Biography
Don Ameche born Dominic Felix Amici May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film career surged in a comeback in the 1980s with fine work as an aging millionaire in Trading Places (1983) and a rejuvenated oldster in Cocoon (1985)...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
2009
as (archive footage)
This is a two-hour in-depth exploration into the Hollywood musicals of the 1940s.

Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
1997
as Self (archiveFootage)
Documentary featuring more than one dozen musical outtakes from classic 20th Century-Fox films.

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
as Self (archive footage)
A film scrapbook, images, phrases from our past, hiding their meanings behind veils. Let's lift those veils, one by one, to find how images, at one ti...

Corrina, Corrina
1994
as Grandpa Harry
When Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper ...

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
1993
as Shadow (voice)
Before the Seavers leave for a family vacation to San Francisco, they drop off their pets -- Chance, an adventurous American bulldog; Shadow, a wise g...

Sunstroke
1992
as Jake
After a bitter divorce, Teresa embarks on a noir journey to recover custody of her daughter. Murder, blackmail, and a mysterious stranger await her at...

Folks!
1992
as Harry Aldrich
A slightly self absorbed yuppie takes in his parents including his senile father, after their home burns down. But his personal and professional life ...

Oscar
1991
as Father Clemente
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite ...

Oddball Hall
1990
as G. Paul Siebriese
Elderly jewel thieves on the run from the law pass themselves off as wizards to a village of bewildered Africans.

Things Change
1988
as Gino
Jerry, a misfit Mafia henchman, is assigned the low-level job of keeping an eye on Gino, a shoe repairman fingered by the Mob to confess to a murder h...

Cocoon: The Return
1988
as Art Selwyn
The reinvigorated elderly group that left Earth comes back to visit their relatives. Will they all decide to go back to the planet where no one grows ...

Coming to America
1988
as Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited)
An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise...

Harry and the Hendersons
1987
as Dr. Wallace Wrightwood
Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they exa...

Pals
1987
as Fern Stobbs
Two retired fishing buddies stumble on an unmarked suitcase filled with three million dollars in cash. Then the fun starts flying as fast as bullets.
A Masterpiece of Murder
1986
as Frank Aherne
An over-the-hill gumshoe reluctantly teams with worldly retired master thief to solve a string of art thefts and murders.

Cocoon
1985
as Arthur Selwyn
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.

Trading Places
1983
as Mortimer Duke
A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.

Night of 100 Stars
1982
as Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City ...

The Chinese Typewriter
1979
as Armand Beller
Two private investigators are hired by an airline company to retrieve a stolen prototype jet. Starring Tom Selleck. Released 1979.

Gidget Gets Married
1972
as Otis Ramsey
Gidget finally gets married and rebels against the social caste system in her new husband's company.

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
1970
as Col. Flanders
War is brewing between the soldiers at an otherwise quiet army base and the civilians of a nearby Southern town. Brian Keith is an officer who tries t...

The Boatniks
1970
as Commander Taylor
Young and awkward, The Coast-Guard's ensign Thomas Garland suffers from the comparison with his late father, a war hero. Which does not prevent him fr...

Shadow Over Elveron
1968
as Justin Travers
A corrupt sheriff knows the secrets of everyone in town and uses that information to go unchallenged. But after the arrest of an innocent teenager, th...

Rings Around the World
1967
as Host/Ringmaster
While writing a book on the circus, author John Shawcross reflects upon the great acts he has seen over the years and the mystique of circus people. H...

Picture Mommy Dead
1966
as Edward Shelley
Susan Shelley is released from an asylum where she's been confined to after the shock suffered over the fiery death of her mother. Her father has a ne...

A Fever in the Blood
1961
as Senator Alex S. Simon
A judge, a district attorney and a U. S. senator--each hoping to be elected the next governor--attempt to manipulate a murder trial to advance their o...

Slightly French
1949
as John Gayle
A film director, in bad standing with his studio, tries to turn a local carnival dancer into a "French" movie star and pass her off as his big new dis...

Sleep, My Love
1948
as Richard W. Courtland
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.

That's My Man
1947
as Joe Grange
A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he starts becoming successful, he begins to lose sight...

So Goes My Love
1946
as Hiram Stephen Maxim
Country girl Jane Budden goes to the big city, determined to find and marry a wealthy man. Instead, she meets and marries Herman Maxim, a struggling i...

Guest Wife
1945
as Joseph Jefferson 'Joe' Parker
Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war corresp...

It's in the Bag!
1945
as Don Ameche
The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.

Greenwich Village
1944
as Kenneth Harvey
In 1922, a would-be classical composer gets involved with people putting on a musical revue.

