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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
February 5, 1919
Died
July 13, 2006
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Cpl. Red Buttons
- Aaron Chwatt
Red Buttons
1.2 Popularity
Biography
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.
Known For
6.5
Self
Goodnight, We Love You
2004
8.0
Chick
Presidio Med
2002
2.5
Sam Kahan
Street Time
2002
7.0
Philly
2001
6.1
Arnie Jordan
The Story of Us
1999
8.2
Carl Porter
Family Law
1999
7.2
Self
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
1997
7.3
Walter Stites
Early Edition
1996
5.9
Cosby
1996
4.0
Self
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
1995
Credits
Goodnight, We Love You
as Self
2004
6.5
Presidio Med
as Chick
2002
8.0
Street Time
as Sam Kahan
2002
2.5
Philly
2001
7.0
The Story of Us
as Arnie Jordan
1999
6.1
Family Law
as Carl Porter
1999
8.2
Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
as Self
1997
7.2
Early Edition
as Walter Stites
1996
7.3
Cosby
1996
5.9
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
as Self
1995
4.0
ER
as Ruby
1994
7.8
It Could Happen to You
as Walter Zakuto
1994
6.7
The Ambulance
as Elias Zacharai
1990
5.9
Roseanne
1988
6.8
🎬
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
as Self
1988
8.0
18 Again!
as Charlie
1988
5.6
It's Garry Shandling's Show
as Red Buttons
1986
7.2
Alice in Wonderland
as White Rabbit
1985
6.9
227
1985
6.8
Reunion at Fairborough
as Jiggs Quealy
1985
4.8
Night of 100 Stars II
as Self
1985
8.0
The Cosby Show
as Jake Bennett
1984
7.0
George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business
as Self
1983
8.0
🎬
Off Your Rocker
as Seymour Saltz
1982
0.0
Side Show
as Harry Hubbell
1981
7.0
Leave 'Em Laughing
as Roland Green
1981
8.0
Aloha Paradise
1981
5.0
The Dream Merchants
as Bruce Benson
1980
4.5
When Time Ran Out...
as Francis Fendly
1980
5.3
Pink Lady
as Red Buttons
1980
5.0
Pink Lady
as Police Sergeant
1980
5.0
Power
as Solly Weiss
1980
2.0
Knots Landing
as Al Baker
1979
6.8
C.H.O.M.P.S.
as Bracken
1979
5.0
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
as Milton (voice)
1979
6.4
The Muppets Go Hollywood
as Self
1979
6.3
Movie Movie
as Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
1978
5.8
The Users
as Warren Ambrose
1978
1.0
Vega$
1978
7.0
Telethon
as Marty Rand
1977
5.0
Pete's Dragon
as Hoagy
1977
6.3
The Love Boat
as Cyrus Foster
1977
6.3
The Love Boat
as Buddy Redmond
1977
6.3
Viva Knievel!
as Ben Andrews
1977
3.6
Joys
as Self
1976
4.0
Gable and Lombard
as Ivan Cooper
1976
5.2
Louis Armstrong - Chicago Style
1976
0.0
Wonder Woman
as Ashley Norman
1975
7.0
Little House on the Prairie
1974
7.9
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
as Self
1973
5.4
The Poseidon Adventure
as James Martin
1972
7.1
Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?
as Mickey Isadore
1971
4.6
Great Performances
as Self
1971
5.3
Breakout
as Pipes
1970
0.0
George M!
as Sam Harris
1970
10.0
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
as Sailor
1969
7.6
Love, American Style
as Norman
1969
6.0
The Danny Thomas Hour
1967
5.0
🎬
Murder at N.B.C.
1966
0.0
The Jackie Gleason Show
1966
8.2
Stagecoach
as Peacock
1966
6.1
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe
as Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
1966
5.5
The Dean Martin Show
1965
7.3
Harlow
as Arthur Landau
1965
5.4
Up from the Beach
as PFC Harry Devine
1965
8.0
Your Cheatin' Heart
as Shorty Younger
1964
6.3
The Hollywood Palace
as Self - Comedian
1964
4.5
The Hollywood Palace
as Self - Singer / Sketch Actor
1964
4.5
🎬
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
5.7
🎬
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
5.0
A Ticklish Affair
as Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
1963
5.7
Gay Purr-ee
as Robespierre (voice)
1962
6.6
The Eleventh Hour
1962
6.0
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
7.4
The Longest Day
as Pvt. John Steele
1962
7.6
Saints and Sinners
as Joe Roganyan
1962
6.0
Five Weeks in a Balloon
as Donald O'Shay
1962
5.4
Hatari!
as Pockets
1962
6.7
One, Two, Three
as MP Sergeant (uncredited)
1961
7.5
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self - Host
1961
5.4
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self - Co-Host
1961
5.4
Frontier Circus
1961
4.7
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Password
1961
7.4
Startime
1959
6.0
The Big Circus
as Randy Sherman
1959
6.5
A Marriage of Strangers
as Jerry
1959
0.0
Kraft Music Hall
as Self
1958
4.7
Imitation General
as Cpl. Chan Derby
1958
5.7
🎬
Hansel and Gretel
as Hansel
1958
0.0
Sayonara
as Joe Kelly
1957
6.6
🎬
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
as Self
1957
7.0
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
as Self
1956
6.0
The United States Steel Hour
1953
6.2
The Oscars
as Self
1953
7.0
General Electric Theater
as Lieutenant George Poole
1953
6.3
General Electric Theater
as Tippy-Top
1953
6.3
🎬
The Red Buttons Show
as Host
1952
0.0
Footlight Varieties
as Himself
1951
1.0
What's My Line?
as Self
1950
6.9
Suspense
1949
4.9
Studio One
as St. Emergency
1948
5.0
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
6.8
Winged Victory
as Whitey / Andrews Sister
1944
5.5