, returning to the cinema with the odd B-feature such as Picture Mommy Dead (1966), or in crusty cameos as in The Boatniks (1970). A solid supporting role as an elderly millionaire in Trading Places (1983) reminded Hollywood that Ameche was still working. His last decade found him showcased in geriatric hits such as Cocoon (1985), which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and led to an affectionate, sharp picture built entirely around him, David Mamet's Things Change (1988). Ameche was happily married to Honore Prendergast until her death in 1986. The couple had six children.

Interred at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery (formerly St. Philomina's), Dubuque, Iowa. (Grave unmarked).