Acting · New York City, New York, USA · Born February 5, 1919
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.
MovieGoodnight, We Love You
2004
as Self
TVPresidio Med
2002
as Chick
TVStreet Time
2002
as Sam Kahan
TVPhilly
2001
MovieThe Story of Us
1999
as Arnie Jordan
TVFamily Law
1999
as Carl Porter
Ghosts of Fear Street
1998
as Grandpa
MovieTwentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
1997
as Self
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1996
as Walter Stites
TVCosby
1996
MovieDarryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
1995
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TVER
1994
as Ruby
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1994
as Walter Zakuto
MovieThe Ambulance
1990
as Elias Zacharai
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1989
as Self - Burns Card Play Partner (uncredited)
TVRoseanne
1988
Jackie Gleason: The Great One
1988
as Self
Movie18 Again!
1988
as Charlie
TVIt's Garry Shandling's Show
1986
as Red Buttons
TVAlice in Wonderland
1985
as White Rabbit
TV227
1985
MovieReunion at Fairborough
1985
as Jiggs Quealy
MovieNight of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
TVThe Cosby Show
1984
as Jake Bennett
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1983
as Self
MovieOff Your Rocker
1982
as Seymour Saltz
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1981
as Harry Hubbell
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1981
as Roland Green
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1981
as Nick
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1980
as Bruce Benson
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1980
as Francis Fendly
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1980
as Red Buttons
TVPower
1980
as Solly Weiss
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1979
as Al Baker
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1979
as Bracken
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1979
as Milton (voice)
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1979
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1978
as Peanuts / Jinks Murphy
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1978
as Warren Ambrose
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1978
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1978
as Tony Emerson
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1977
as Marty Rand
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1977
as Hoagy
TVThe Love Boat
1977
as Cyrus Foster
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1977
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1977
as Ben Andrews
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1976
as Self
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1976
as Ivan Cooper
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1976
as Luke Flannery
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1976
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1975
as Ashley Norman
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1975
as Ashley Norman
TVLittle House on the Prairie
1974
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TVThe Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973
as Self
MovieThe Poseidon Adventure
1972
as James Martin
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1971
as Mickey Isadore
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1971
as Self
MovieBreakout
1970
as Pipes
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1970
as Sam Harris
MovieThey Shoot Horses, Don't They?
1969
as Sailor
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1969
as Norman
TVThe Danny Thomas Hour
1967
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1966
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1966
as Peacock
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1966
as Henry Wadsworth Phyfe
TVThe Dean Martin Show
1965
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1965
as Arthur Landau
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1965
as PFC Harry Devine
MovieYour Cheatin' Heart
1964
as Shorty Younger
TVThe Hollywood Palace
1964
as Self
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
MovieA Ticklish Affair
1963
as Flight Officer Simon 'Uncle Cy' Shelley
MovieGay Purr-ee
1962
as Robespierre (voice)
TVThe Eleventh Hour
1962
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
TVThe Merv Griffin Show
1962
as Self
MovieThe Longest Day
1962
as Pvt. John Steele
TVSaints and Sinners
1962
as Joe Roganyan
MovieFive Weeks in a Balloon
1962
as Donald O'Shay
MovieHatari!
1962
as Pockets
MovieOne, Two, Three
1961
as MP Sergeant (uncredited)
TVThe Mike Douglas Show
1961
as Self - Host
TVFrontier Circus
1961
TVPassword
1961
TVBen Casey
1961
TVStartime
1959
as Joe Henders
MovieThe Big Circus
1959
as Randy Sherman
MovieA Marriage of Strangers
1959
as Jerry
MovieThe All-Star Christmas Show
1958
as Self
TVKraft Music Hall
1958
as Self
MovieImitation General
1958
as Cpl. Chan Derby
Hansel and Gretel
1958
as Hansel
MovieSayonara
1957
as Joe Kelly
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
1957
as Self
TVThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show
1956
as Self
TVThe United States Steel Hour
1953
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
TVGeneral Electric Theater
1953
as Lieutenant George Poole
The Red Buttons Show
1952
as Host
TVThe Jackie Gleason Show
1952
MovieFootlight Varieties
1951
as Himself
TVWhat's My Line?
1950
as Self
TVSuspense
1949
TVStudio One
1948
as St. Emergency
TVThe Ed Sullivan Show
1948
as Self
MovieWinged Victory
1944
as Whitey / Andrews Sister
