Red Buttons
Acting • Born 1919-02-05 – Died 2006-07-13
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.
Filmography
110 credits
The Poseidon Adventure
Movie • 1972
James Martin
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
Movie • 1988
Self
Pete's Dragon
Movie • 1977
Hoagy
Hatari!
Movie • 1962
Pockets
Harlow
Movie • 1965
Arthur Landau
The Story of Us
Movie • 1999
Arnie Jordan
Gay Purr-ee
Movie • 1962
Robespierre (voice)
The Longest Day
Movie • 1962
Pvt. John Steele
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Movie • 1969
Sailor
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Movie • 1979
Milton (voice)
Sayonara
Movie • 1957
Joe Kelly
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Movie • 1962
Donald O'Shay
18 Again!
Movie • 1988
Charlie
Stagecoach
Movie • 1966
Peacock
When Time Ran Out...
Movie • 1980
Francis Fendly
Viva Knievel!
Movie • 1977
Ben Andrews
Hansel and Gretel
Movie • 1958
Hansel
Movie Movie
Movie • 1978
Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
Your Cheatin' Heart
Movie • 1964
Shorty Younger
C.H.O.M.P.S.
Movie • 1979
Bracken
The Ambulance
Movie • 1990
Elias Zacharai
A Ticklish Affair
Movie • 1963
Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Movie • 1995
Self
Goodnight, We Love You
Movie • 2004
Self
The Big Circus
Movie • 1959
Randy Sherman
Winged Victory
Movie • 1944
Whitey / Andrews Sister
Imitation General
Movie • 1958
Cpl. Chan Derby
The Users
Movie • 1978
Warren Ambrose
Leave 'Em Laughing
Movie • 1981
Roland Green
A Marriage of Strangers
Movie • 1959
Jerry
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
Movie • 1971
Mickey Isadore
Gable and Lombard
Movie • 1976
Ivan Cooper
Off Your Rocker
Movie • 1982
Seymour Saltz
Telethon
Movie • 1977
Marty Rand
Reunion at Fairborough
Movie • 1985
Jiggs Quealy
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie • 1985
Self
One, Two, Three
Movie • 1961
MP Sergeant (uncredited)
Breakout
Movie • 1970
Pipes
Up from the Beach
Movie • 1965
PFC Harry Devine
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
Movie • 1983
Self
Footlight Varieties
Movie • 1951
Himself
It Could Happen to You
Movie • 1994
Walter Zakuto
Joys
Movie • 1976
Self
Side Show
Movie • 1981
Harry Hubbell
George M!
Movie • 1970
Sam Harris
Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
Movie • 1976
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Movie • 1979
Self
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Movie • 1997
Self
Murder at N.B.C.
Movie • 1966
George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom
Movie • 1989
Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
The All-Star Christmas Show
Movie • 1958
Self
Flannery and Quilt
Movie • 1976
Luke Flannery
Ghosts of Fear Street
Movie • 1998
Grandpa
The New Original Wonder Woman
Movie • 1975
Ashley Norman
Playboy's Playmate Party
Movie • 1977
Presidio Med
TV • 2002
Chick
The Jackie Gleason Show
TV • 1966
Little House on the Prairie
TV • 1974
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Cyrus Foster
Early Edition
TV • 1996
Walter Stites
The Cosby Show
TV • 1984
Jake Bennett
227
TV • 1985
Roseanne
TV • 1988
Knots Landing
TV • 1979
Al Baker
Studio One
TV • 1948
St. Emergency
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Lieutenant George Poole
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Cosby
TV • 1996
Password
TV • 1961
ER
TV • 1994
Ruby
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV • 1963
The Eleventh Hour
TV • 1962
Saints and Sinners
TV • 1962
Joe Roganyan
Vega$
TV • 1978
Family Law
TV • 1999
Carl Porter
Philly
TV • 2001
The United States Steel Hour
TV • 1953
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
Pink Lady
TV • 1980
Red Buttons
The Dean Martin Show
TV • 1965
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV • 1956
Self
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
The Danny Thomas Hour
TV • 1967
Frontier Circus
TV • 1961
Suspense
TV • 1949
The Red Buttons Show
TV • 1952
Host
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
TV • 1966
Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
Aloha Paradise
TV • 1981
Street Time
TV • 2002
Sam Kahan
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self - Host
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Startime
TV • 1959
Alice in Wonderland
TV • 1985
White Rabbit
The Dream Merchants
TV • 1980
Bruce Benson
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
TV • 1973
Self
Pink Lady
TV • 1980
Police Sergeant
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self - Co-Host
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Tippy-Top
The Hollywood Palace
TV • 1964
Self
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Buddy Redmond
Love, American Style
TV • 1969
Norman
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
TV • 1957
Self
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Self
Kraft Music Hall
TV • 1958
Self
Wonder Woman
TV • 1975
Ashley Norman
It's Garry Shandling's Show
TV • 1986
Red Buttons
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
Power
TV • 1980
Solly Weiss