Wing and a Prayer
1944
as Bingo Harper
An aircraft carrier is sent on a decoy mission around the Pacific, with orders to avoid combat, thus lulling Japanese alertness before the battle of M...

Happy Land
1943
as Lew Marsh
An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he h...

Heaven Can Wait
1943
as Henry Van Cleve
Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy...

Something to Shout About
1943
as Ken Douglas
A press agent, a composer and a landlord of a theatrical boardinghouse revive vaudeville on Broadway.

Girl Trouble
1942
as Pedro Sullivan
A South American in New York rents the apartment of a socialite who pretends to be his maid.

The Magnificent Dope
1942
as Dwight Dawson
Dwight Dawson, who runs an unsuccessful success school, stages a contest to find the biggest failure in the USA, for publicity value when the "dope" t...

Confirm or Deny
1941
as 'Mitch' Mitchell
Newsman Mitch and teletype operator Jennifer, whose job is to see he doesn't send inappropriate stuff out of the country, dodge bombs during the blitz...

The Feminine Touch
1941
as John Hathaway
A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Rus...

Kiss the Boys Goodbye
1941
as Lloyd Lloyd
New York chorus girl Cindy Lou Bethany becomes frustrated when she prepares for an audition for a Broadway musical, but the auditions close and her ro...

Moon Over Miami
1941
as Phil O'Neil (Credits) / Phil 'Mac' McNeil
After losing nearly all of an inheritance to taxes, sisters Kay and Barbara Latimer, waitresses at a drive-in restaurant in Texas, scheme to find rich...

That Night in Rio
1941
as Larry Martin / Baron Manuel Duarte
An entertainer in Rio impersonates a wealthy aristocrat. When the aristocrat's wife asks him to carry the impersonation further, complications ensue.

Down Argentine Way
1940
as Ricardo Quintana
The story—in which an American heiress on holiday in South America falls in love with an Argentine horse breeder against the wishes of their families—...

Four Sons
1940
as Chris Bern
Four Sons is a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo. It stars Don Ameche and Eugenie Leontovich. It is a remake of the 1928 film of the same name.

Lillian Russell
1940
as Edward Solomon
Alice Faye plays the title role in this 1940 film biography of the early-20th-century stage star.

Swanee River
1939
as Stephen Foster
Swanee River is a 1940 American biopic about Stephen Foster, a songwriter from Pittsburgh who falls in love with the South, marries a Southern girl, t...

Hollywood Cavalcade
1939
as Mike Connors
Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for ...

Land of Liberty
1939
as Alexander Graham Bell (archive footage)
This film tells the history of the United States from pre-Revolution through 1939.

Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
1939
as Don Ameche
Ice skating is the theme; at the Tropical Ice Garden, in Westwood Hills, are seen a flock of skating stars including Irene Dare and Phyllis Ann Thomos...

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. ...

Midnight
1939
as Tibor Czerny
An unemployed American showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian high society.

The Three Musketeers
1939
as D'Artagnan
A parodic remake of the story of the young Gascon D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris, his heart set on joining the king's Musketeers. He is taken under ...

Gateway
1938
as Dick Court
Irish immigrant meets returning war correspondent on a liner bound for New York. When she resists the amours of another passenger, charges result in h...

Josette
1938
as David Brassard Jr.
Two young men try to wrest their father from the clutches of a gold digger but by mistake think the woman is a young nightclub singer with whom they b...

Alexander's Ragtime Band
1938
as Charlie Dwyer
Classical violinist Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls i...

In Old Chicago
1938
as Jack O'Leary
The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

Happy Landing
1938
as Jimmy Hall
Bandleader and manager discover skater in Norway. They become rivals as she returns with them to America.

Love Under Fire
1937
as Tracy Egan
A suspense-thriller-comedy set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.

You Can't Have Everything
1937
as George Macrae
Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon t...

Fifty Roads to Town
1937
as Peter Nostrand
A man on the lam in the Canadian wilds encounters a young woman in a remote lodge who is also on the run.

Love Is News
1937
as Martin J. Canavan
When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are e...

One in a Million
1937
as Bob Harris
American theatrical manager discovers Greta Muller preparing for the Olympics in Switzerland and brings her to Madison Square Garden.

Ladies in Love
1936
as Dr. Rudi Imre
Three young women in Budapest share living quarters while searching for romance.

Ramona
1936
as Alessandro
Half-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his family's wishes and loves another Indian employed by t...

Sins of Man
1936
as Karl Freyman / Mario Signarelli
Austrian church bell ringer Freyman loves music and wants his two sons (both played by Ameche) to love it too. The first goes to America and the secon...