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.
Movie | Goodnight, We Love You | Himself | 2004-01-01 |
Series | Presidio Med | Unknown | 2002-09-24 |
Series | Street Time | Unknown | 2002-06-23 |
Series | Philly | Unknown | 2001-09-25 |
Movie | The Story of Us | Arnie Jordan | 1999-10-14 |
Series | Family Law | Unknown | 1999-09-20 |
Movie | 20th Century Fox: The First 50 Years | Self | 1997-01-21 |
Series | Early Edition | Unknown | 1996-09-28 |
Series | Cosby | Unknown | 1996-09-16 |
Movie | Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker | Himself - Actor / Friend | 1995-09-03 |
Movie | It Could Happen to You | Walter Zakuto | 1994-07-29 |
Series | ER | Unknown | 1994-09-19 |
Movie | The Ambulance | Elias Zacharai | 1990-03-22 |
Series | Roseanne | Unknown | 1988-10-18 |
Movie | Jackie Gleason: The Great One | Self | 1988-09-10 |
Movie | 18 Again! | Charlie | 1988-04-08 |
Series | It's Garry Shandling's Show | Unknown | 1986-09-10 |
Series | Alice in Wonderland | White Rabbitt | 1985-12-09 |
Series | 227 | Unknown | 1985-09-14 |
Movie | Reunion at Fairborough | Jiggs Quealy | 1985-05-12 |
Movie | Night of 100 Stars II | Self | 1985-03-10 |
Series | The Cosby Show | Unknown | 1984-09-20 |
Series | Aloha Paradise | Unknown | 1981-02-25 |
Movie | Side Show | 1981-06-05 | |
Movie | Leave 'Em Laughing | Roland | 1981-04-29 |
Series | The Dream Merchants | Bruce Benson | 1980-05-12 |
Movie | When Time Ran Out... | Francis Fendly | 1980-03-28 |
Series | Pink Lady | Unknown | 1980-03-01 |
Movie | Power | Solly Weiss | 1980-01-14 |
Series | Knots Landing | Unknown | 1979-12-27 |
Movie | C.H.O.M.P.S. | Bracken | 1979-12-21 |
Movie | Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July | Milton | 1979-07-01 |
Movie | The Muppets Go Hollywood | Himself | 1979-05-16 |
Series | Vega$ | Unknown | 1978-09-20 |
Movie | The Users | Warren Ambrose | 1978-10-01 |
Movie | Movie Movie | Peanuts / Jinks Murphy | 1978-11-01 |
Movie | Telethon | Marty Rand | 1977-11-06 |
Movie | Pete's Dragon | Hoagy | 1977-11-03 |
Series | The Love Boat | Buddy Redmond | 1977-09-24 |
Movie | Viva Knievel! | Ben Andrews | 1977-06-10 |
Movie | Joys | 1976-03-05 | |
Movie | Gable and Lombard | Ivan Cooper | 1976-02-11 |
Movie | Louis Armstrong - Chicago Style | 1976-01-25 | |
Series | Little House on the Prairie | Unknown | 1974-09-11 |
Series | The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts | Unknown | 1973-09-14 |
Movie | The Poseidon Adventure | James Martin | 1972-12-13 |
Movie | Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? | Mickey Isadore | 1971-12-11 |
Movie | George M! | Sam H. Harris | 1970-09-12 |
Movie | Breakout | Pipes | 1970-08-12 |
Movie | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | Sailor | 1969-12-10 |
Series | Love, American Style | Unknown | 1969-09-29 |
Series | The Danny Thomas Hour | Unknown | 1967-09-11 |
Series | The Double Life of Henry Phyfe | Henry Wadsworth Phyfe | 1966-01-13 |
Movie | Stagecoach | Peacock | 1966-04-21 |
Series | The Jackie Gleason Show | Unknown | 1966-09-17 |
Movie | Harlow | Arthur Landauer | 1965-06-23 |
Movie | Up from the Beach | PFC Harry Devine | 1965-05-25 |
Series | The Dean Martin Show | Unknown | 1965-09-16 |
Movie | Your Cheatin' Heart | Shorty Younger | 1964-11-04 |
Series | The Hollywood Palace | Unknown | 1964-01-04 |
Series | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Unknown | 1963-10-04 |
Series | The Greatest Show on Earth | Unknown | 1963-09-17 |
Movie | A Ticklish Affair | Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley | 1963-08-18 |
Movie | Five Weeks in a Balloon | Donald O'Shay | 1962-08-22 |
Movie | Hatari! | Pockets | 1962-06-19 |
Movie | The Longest Day | Pvt. John Steele | 1962-09-25 |
Series | The Eleventh Hour | Unknown | 1962-10-03 |
Movie | Gay Purr-ee | Robespierre (voice) | 1962-10-24 |
Movie | One, Two, Three | MP Sergeant (uncredited) | 1961-12-15 |
Series | The Mike Douglas Show | Unknown | 1961-12-11 |
Series | Frontier Circus | Unknown | 1961-10-05 |
Series | Ben Casey | Unknown | 1961-10-02 |
Series | Password | Unknown | 1961-10-02 |
Series | Startime | Unknown | 1959-10-06 |
Movie | The Big Circus | Randy Sherman | 1959-07-05 |
Series | The Bell Telephone Hour | 1959-01-12 | |
Movie | Imitation General | Cpl. Chan Derby | 1958-08-20 |
Movie | Sayonara | Joe Kelly | 1957-12-25 |
Series | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show | Unknown | 1956-10-05 |
Series | The United States Steel Hour | Unknown | 1953-10-27 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Series | General Electric Theater | Unknown | 1953-02-01 |
Series | The Red Buttons Show | Host | 1952-10-14 |
Movie | Footlight Varieties | Himself | 1951-03-21 |
Series | What's My Line? | Himself - Mystery Guest | 1950-02-02 |
Series | Suspense | Unknown | 1949-01-06 |
Series | Studio One | Unknown | 1948-11-07 |
Series | The Ed Sullivan Show | Unknown | 1948-06-20 |
Movie | Winged Victory | Whitey / Andrews Sister (as Cpl. Red Buttons) | 1944-12-22 |