Name
Red Buttons
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1919-02-05
Deathday
2006-07-13 (87 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Biography
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.
Known For
7.604
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadian...
7.153
When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape....
6.7
Charlie Lang is a simple, kindhearted New York City cop. When he realizes he has no money ...
7.6
In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a d...
6.1
A group of unlikely travelling companions find themselves on the same stagecoach to Cheyen...
7.498
In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked w...
- 1972 The Poseidon Adventure as James Martin
- 1988 Jackie Gleason: The Great One as Self
- 1977 Pete's Dragon as Hoagy
- 1962 Hatari! as Pockets
- 1965 Harlow as Arthur Landau
- 1999 The Story of Us as Arnie Jordan
- 1962 Gay Purr-ee as Robespierre (voice)
- 1962 The Longest Day as Pvt. John Steele
- 1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as Sailor
- 1979 Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July as Milton (voice)
- 1957 Sayonara as Joe Kelly
- 1962 Five Weeks in a Balloon as Donald O'Shay
- 1988 18 Again! as Charlie
- 1966 Stagecoach as Peacock
- 1980 When Time Ran Out... as Francis Fendly
- 1977 Viva Knievel! as Ben Andrews
- 1958 Hansel and Gretel as Hansel
- 1978 Movie Movie as Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
- 1964 Your Cheatin' Heart as Shorty Younger
- 1979 C.H.O.M.P.S. as Bracken
- 1990 The Ambulance as Elias Zacharai
- 1963 A Ticklish Affair as Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
- 1995 Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker as Self
- 2004 Goodnight, We Love You as Self
- 1959 The Big Circus as Randy Sherman
- 1944 Winged Victory as Whitey / Andrews Sister
- 1958 Imitation General as Cpl. Chan Derby
- 1978 The Users as Warren Ambrose
- 1981 Leave 'Em Laughing as Roland Green
- 1959 A Marriage of Strangers as Jerry
- 1971 Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? as Mickey Isadore
- 1976 Gable and Lombard as Ivan Cooper
- 1982 Off Your Rocker as Seymour Saltz
- 1977 Telethon as Marty Rand
- 1985 Reunion at Fairborough as Jiggs Quealy
- 1985 Night of 100 Stars II as Self
- 1961 One, Two, Three as MP Sergeant (uncredited)
- 1970 Breakout as Pipes
- 1965 Up from the Beach as PFC Harry Devine
- 1983 George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business as Self
- 1951 Footlight Varieties as Himself
- 1994 It Could Happen to You as Walter Zakuto
- 1976 Joys as Self
- 1981 Side Show as Harry Hubbell
- 1970 George M! as Sam Harris
- 1976 Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
- 1979 The Muppets Go Hollywood as Self (uncredited)
- 1997 Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years as Self
- 1966 Murder at N.B.C.
- 1989 George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom as Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
- 1958 The All-Star Christmas Show as Self
- 1976 Flannery and Quilt as Luke Flannery
- 1998 Ghosts of Fear Street as Grandpa
- 1975 The New Original Wonder Woman as Ashley Norman
- 1977 Playboy's Playmate Party
- 2002 Presidio Med ( 1 episode ) as Chick
- 1952 The Jackie Gleason Show ( 2 episodes )
- 1974 Little House on the Prairie ( 1 episode ) as William 'Willie' O'Hara
- 1977 The Love Boat ( 2 episodes ) as Cyrus Foster
- 1996 Early Edition ( 1 episode ) as Walter Stites
- 1984 The Cosby Show ( 1 episode ) as Jake Bennett
- 1985 227 ( 1 episode )
- 1988 Roseanne ( 1 episode )
- 1979 Knots Landing ( 6 episodes ) as Al Baker
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as St. Emergency
- 1953 General Electric Theater ( 1 episode ) as Lieutenant George Poole
- 1948 The Ed Sullivan Show ( 10 episodes ) as Self
- 1996 Cosby ( 1 episode )
- 1961 Password ( 1 episode )
- 1994 ER ( 5 episodes ) as Ruby
- 1963 The Greatest Show on Earth ( 1 episode )
- 1962 Saints and Sinners ( 1 episode ) as Joe Roganyan
- 1962 The Eleventh Hour ( 1 episode )
- 1978 Vega$ ( 1 episode )
- 1999 Family Law ( 1 episode ) as Carl Porter
- 2001 Philly ( 1 episode )
- 1953 The United States Steel Hour ( 1 episode )
- 1963 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre ( 1 episode )
- 1980 Pink Lady ( 1 episode ) as Red Buttons
- 1965 The Dean Martin Show ( 2 episodes )
- 1956 The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1961 Ben Casey ( 1 episode )
- 1967 The Danny Thomas Hour ( 1 episode )
- 1961 Frontier Circus ( 1 episode )
- 1949 Suspense ( 1 episode )
- 1952 The Red Buttons Show ( 1 episode ) as Host
- 1966 The Double Life of Henry Phyfe ( 17 episodes ) as Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
- 1981 Aloha Paradise ( 1 episode ) as Nick
- 2002 Street Time ( 4 episodes ) as Sam Kahan
- 1961 The Mike Douglas Show ( 1 episode ) as Self - Host
- 1953 The Oscars ( 4 episodes ) as Self
- 1985 Alice in Wonderland ( 2 episodes ) as White Rabbit
- 1980 The Dream Merchants ( 3 episodes ) as Bruce Benson
- 1973 The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1980 Pink Lady ( 1 episode ) as Police Sergeant
- 1961 The Mike Douglas Show ( 2 episodes ) as Self - Co-Host
- 1962 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ( 6 episodes ) as Self
- 1953 General Electric Theater ( 1 episode ) as Tippy-Top
- 1964 The Hollywood Palace ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1977 The Love Boat ( 1 episode ) as Buddy Redmond
- 1969 Love, American Style ( 2 episodes ) as Norman
- 1957 Tonight Starring Jack Paar ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1950 What's My Line? ( 3 episodes ) as Self
- 1971 Great Performances ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1958 Kraft Music Hall ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1975 Wonder Woman ( 1 episode ) as Ashley Norman
- 1986 It's Garry Shandling's Show ( 1 episode ) as Red Buttons
- 1962 The Merv Griffin Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1980 Power ( 2 episodes ) as Solly Weiss
- 1959 Startime ( 1 episode ) as Joe Henders
- 1978 Fantasy Island ( 1 episode ) as Tony Emerson
- 1978 Fantasy Island ( 1 episode ) as Cornelius Kelly
