Red Buttons

Red Buttons Headshot

Actor • Comedian

Birth Date: February 5, 1919

Death Date: July 13, 2006

Birth Place: New York, New York

Feisty, diminutive, red-haired comedian who regularly played very serious dramatic roles in features. A veteran of New York burlesque and the Catskills comedy circuit, Buttons appeared as a pilot in training in the moral-boosting stage drama "Winged Victory," and recreated the role soon thereafter in the 1944 film version. He played on Broadway after WWII and enjoyed tremendous popularity during the first season of TV's "The Red Buttons Show" (1952-55).

Part variety show, part sitcom, the program gave full vent to Buttons' manic, fast-talking, knockabout style. One of Buttons' oft-repeated gestures, placing his hands together in a desperate, somewhat prayerful manner, was on regular display in the show, and children everywhere mimicked the "Ho Ho! He He! Ha Ha! Strange things are happening!" theme song. His gallery of characters, meanwhile, including the Sad Sack; the Kupke Kid, a child; Rocky, a boxer; and the bumbling Keeglefarven, played up the at-once argumentative and long-suffering aspects of his persona.

When the show's popularity abruptly faded, Buttons' career stalled, but like Frank Sinatra, another compact, multi-talented performer who was called a has-been, Buttons also revived his career with a very dramatic performance which copped him a supporting actor Oscar. As a soldier whose interracial romance with a Japanese woman leads to bigotry-induced tragedy in "Sayonara" (1957), Buttons began a very successful career as a character actor in features. While not eschewing comedy (the rowdy adventure "Hatari!" 1962, the underrated "Movie Movie" 1978, "18 Again" 1988), some of Buttons' best work has been in drama.

His smart, supportive agent was the best thing about the trashy if watchable Hollywood biopic, "Harlow" (1965) and he was very moving as a desperate dance marathoner in the striking "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969). Buttons also did well as one of the endangered passengers in the surprisingly good disaster epic, "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972). Some of Buttons' most visible work in more recent years, though, has been on TV. The deliberately abrasive edge Buttons brings to his manic characters was prominent in the cranky messenger who plagued the cast of "Knot's Landing" for the 1987 season.

He was also often show-stoppingly hilarious stomping onto the dais of Dean Martin's celebrity roasts (1972-77; and occasional 80s specials) to harangue the honoree with wild cries of "Some of the most famous people in history never got a dinner!"

Credits

Presidio Med

Guest Star
Show
2002

Family Law

Guest Star
Series
1999

The Story of Us

Actor
Arnie Jordan
Movie
1999

Ghosts of Fear Street

Actor
Show
1998

Early Edition

Guest Star
Series
1996

Cosby

Guest Star
Series
1996

ERStream

Guest Star
Jules 'Ruby' Rubadoux
Series
1994

It Could Happen to YouStream

Actor
Walter Zakuto
Movie
1994
71%

La Ambulancia de la Muerte

Actor
Movie
1990

The Ambulance

Actor
Elias Zacharai
Movie
1990

RoseanneStream

Guest Star
Jake
Series
1988
76%

18 Again!

Actor
Charlie
Movie
1988

Funny

Self
Show
1986

227Stream

Guest Star
Series
1985

Alice in Wonderland

Actor
The White Rabbit
Movie
1985

Reunion at Fairborough

Actor
Jiggs Quealy
Movie
1985

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Actor
The White Rabbit
Movie
1985

The Cosby ShowStream

Guest Star
Series
1984

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Joan Collins

Guest
Show
1984

Leave 'Em Laughing

Actor
Roland
Movie
1981

Side Show

Actor
Harry
Movie
1981

Frank Sinatra the First 40 Years

Actor
Show
1980

Earth's Final Fury

Actor
Francis Fendly
Movie
1980

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in JulyStream

Voice
Milton
Movie
1980
14%

Off Your Rocker

Actor
Seymour Saltz
Movie
1980

Power

Actor
Solly Weiss
Movie
1980

Knots LandingStream

Actor
Al Baker
Series
1979

Knots Landing DFN

Actor
Show
1979

C.H.O.M.P.S. el Increíble Superperro

Actor
Movie
1979

C.H.O.M.P.S.

