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Quick Facts
- NAME: Don Ameche
- OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Television Actor
- BIRTH DATE: May 31, 1908
- DEATH DATE: December 06, 1993
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Kenosha, Wisconsin
- PLACE OF DEATH: Scottsdale, Arizona
- Originally: Dominic Felix Ameche
Best Known For
Don Ameche was an actor know mostly for films in the 1930s and 1940s, radio and TV in the 1950s-1970s, and later the film Trading Places.
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Play NowDon Ameche. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:04, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178.
Don Ameche. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178 [Accessed 25 May 2013].
"Don Ameche." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 09:04 http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178.
"Don Ameche," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178 [accessed May 25, 2013].
"Don Ameche," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178 (accessed May 25, 2013).
Don Ameche [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178.
Don Ameche, http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178 (last visited May 25, 2013).
Don Ameche. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/don-ameche-212178. Accessed May 25, 2013.
Synopsis
During the 1950s, Don Ameche had a successful radio career and then turned to TV direction in the 1960s and 1970s. Ameche made his film comeback in 1983 in the comedic hit Trading Places. Two years later, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Cocoon. He continued to appear in films, including Cocoon: The Return and Corrina, Corrina.
Profile
Actor, director. Born Dominic Felix Ameche on May 31, 1908 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He began his career singing and acting in vaudeville and made his film debut in 1935. Notable films during this period include Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), Midnight (1939) and Heaven Can Wait (1943).
During the 1950s, Ameche parlayed his appeal into a successful radio career and then turned to television direction in the 1960s and 1970s. His most successful directorial credit was the television drama Julia starring Diahann Carroll. Though he virtually disappeared from the big screen, he enjoyed a successful run on such television hits as International Showtime.
Ameche made his film comeback in 1983, starring opposite Ralph Bellamy in the comedic hit Trading Places. Two years later, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Cocoon. He continued to appear in films, including Cocoon: The Return and Corrina, Corrina, until his death from prostate cancer in 1993.
Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986; they had six children.
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