Don Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military. Usually cast as tough policemen or cowboys, he appeared in a number of memorable films including Sands of Iwo Jima, The Asphalt Jungle, Angels in the Outfield and The Narrow Margin. The B-movie actor continued to appear in films until the early 1980s. In the 1955-1956 season, he appeared as the outlaw Sam Bass in an episode of Jim Davis’s syndicated Stories of the Century.
Don Johnson
Donald Wayne “Don” Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success and fame. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges. Johnson is a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Miami Vice, a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director.
Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri. His father, Wayne, was a farmer, and his mother, Nell, was a beautician; they were 19 and 17 at the time of his birth, respectively. At age six, he moved from Missouri to Wichita, Kansas. A 1967 graduate of South High School, he was involved in the high school’s theatre program. As a senior, he played the lead role of Tony in “West Side Story.” His biography noted that he had previously appeared in “Burnt Cork and Melody” and “The Hullabaloo.” He also attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
In the late 1960s, Johnson was in a psychedelic rock band called Horses. Also in the band were future members of the band Kingfish, which featured Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. The band put out one self-titled record on the White Whale label in 1969, later re-issued on the Gear Fab label in 2004 and then on the Rev-Ola label in 2005. Johnson, as several noteworthy news sources have mentioned over the years, was relieved of his military obligation due to a high lottery number. In a 1970 newspaper article, Johnson claimed he would not have done so even if called due to his beliefs at the time.
Johnson is quoted in a 1970 newspaper article, mentioning his draft-exempt status and his dislike for war.
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970s television sitcom Three's Company.
Knotts was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, a son of William Jesse Knotts and his wife, the former Elsie L. Moore. Knotts' paternal ancestors had emigrated from England to America in the 17th century, originally settling in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Knotts's father was a farmer, but suffered a nervous breakdown and lost his land. Afflicted with both schizophrenia and alcoholism, he died when Knotts was thirteen years old. Knotts and his three brothers were then raised by their mother, who ran a boarding house in Morgantown. Knotts is a sixth cousin of Ron Howard, a co-actor on the Andy Griffith Show.
An urban legend claims that Knotts served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, serving as a drill instructor at Parris Island. In reality, Knotts enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from Morgantown High School and spent most of his service entertaining troops.
After performing in many venues, Knotts got his first major break on television in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on Steve Allen's variety show, as part of Allen's repertory company, most notably in Allen's mock "Man in the Street" interviews, always as an extremely nervous man. The laughs grew when Knotts stated his occupation?always one that wouldn?t be appropriate for such a shaky person, such as a surgeon or explosives expert.
Don McNeill
Don McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.
McNeill was born in Galena, Illinois, but the family soon moved to Wisconsin, where McNeill graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He was a first cousin of United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, for their mothers were sisters. McNeill began his radio career in Milwaukee in 1928, first as a script editor and announcer at station WISN, and later working for the station owned by The Milwaukee Journal. McNeill moved on to Kentucky, working for the Louisville Courier-Journal‘s station, WHAS then a stint in San Francisco as a comedy act with singer Van Fleming, called “The Two Professors,” and finally, following a failed career move to New York City, McNeill wound up back in Illinois in 1933.
McNeill had applied for a job at NBC, and sent to Chicago to audition. He was assigned to take over an unsponsored early morning variety show called The Pepper Pot, with an 8 AM time slot on the NBC Blue Network. McNeill quickly re-organized the hour show as The Breakfast Club, dividing it into four segments, or as McNeill called them, “the four calls to breakfast.”
The show premiered on June 23, 1933, with informal talk and jokes often based on topical events, initially scripted by McNeill, but later performed off the cuff, often with audience interviews. In its final form, this was surrounded by piano music, various vocal groups and soloists, sentimental verse, and recurring comedy performers. The series would eventually gain a sponsor, Swift and Company. McNeill was also credited as the first performer to make morning talk and variety a viable format in radio. .
Don Murray
Donald Patrick “Don” Murray is an American actor.
Murray was born in Hollywood, California. He attended East Rockaway High School in East Rockaway, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and glee club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Murray had a long and varied career in films and television, including his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime-time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe.
He starred as a blackmailed United States senator in Advise and Consent, a film version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury that was directed by Otto Preminger and cast Murray opposite Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. He also co-starred with Steve McQueen in the film Baby the Rain Must Fall and played the ape-hating Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes .
Don Rickles
In memory of Walk of Famer Don Rickles, flowers were placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at 1 p.m. PDT. The star in category of Live Performance is located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard. “Rest in Peace Mr. Warmth, Don Rickles!” Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame signed the card on behalf of the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic. However, unlike many insult comics who only find short-lived success, Rickles has enjoyed a sustained career, thanks to a distinct sense of humor, a very sharp wit and impeccable timing.
