Red Buttons (Feb. 5, 1919-July 13, 2006) was born as Aaron Chwatt to Jewish immigrants Michael Chwatt and his wife Sophie Baker. His career started as an entertaining bellhop at Ryan’s Tavern in City Island, the Bronx, where his red hair and large shiny buttons on his bellhop uniform prompted bandleader Charles “Dinty” Moore to dub him Red Buttons. Later, doing a comic act in the Borscht Belt, his straight man was Robert Alda. In September 1943 Buttons made his debut in Vickie with Jose Ferrer and Uta Hagen. He also appeared in Wine, Women and Song at Minsky’s Burlesque that year and was on stage when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had it raided. Drafted into the US Army, Buttons performed in the Army Air Force’s “Winged Victory Show,” which later was made by Darryl F. Zanuck into a movie, in which Buttons appeared. Following the war, Buttons resumed his Broadway career.
In 1952, Buttons signed a contract with CBS Television, hosting and performing for three years in The Red Buttons Show, a variety series. He won an Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actor in Sayonara, a movie drama about the prejudice faced by an American airman who marries a Japanese woman, played by Miyoshi Umeki, who won the Academy Award as best supporting actress. More movies came later including Hatari!; Five Weeks in a Balloon; The Longest Day; The Poseidon Adventure; They Shoot Horses Don’t They; Pete’s Dragon; When Time Ran Out; and 18 Again! He returned to television with a spy spoof, The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, which lasted just one seaon. He made guest appearances in other television series. He was a regular on Friars Club roasts and telethons for Chabad.
Buttons was married three times, respectively to Roxanne Arlen in 1947; to Helayne McNorton in 1949; and to Alicia Prats in 1964, which lasted until 2001 when she died. The couple had two children. Buttons was an early member of the Synagogue for the Performing Arts.
Next, February 6: Zsa Zsa Gabor
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SDJW condensation of a Wikipedia article