Actor
Bracken
Movie
1979

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Suzanne Somers

Guest
Show
1978

The Comedy ShopStream

Guest
Series
1978

Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Betty WhiteStream

Guest
Special
1978

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: George Burns

Actor
Show
1978

Fantasy Island

Guest Star
Series
1978

The Users

Actor
Warren Ambrose
Movie
1978

Vegas

Actor
Tommy Cirko
Movie
1978

Movie MovieStream

Actor
Peanuts/Jinks Murphy
Movie
1978

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Peter Marshall

Guest
Show
1977

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Ted Knight

Actor
Show
1977

Viva Knievel!Stream

Actor
Ben Andrews
Movie
1977
14%

Pete's DragonStream

Actor
Hoagy
Movie
1977
56%

Telethon

Actor
Mart Rand
Movie
1977

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Joe Garagiola

Guest
Show
1976

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Dennis Weaver

Host
Show
1976

Wonder WomanStream

Guest Star
Series
1976

The Louis Armstrong Story

Actor
Movie
1976

Louis Armstrong, Chicago Style

Actor
Movie
1976

Gable and Lombard

Actor
Ivan Cooper
Movie
1976

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Valerie Harper

Guest
Show
1975

Louis Armstrong: Chicago Style

Actor
Red Cleveland
Movie
1975

The New, Original Wonder Woman

Actor
Ashley Norman
Movie
1975

Little House on the PrairieStream

Guest Star
William 'Willie' O'Hara
Series
1974

The Poseidon AdventureStream

Actor
James Martin
Movie
1972
79%

Who Killed Mary What's 'er Name?

Actor
Mickey
Movie
1971

George M!

Actor
Sam H. Harris
Movie
1970

Breakout

Actor
Pipes
Movie
1970

Friars Club Roast of Milton Berle

Actor
Show
1969

Love, American Style

Actor
Norman
Series
1969

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Actor
Sailor
Movie
1969

The Dick Cavett ShowStream

Guest
Talk
1968

The Double Life of Henry Phyfe

Actor
Henry Phyfe
Show
1966

Stagecoach

Actor
Peacock
Movie
1966

Up From the Beach

Actor
Pfc. Harry Devine
Movie
1965

Harlow

Actor
Arthur Landau
Movie
1965

Your Cheatin' Heart

Actor
Shorty Younger
Movie
1964

The Jimmy Dean Show

Guest
Variety Show
1963

A Ticklish Affair

Actor
Flight Officer Simon Shelley
Movie
1963

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

The Longest DayStream

Actor
Pvt. John Steele
Movie
1962
87%

Gay Purr-ee

Voice
Robespierre
Movie
1962

Hatari!Stream

Actor
Pockets
Movie
1962
64%

Five Weeks in a Balloon

Actor
Donald O'Shay
Movie
1962

Ben Casey

Guest Star
Bill Jacoby
Series
1961

One, Two, Three

Actor
MP Sergeant
Movie
1961

Ford Startime

Actor
Show
1959

The Big Circus

Actor
Randy Sherman
Movie
1959

Le Cirque fantastique

Actor
Movie
1959

Imitation General

Actor
Cpl. Chan Derby
Movie
1958

SayonaraStream

Actor
Joe Kelly
Movie
1957
82%

The Red Buttons Show

Actor
Show
1952

Death Valley DaysStream

Actor
Levi Strauss
Series
1952

I've Got a SecretStream

Guest
Game Show
1952

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950

SuspenseStream

Actor
Series
1949

Winged Victory

Actor
Whitey/Andrews Sister
Movie
1944