Don Ameche

Lore & Background

Don Ameche was born as Dominic Felix Amici on May 31, 1908, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His father, Felice Amici, was a bartender from Montemonaco, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy. His mother, Barbara Etta Hertel, was of Scottish, Irish, and German ancestry. Ameche was the second oldest of eight children: sisters Elizabeth, Catherine, Mary and Anna, and brothers Louis, Umberto (Bert) and James (Jim Ameche), who was also a well-known actor. Ameche attended Marquette University, Loras College, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where his cousin Alan Ameche played football and won the Heisman Trophy in 1954. Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986. They were separated from each other at the time of her death and Ameche did not attend her funeral according to her 1986 obituary. They had six children: two daughters, Connie and Bonnie, and four sons, Lonnie, Dominic, Thomas and Ronald, who owned a restaurant called "Ameche's Pumpernickel" in Coralville, Iowa. Ameche's younger brother, Jim, died in 1983 at the age of 67. Ameche was Roman Catholic and a Republican who supported the campaign of Thomas Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election. On December 6, 1993, Ameche died at his son Richard Ameche's house in Scottsdale, Arizona, of prostate cancer at age 85. He was cremated and his ashes are buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery in Asbury, Iowa.

Reader's Guide

In the 1950s, he worked on Broadway and in television and was the host of NBC's International Showtime from 1961 to 1965. Returning to film work in his later years, Ameche enjoyed a fruitful revival of his career, beginning with his role as a villain in the comedy hit Trading Places (1983). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Cocoon (1985) and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in Things Change (1988). Ameche had done well in college dramatics at the University of Wisconsin, and when a lead actor for a stock company production of Excess Baggage did not turn up, a friend persuaded him to stand in for the missing actor. He enjoyed the experience and got a juvenile lead in Jerry For Short in New York, followed by a tour in vaudeville with Texas Guinan until she dropped him from the act, dismissing him as "too stiff". Ameche then moved to Chicago, where he began a radio career in 1930 on Empire Builders. By 1932, Ameche had become the leading man on two other Chicago-based programs: the dramatic anthology First Nighter and Betty and Bob. Brought to Hollywood by 20th Century Fox producer Darryl Zanuck, Ameche played mostly romantic leads. In 1939, he played a lead character in comedy film Midnight (1939). He also played the title character in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) which led to the use of the word "ameche" as juvenile slang for a telephone. Ameche was Alice Faye's leading man in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), then played Stephen Foster in Swanee River (1939). He did a third biopic, Lillian Russell (1940), with Faye, and was top billed in a war film, Four Sons (1940). He also starred in two popular musicals, Down Argentine Way (1940) and Moon Over Miami (1941). In 1940, he was voted the 21st-most-popular star in Hollywood. Ameche did Heaven Can Wait (1943), Happy Land (1943), Wing and a Prayer (1944) and Greenwich Village (1944). In 1944, he reportedly earned $247,677 for 1943, making him the second-highest earner at 20th Century Fox after Spyros Skouras. Following his appearances on The Chase and Sanborn Hour, Ameche achieved success during the late 1940s playing opposite Frances Langford in The Bickersons. It began on NBC in 1946, moving to CBS the following year. He also had his own program, The Old Gold Don Ameche Show, on NBC Red in the early 1940s. In 1950 Ameche became the star of Holiday H

Did You Know?

• Don Ameche's cousin Alan Ameche won the Heisman Trophy in 1954.
• The film The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) led to the slang term 'ameche' for a telephone.
• Ameche won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Cocoon (1985).
• He was the second-highest earner at 20th Century Fox in 1943, after Spyros Skouras.
• Ameche was part of an ownership group that included Bing Crosby and Bob Hope for the Los Angeles Dons football team.