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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.

The Story of Us ( 1999) | IMDb: 6

Comedy , Drama , Romance

Ben and Katie Jordan are a married couple who go through hard times in fifteen years of marriage.

Starring:

Bruce Willis , Michelle Pfeiffer , Rob Reiner , Colleen Rennison , Jake Sandvig , Julie Hagerty

Directed by:

Rob Reiner , Kerry Lyn McKissick , Frank Capra III

Produced by:

Rob Reiner , Jane Jenkins , Tammy Glover

It Could Happen to You ( 1994) | IMDb: 6.4

Comedy , Drama , Romance

Charlie Lang is a simple, kindhearted New York City cop. When he realizes he has no money to tip waitress Yvonne Biasi, Lang offers her half the winnings of his lottery ticket. Amazingly, the ticket happens to be a winner, in the sum of $4 million. True to his word, Lang proceeds to share the prize money with Biasi, which infuriates his greedy wife, Muriel. Not content with the arrangement, Muriel begins scheming to take all the money.

Starring:

Nicolas Cage , Bridget Fonda , Rosie Perez , Wendell Pierce , Isaac Hayes , Víctor Rojas

Directed by:

Robin Squibb , Michael DeCasper , Henry J. Bronchtein

Produced by:

John S. Lyons , Kenneth G. Brown , Drew Dillard

The Ambulance ( 1990) | IMDb: 5.9

Action , Comedy , Thriller

Josh meets a young woman who shortly afterwards collapses and is rushed to hospital in an ambulance. He follows after her only to find that there is no record her being admitted, and he soon learns that her roommate also vanished after being picked up by the same ambulance. Convinced of a conspiracy, Josh proceeds to investigate, despite the discouragement of the police.

Starring:

Eric Roberts , Megan Gallagher , James Earl Jones , Red Buttons , Janine Turner , Eric Braeden

Directed by:

Larry Cohen

Produced by:

Marcia Shulman , Moctesuma Esparza , Robert Katz

When Time Ran Out... ( 1980) | IMDb: 4.5

Action , Adventure , Drama , Thriller

An active volcano threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer and a drilling foreman.

Starring:

Paul Newman , Jacqueline Bisset , William Holden , James Franciscus , Ernest Borgnine , Edward Albert

Directed by:

James Goldstone

Produced by:

Jack Baur , Irwin Allen

Pete's Dragon ( 1977) | IMDb: 6.3

Animation , Comedy , Family , Fantasy

Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.

Starring:

Sean Marshall , Helen Reddy , Jim Dale , Mickey Rooney , Red Buttons , Shelley Winters

Directed by:

Don Chaffey

Produced by:

Jerome Courtland , Christopher N. Seiter , Ron Miller

Gable and Lombard ( 1976) | IMDb: 5.1

Drama , Romance

A biography about the love affair between 1930s Hollywood superstars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.

Starring:

James Brolin , Jill Clayburgh , Allen Garfield , Red Buttons , Joanne Linville , Melanie Mayron

Directed by:

Sidney J. Furie

Produced by:

Don McElwaine , Harry Korshak

The Poseidon Adventure ( 1972) | IMDb: 7.1

Adventure , Drama , Thriller

When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.

Starring:

Gene Hackman , Ernest Borgnine , Red Buttons , Carol Lynley , Roddy McDowall , Stella Stevens

Directed by:

Irwin Allen , Teresa Brachetto , Norman A. Cook

Produced by:

Steve Broidy , Art Volpert , Hal Herman

The Longest Day ( 1962) | IMDb: 7.7

Action , Drama , War

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

Starring:

Henry Fonda , John Wayne , Robert Mitchum , Robert Ryan , Arletty , Jean-Louis Barrault

Directed by:

Gerd Oswald , Bernhard Wicki , Elmo Williams

Produced by:

Elmo Williams , Darryl F. Zanuck , Maude Spector

One, Two, Three ( 1961) | IMDb: 7.9

Comedy

C.R. MacNamara is a managing director for Coca Cola in West Berlin during the Cold War, just before the Wall is put up. When Scarlett, the rebellious daughter of his boss, comes to West Berlin, MacNamara has to look after her, but this turns out to be a difficult task when she reveals to be married to a communist.

Starring:

James Cagney , Liselotte Pulver , Horst Buchholz , Pamela Tiffin , Howard St. John , Loïs Bolton

Directed by:

Tom Pevsner , May Wale Brown , Billy Wilder

Produced by:

I. A. L. Diamond , Werner Fischer , Doane Harrison

Red Buttons Movies: Top 9 Performances by a Successful Actor

Biography