Don Ameche

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Ameche, 1964

Don Ameche , actually Dominic Felix Amici (born May 31, 1908 in Kenosha , Wisconsin , † December 6, 1993 in Scottsdale , Arizona ) was an American actor.

life and career

Ameche was a well-known and popular film actor in the United States in the 1940s. He starred in several biographies, including the title role in the love and life of telephone maker A. Bell (1939). At the side of Claudette Colbert , he also played in the comedy Unveiling at midnight in 1939, a taxi driver disguised as a baron. He also played the main role of a bon vivant in the comedy Ein himmlischer Sünder (1943) by Ernst Lubitsch . At the same time he worked as a radio announcer . When in the early 1950s the offers for films decreased, Ameche concentrated on the then new medium of television and also played theater. In 1955 he worked for the first time in a Broadway production, in the world premiere of the musical Silk Stockings ( silk stockings ) by Cole Porter , in which he took on the male lead alongside Hildegard Knef . The stage play was an adaptation of the Ninotschka film material.

He made a comeback in the 1980s and played the malicious millionaire Mortimer Duke in The Soldiers of Fortune . Ameche received an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1985 for his appearance as a patient in a nursing home in Cocoon . Further appearances in film comedies followed.

Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast († 1986) since 1932, with whom he had six children. His brother Jim Ameche (1915–1986) was also an actor and radio host. His cousin Alan Ameche was an American football player for the Baltimore Colts in the NFL . He himself was a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dons , an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC).

Ameche died of prostate cancer on December 6, 1993 in Scottsdale, Arizona .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Don Ameche  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ameche, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amici, Dominic Felix (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Kenosha , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1993
Place of death Scottsdale , Arizona