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Red Buttons

Red Buttons

Actor · 1919 – 2006 · New York City, New York, USA

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.

Movies24

  • Movie7.6

    The Longest Day

    1962 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie6.7

    It Could Happen to You

    1994 · 969 votes

  • Movie6.1

    The Story of Us

    1999 · 380 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Pete's Dragon

    1977 · 738 votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Poseidon Adventure

    1972 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.6
  • Movie5.8

    The Ambulance

    1990 · 126 votes

  • Movie7.5

    One, Two, Three

    1961 · 436 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Stagecoach

    1966 · 51 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Hatari!

    1962 · 276 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Sayonara

    1957 · 150 votes

  • Movie5.6

    18 Again!

    1988 · 101 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Night of 100 Stars II

    1985 · 5 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Five Weeks in a Balloon

    1962 · 34 votes

  • Movie6.2

    The Muppets Go Hollywood

    1979 · 26 votes

  • Movie5.3

    When Time Ran Out...

    1980 · 86 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Gay Purr-ee

    1962 · 70 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Movie Movie

    1978 · 21 votes

  • Movie6.4
  • Movie7.3
  • Movie5.0

    C.H.O.M.P.S.

    1979 · 22 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Harlow

    1965 · 20 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Joys

    1976 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Goodnight, We Love You

    2004 · 3 votes

Series24

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Love Boat

    1977 · 199 votes

  • TV6.9

    Knots Landing

    1979 · 47 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV7.8

    ER

    1994 · 966 votes

  • TV8.0
  • TV6.1

    Great Performances

    1971 · 25 votes

  • TV6.2

    Love, American Style

    1969 · 21 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Cosby Show

    1984 · 514 votes

  • TV5.9
  • TV5.4

    Studio One

    1948 · 13 votes

  • TV7.4

    Early Edition

    1996 · 172 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV6.4
  • TV5.9

    Ben Casey

    1961 · 15 votes

  • TV8.1

    Family Law

    1999 · 12 votes

  • TV6.5

    Fantasy Island

    1978 · 130 votes

  • TV5.1

    Suspense

    1949 · 12 votes

  • TV7.5

    Password

    1961 · 10 votes

  • TV6.9

    Vega$

    1978 · 25 votes