Red Buttons
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.
Acted in
Goodnight, We Love You
2004
as Himself
Presidio Med
2002
as Chick
Street Time
2002
Philly
2001
The Story of Us
1999
as Arnie Jordan
Family Law
1999
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
1997
as Self
Early Edition
1996
Cosby
1996
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
1995
as Self
ER
1994
as Ruby
It Could Happen to You
1994
as Walter Zakuto
The Ambulance
1990
as Elias Zacharai
Roseanne
1988
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
1988
as Self
18 Again!
1988
as Charlie
It's Garry Shandling's Show
1986
Alice in Wonderland
1985
as The White Rabbit
227
1985
Reunion at Fairborough
1985
as Jiggs Quealy
Night of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
The Cosby Show
1984
as Jake Bennett
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
1983
as Self
Off Your Rocker
1982
as Seymour Saltz
Side Show
1981
as Harry Hubbell
Leave 'Em Laughing
1981
as Roland Green
Aloha Paradise
1981
The Dream Merchants
1980
as Bruce Benson
When Time Ran Out...
1980
as Francis Fendly
Pink Lady
1980
as Red Buttons
Pink Lady
1980
as Police Sergeant
Power
1980
as Solly Weiss
Knots Landing
1979
as Al Baker
C.H.O.M.P.S.
1979
as Bracken
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
1979
as Milton (voice)
The Muppets Go Hollywood
1979
as Self
Movie Movie
1978
as Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
The Users
1978
as Warren Ambrose
Vega$
1978
Telethon
1977
as Marty Rand
Pete's Dragon
1977
as Hoagy
The Love Boat
1977
as Cyrus Foster
The Love Boat
1977
as Buddy Redmond
Viva Knievel!
1977
as Ben Andrews
Joys
1976
as Self
Gable and Lombard
1976
as Ivan Cooper
Louis Armstrong - Chicago Style
1976
Wonder Woman
1975
as Ashley Norman
Little House on the Prairie
1974
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973
as Self
The Poseidon Adventure
1972
as James Martin
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
1971
as Mickey Isadore
Great Performances
1971
as Self
George M!
1970
as Sam H. Harris
Breakout
1970
as Pipes
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
1969
as Sailor
Love, American Style
1969
as Norman
The Danny Thomas Hour
1967
The Jackie Gleason Show
1966
Stagecoach
1966
as Peacock
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
1966
as Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
The Dean Martin Show
1965
Harlow
1965
as Arthur Landau
Up from the Beach
1965
as PFC Harry Devine
Your Cheatin' Heart
1964
as Shorty Younger
The Hollywood Palace
1964
as Self - Comedian
The Hollywood Palace
1964
as Self - Singer / Sketch Actor
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
A Ticklish Affair
1963
as Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
Gay Purr-ee
1962
as Robespierre (voice)
The Eleventh Hour
1962
The Longest Day
1962
as Pvt. John Steele
Saints and Sinners
1962
as Joe Roganyan
Five Weeks in a Balloon
1962
as Donald O'Shay
Hatari!
1962
as Pockets
One, Two, Three
1961
as MP Sergeant (uncredited)
Frontier Circus
1961
Ben Casey
1961
Password
1961
Startime
1959
The Big Circus
1959
as Randy Sherman
A Marriage of Strangers
1959
as Jerry
Kraft Music Hall
1958
as Self
Imitation General
1958
as Cpl. Chan Derby
Hansel and Gretel
1958
as Hansel
Sayonara
1957
as Joe Kelly
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
1956
as Self
The United States Steel Hour
1953
The Oscars
1953
as Self
General Electric Theater
1953
as Lieutenant George Poole
General Electric Theater
1953
as Tippy-Top
The Red Buttons Show
1952
as Host
Footlight Varieties
1951
as Himself
What's My Line?
1950
as Self - Mystery Guest
Suspense
1949
Studio One
1948
as St. Emergency
Winged Victory
1944
as Whitey / Andrews Sister