Red Buttons
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- February 5, 1919
- Died
- July 13, 2006 (aged 87)
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, USA
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Goodnight, We Love You
Movie · as Self
Presidio Med
TV · as Chick · 1 ep
Street Time
TV · as Sam Kahan · 4 eps
Philly
TV · 1 ep
The Story of Us
Movie · as Arnie Jordan
Family Law
TV · as Carl Porter · 1 ep
Ghosts of Fear Street
Movie · as Grandpa
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
Movie · as Self
Early Edition
TV · as Walter Stites · 1 ep
Cosby
TV · 1 ep
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Movie · as Self
It Could Happen to You
Movie · as Walter Zakuto
ER
TV · as Ruby · 5 eps
The Ambulance
Movie · as Elias Zacharai
George Burns: His Wit and Wisdom
Movie · as Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
Movie · as Self
18 Again!
Movie · as Charlie
Roseanne
TV · 1 ep
It's Garry Shandling's Show
TV · as Red Buttons · 1 ep
Reunion at Fairborough
Movie · as Jiggs Quealy
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie · as Self
227
TV · 1 ep
Alice in Wonderland
TV · as White Rabbit · 2 eps
The Cosby Show
TV · as Jake Bennett · 1 ep
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
Movie · as Self
Off Your Rocker
Movie · as Seymour Saltz
Leave 'Em Laughing
Movie · as Roland Green
Side Show
Movie · as Harry Hubbell
Aloha Paradise
TV · as Nick · 1 ep
When Time Ran Out...
Movie · as Francis Fendly
Pink Lady
TV · as Red Buttons, Police Sergeant · 1 ep
The Dream Merchants
TV · as Bruce Benson · 3 eps
Power
TV · as Solly Weiss · 2 eps
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Movie · as Milton (voice)
C.H.O.M.P.S.
Movie · as Bracken
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Movie · as Self (uncredited)
Knots Landing
TV · as Al Baker · 6 eps
Movie Movie
Movie · as Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
The Users
Movie · as Warren Ambrose
Vega$
TV · 1 ep
Fantasy Island
TV · as Tony Emerson, Cornelius Kelly · 1 ep
Pete's Dragon
Movie · as Hoagy
Viva Knievel!
Movie · as Ben Andrews
Telethon
Movie · as Marty Rand
Playboy's Playmate Party
Movie
The Love Boat
TV · as Cyrus Foster, Buddy Redmond, Jimmy Morrow · 1 ep
Gable and Lombard
Movie · as Ivan Cooper
Joys
Movie · as Self
Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style
Movie
Flannery and Quilt
Movie · as Luke Flannery
The New Original Wonder Woman
Movie · as Ashley Norman
Wonder Woman
TV · as Ashley Norman · 1 ep
Little House on the Prairie
TV · as William 'Willie' O'Hara · 1 ep
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
TV · as Self · 2 eps
The Poseidon Adventure
Movie · as James Martin
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
Movie · as Mickey Isadore
Great Performances
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Breakout
Movie · as Pipes
George M!
Movie · as Sam Harris
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Movie · as Sailor
Love, American Style
TV · as Norman · 2 eps
The Danny Thomas Hour
TV · 1 ep
Stagecoach
Movie · as Peacock
Murder at N.B.C.
Movie
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
TV · as Henry Wadsworth Phyfe · 17 eps
Harlow
Movie · as Arthur Landau
Up from the Beach
Movie · as PFC Harry Devine
The Dean Martin Show
TV · 2 eps
Your Cheatin' Heart
Movie · as Shorty Younger
The Hollywood Palace
TV · as Self · 2 eps
A Ticklish Affair
Movie · as Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV · 1 ep
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV · 1 ep
Hatari!
Movie · as Pockets
Gay Purr-ee
Movie · as Robespierre (voice)
The Longest Day
Movie · as Pvt. John Steele
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Movie · as Donald O'Shay
The Eleventh Hour
TV · 1 ep
Saints and Sinners
TV · as Joe Roganyan · 1 ep
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV · as Self · 6 eps
The Merv Griffin Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
One, Two, Three
Movie · as MP Sergeant (uncredited)
Password
TV · 1 ep
Ben Casey
TV · 1 ep
Frontier Circus
TV · 1 ep
The Mike Douglas Show
TV · as Self - Host, Self - Co-Host · 1 ep
The Big Circus
Movie · as Randy Sherman
A Marriage of Strangers
Movie · as Jerry
Startime
TV · as Joe Henders · 1 ep
Hansel and Gretel
Movie · as Hansel
Imitation General
Movie · as Cpl. Chan Derby
The All-Star Christmas Show
Movie · as Self
Kraft Music Hall
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Sayonara
Movie · as Joe Kelly
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV · as Self · 2 eps
General Electric Theater
TV · as Lieutenant George Poole, Tippy-Top · 1 ep
The United States Steel Hour
TV · 1 ep
The Oscars
TV · as Self · 4 eps
The Jackie Gleason Show
TV · 2 eps
The Red Buttons Show
TV · as Host · 1 ep
Footlight Varieties
Movie · as Himself
What's My Line?
TV · as Self · 3 eps
Suspense
TV · 1 ep
Studio One
TV · as St. Emergency · 1 ep
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV · as Self · 10 eps
Winged Victory
Movie · as Whitey / Andrews Sister