Red Buttons
Actor
Born February 5, 1919 in 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.
Filmography
Goodnight, We Love You
Self
Presidio Med
Chick
Street Time
Sam Kahan
Philly
The Story of Us
Arnie Jordan
Family Law
Carl Porter
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Self
Early Edition
Walter Stites
Cosby
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Self
ER
Ruby
It Could Happen to You
Walter Zakuto
The Ambulance
Elias Zacharai
George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom
Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
Roseanne
18 Again!
Charlie
It's Garry Shandling's Show
Red Buttons
Alice in Wonderland
White Rabbit
227
Reunion at Fairborough
Jiggs Quealy
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
The Cosby Show
Jake Bennett
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
Self
Off Your Rocker
Seymour Saltz
Side Show
Harry Hubbell
Leave 'Em Laughing
Roland Green
Aloha Paradise
The Dream Merchants
Bruce Benson
When Time Ran Out...
Francis Fendly
Pink Lady
Red Buttons
Power
Solly Weiss
Knots Landing
Al Baker
C.H.O.M.P.S.
Bracken
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Milton (voice)
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Self
Movie Movie
Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
The Users
Warren Ambrose
Vega$
Fantasy Island
Tony Emerson
Telethon
Marty Rand
Pete's Dragon
Hoagy
The Love Boat
Cyrus Foster
Playboy's Playmate Party
Viva Knievel!
Ben Andrews
Joys
Self
Gable and Lombard
Ivan Cooper
Flannery and Quilt
Luke Flannery
Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
The New Original Wonder Woman
Ashley Norman
Wonder Woman
Ashley Norman
Little House on the Prairie
William 'Willie' O'Hara
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Self
The Poseidon Adventure
James Martin
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
Mickey Isadore
Great Performances
Self
Breakout
Pipes
George M!
Sam Harris
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Sailor
Love, American Style
Norman
The Danny Thomas Hour
The Jackie Gleason Show
Stagecoach
Peacock
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
The Dean Martin Show
Harlow
Arthur Landau
Up from the Beach
PFC Harry Devine
Your Cheatin' Heart
Shorty Younger
The Hollywood Palace
Self
A Ticklish Affair
Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
Gay Purr-ee
Robespierre (voice)
The Eleventh Hour
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
The Longest Day
Pvt. John Steele
Saints and Sinners
Joe Roganyan
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Donald O'Shay
Hatari!
Pockets
One, Two, Three
MP Sergeant (uncredited)
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Host
Frontier Circus
Password
Ben Casey
Startime
Joe Henders
The Big Circus
Randy Sherman
A Marriage of Strangers
Jerry
The All-Star Christmas Show
Self
Kraft Music Hall
Self
Imitation General
Cpl. Chan Derby
Sayonara
Joe Kelly
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
The United States Steel Hour
The Oscars
Self
General Electric Theater
Lieutenant George Poole
Footlight Varieties
Himself
What's My Line?
Self
Suspense
Studio One
St. Emergency
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
Winged Victory
Whitey / Andrews Sister