Rickles was born in the New York City borough of Queens to Max Rickles, who had emigrated in 1902 with his parents Joseph and Frances Rickles from Kaunas, Lithuania, and Etta Rickles, born in New York to immigrant parents from the Austrian Empire. His family was Jewish and spoke Yiddish at home. Rickles grew up in the Jackson Heights area.
After graduating from Newtown High School, Rickles enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II on the USS Cyrene as a seaman first class. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then played bit parts on television. Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Rickles began doing stand-up comedy. He became known as an insult comedian by responding to his hecklers. The audience enjoyed these insults more than his prepared material, and he incorporated them into his act. When he began his career in the early 1950s, he started calling ill-mannered members of the audience a Hockey Puck. His style was similar to an older insult comic, Nickname "Mr. Warmth" Jack E. Leonard, though Rickles denies that Leonard influenced his style.
While working in a Miami Beach nightclub known as "Murray Franklin's" early in his career, he spotted Frank Sinatra and remarked to him, "I just saw your movie, The Pride and the Passion and I want to tell you, the cannon's acting was great." He added, "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody!" Sinatra, whose pet name for Rickles was "bullet-head", enjoyed Rickles so much that he encouraged other celebrities to see Rickles' act and be insulted by him. Sinatra's support helped Rickles become a popular headline performer in Las Vegas.
Don Wilson
Don Wilson was an American announcer and occasional actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program.
Wilson began his radio career as a singer over Denver radio station KFEL in 1923. By 1929, he was working at KFI in Los Angeles.
Though best known for his comedy work with Benny, Wilson had a background as a sportscaster, covering the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympics. Wilson first worked with Benny on the broadcast of April 6, 1934, concurrent with a short stint as announcer on George Gershwin’s series, Music by Gershwin. At and over, Wilson possessed a resonant voice, a deep belly laugh, and a plump figure, all of which would become important parts of his character with Benny. Though Wilson’s primary function as announcer was to read the opening and the commercial pitches — notably for Jell-O, Grape-Nuts, and Lucky Strikes — his importance to the program was as both feed and foil to Jack and other cast members. A recurring goal was his effort to get the Sportsman’s Quartet singing commercial approved by Benny.
On radio in particular, Wilson’s girth could be exploited, both in jokes by Benny and in audio gags, such as the amount of time it took an railroad porter to brush the soot off of Don following a train trip, or to measure charging him by the pound.
Donald Bellisario
Donald Paul Bellisario is an American television producer and screenwriter. His latest television project was NCIS with writer Don McGill. Sources reported in May 2007 that Bellisario was leaving NCIS.
Bellisario was born in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania to a Serbian mother, Dana and an Italian father, Albert Bellisario, who was born in Gamberale, Abruzzo, Italy. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1955 to 1959, attaining the rank of Sergeant and earning the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.
Bellisario earned a bachelors degree in journalism at Pennsylvania State University in 1961. In 2001 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus?the highest honor bestowed on a graduate of Penn State. In 2006, Bellisario endowed a $1 million Trustee Matching Scholarship in the Penn State College of Communications. He recalled:
Bellisario worked in advertising for fifteen years as a copywriter and a creative director. He began working in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before moving to a major agency in Dallas, Texas. From there, he made what he has described as his “big gamble”: moving to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting and production.
Don Cornell
Don Cornell was an American singer of the 1940s and 1950s noted for his smooth but robust baritone voice.
Born Luigi Varlaro in The Bronx, New York, Cornell got his start with trumpeter Red Nichols and bandleader Sammy Kaye before going solo. He sold over 50 million records. Among his hits were “It Isn’t Fair,” “I’m Yours,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” and “Hold My Hand.” His version of “Hold My Hand” sold over one million copies, and topped the UK Singles Chart in 1954. In 1993, he was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame. He was also a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity.
He was among the top headliners, appearing on the nightclub circuit during the 1950’s, when there were numerous such venues across the nation. Unlike many stars, he was very affable, and far from reclusive, aloof or distant when in public. When headlining at the Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Kentucky – in metropolitan Cincinnati – he appeared many times on the highy-popular Ruth Lyons noon television program. He was so popular and engaging, and such a favorite of its star and viewers, that he actually hosted the show during some of Ms. Lyons’ periodic absences.
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore was an American actor who played "the regular guy" and "the good, ol' boy next door" in many films in the 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in 1913 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His father was Joseph Ervin DeFore, a railroad engineer. His mother was Albina Sylvia Nezerka. DeFore's film appearances include: Brother Rat, The Male Animal, The Human Comedy, A Guy Named Joe, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo with Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, The Affairs of Susan with Joan Fontaine, You Came Along, Without Reservations, It Happened on 5th Avenue, Ramrod, Romance on the High Seas (first film & acting debut of Doris Day, My Friend Irma, Too Late for Tears, Dark City (first film & acting debut of Charlton Heston, Southside 1-1000, The Guy Who Came Back, A Girl in Every Port, Jumping Jacks, Battle Hymn, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, and The Facts of Life with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.