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