Actors
All filmographies
Movies
Explore every movie
Series
Most watched shows
Play
Trivia, challenges & battles
🍿
Home Actors Movies Series Play
Language: English
▶
Actor Evolution
121.0K subscribers
Don Ameche
Don Ameche
85 years (May 31, 1908 – Dec 6, 1993)
Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
54 Movies
9 TV Shows

Don Ameche

With his neat mustache and his air of an affable leading man, Don Ameche was one of the most beloved faces of American cinema in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a popular radio host. MGM and Fox showcased him as an elegant lead in titles such as 'In Old Chicago' and the biography 'The Story of Alexander Graham Bell' (1939), which even came to associate his surname with the telephone itself. After a long decline, he staged a celebrated comeback in the 1980s: he shone as the manipulative millionaire of 'Trading Places' (1983) and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 'Cocoon' (1985), in which he breakdanced at seventy-seven. An actor of light comedy and natural charm, he sustained his career across six decades.
With his neat mustache and his air of an affable leading man, Don Ameche was one of the most beloved faces of American cinema in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a popular radio host. MGM and Fox showcased him as an elegant lead in titles such as 'In Old Chicago' and the biography 'The Story of Alexander Graham Bell' (1939), which even came to associate his surname with the telephone itself. After a long decline, he staged a celebrated comeback in the 1980s: he shone as the manipulative millionaire of 'Trading Places' (1983) and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 'Cocoon' (1985), in which he breakdanced at seventy-seven. An actor of light comedy and natural charm, he sustained his career across six decades.
Movies
Latest Trailers
Corrina, Corrina
Watch Trailer
Corrina, Corrina
Full Filmography
Corrina, Corrina
Grandpa Harry
★ 6.7
1994
Film
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Shadow (voice)
★ 7.0
1993
Film
Folks!
Harry Aldrich
★ 5.5
1992
Film
Oscar
Father Clemente
★ 6.4
1991
Film
Oddball Hall
G. Paul Siebriese
★ 9.0
1990
Film
Things Change
Gino
★ 6.2
1988
Film
Cocoon: The Return
Art Selwyn
★ 6.5
1988
Film
Coming to America
Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited)
★ 6.9
1988
Film
Harry and the Hendersons
Dr. Wallace Wrightwood
★ 6.1
1987
Film
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Don Ameche still alive?
Don Ameche passed away on December 6, 1993 at age 85.
What are the most famous roles of Don Ameche?
Don Ameche is best known for roles in Coming to America, Trading Places, Cocoon.
How many movies has Don Ameche been in?
Over a 57-year career (since 1936), Don Ameche has appeared in 54 movies and 9 TV shows.
What was Don Ameche's first movie?
The career of Don Ameche began with Sins of Man (1936).
What is Don Ameche's most recent movie or series?
Don Ameche's most recent release is Corrina, Corrina, which premiered on August 12, 1994.
What TV shows has Don Ameche appeared in?
On television, Don Ameche has appeared in Columbo, The Golden Girls, The Love Boat, Quincy, M.E..
Loading…
Don Ameche
Don Ameche
1908-05-31 · Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA

Don Ameche (born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor and radio entertainer whose career spanned over six decades. Known for his charming, dapper presence and signature mustache, Ameche became one of 20th Century Fox's premier leading men throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to an Italian immigrant father and a mother of European descent, he adapted his family's surname from "Amici" to "Ameche" to preserve its original Italian pronunciation in the United States. He began his entertainment career in vaudeville and radio, where he achieved nationwide fame as the host of popular broadcasts like The Chase and Sanborn Hour. He transitioned to film in 1935, starring in a string of successful musical comedies and dramas, most notably Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), and Ernst Lubitsch’s classic comedy Heaven Can Wait (1943).

As film roles slowed in the 1950s, Ameche worked extensively in live theatre and television. His screen career experienced a celebrated renaissance in the 1980s, beginning with his role as the scheming commodities broker Mortimer Duke in Trading Places (1983). Two years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a revitalized retiree in Ron Howard’s Cocoon (1985). In his final years, Ameche introduced himself to a new generation of filmgoers providing the warm, patriarchal voice of Shadow the Golden Retriever in Disney's Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), before completing his final screen appearance in Corrina, Corrina (1994).

Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986; the couple had six children. Ameche died of prostate cancer in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993 at the age of 85.

Cookies for stats and ads. They are optional.

Known for
—