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.

Dolores Hope

 

 

In Remembrance of Dolores Hope
Flowers Were Placed On Her Hollywood Walk Of Fame Star

Flowers were placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of Dolores Hope on September 19, 2011 at 4 p.m. The star is located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. The flowers were placed on the stars on behalf of the Hollywood community by the Hollywood Historic Trust. The Walk of Fame address directory can be found at Walkoffame.comMrs. Dolores Hope (1909 – 2011)

Born Dolores DeFina on May 27, 1909, New York, New York,  USA
Died on September 19, 2011 – Toluca Lake, California, USA

Dolores DeFina Hope, singer, philanthropist and wife of comedian Bob Hope, died today at the age of 102 of natural causes.

She was born in Harlem New York in 1909 and died at her home in Toluca Lake California of natural causes.   Dolores Reade was singing at the Vogue Club in Manhattan when she was introduced to rising Broadway star Bob Hope.  As he described it, it was “love at first song”.  They were married for nearly seventy years.  The Hopes moved to California in the late thirties so that Bob could pursue his film and radio careers.  They built a home in Toluca Lake where she lived until her death.  Bob and Dolores adopted four children and Dolores became an advocate for adoption, serving on the board of Holy Family Adoption Services in Los Angeles.  She was a lifelong Catholic and a proud member of St. Charles Borreomeo Church in North Hollywood, where she gave much time and financial help over the years to various parish causes including the building of the Lady of Hope chapel and the Holy Family Social Service Center.  Throughout her life Dolores was devoted to Catholic causes especially those directly benefiting the poor.  She and Bob were members of Lakeside Golf Course where she was runner up to the women's club champion for several years.  The Hopes also had a home in the Palm Springs area since the mid forties; Dolores worked with renowned architect John Lautner designing their most recent home in the Southridge Estates.  The house quickly became a showplace and a venue for their various desert social and charitable events including parties in conjunction with the annual “Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.” Dolores was founding president of the Eisenhower Medical center in Palm Desert and was intensely involved in the building and décor of the hospital. From 1968 to 1976 she served as President of its board and since 1977, its Chairman becoming Chairman Emeritus in the nineteen nineties.

Though she accompanied her husband on many of his USO trips to entertain the troops usually closing the show with a touching rendition of “Silent Night” she really had put her singing career on hold to be at his side and to raise their children.  But at the age of eighty-three she revisited a long postponed singing career, recording several albums and performing with Rosemary Clooney in New York at “RAINBOW AND STARS” for several weeks and receiving rave reviews. Throughout her life Dolores was a gracious hostess and great asset to her world famous husband.  She made her last visit to the servicemen and women during “Operation Desert Storm” Performing “White Christmas” from the back of a truck in the middle of the Saudi desert.  She was eighty-four at the time. Dolores Hope was feted with six honorary degrees and many awards for her humanitarian efforts, including: The Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian Services by the National Italian American Foundation; the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (for her contributions Irish heritage); the Magnificat Medal (1987) from Mundelein College, Chicago, for her outstanding family, social, philanthropic and religious leadership; the Big Shoulders Humanitarian Award; the St. Martin de Porres Award from the Southern Dominican Foundation, New Orleans (1990); “Bob Hope 5 Star Civilian Award,” at Valley Forge Military Academy; “Sprit of America Award” from the Institute for the Study of Americans, for community service and commitment to her country; “Living Legacy Award” for humanitarian efforts in San Diego; she participated in the dedication of the Dolores Hope All Faiths Chapel in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, at the Air Force Enlisted Widow's Home in Bob Hope Village.  In 2001 she was honored by the American Ireland Fund for a lifetime of work benefiting Humanity and presented with a beautiful Waterford Harp.

Dolores Hope has been the Honorary Mayor of Palm Springs five times and named “Woman of the Year” by the Los Angeles Times.  In 2008, she was honored in by the Ladies Professional Golf Association with its Patty Berg Award for her contributions to women's golf.  Like her husband she was an avid golfer.

Dolores May Philomena Veronica DeFina Hope is survived by her children Linda Hope of Toluca Lake, California, William Kelly Hope of Oakland, California, and her grandchildren, Zachary Hope, Miranda Hope, Andrew Hope Lande and great-grandson Kai Smith.

Services are private and burial will be at the Bob Hope Memorial Garden, San Fernando Mission – next to Bob.

Dom DeLuise

Dominick “Dom” DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, actor David DeLuise, and actor Michael DeLuise.

DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Vincenza “Jennie”, a homemaker, and John DeLuise, a civil servant. He was the second born and had an older brother named Nicholas “Nick” DeLuise. DeLuise graduated from Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts. He later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. He gained early notice for his supporting turn in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat. In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby panned the film but singled out the actor, stating, “he best of the lot, however, is a newcomer, Dom DeLuise, as a portly, bird-brained spy.”

In the 1970s and 1980s he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds. Together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DeLuise was the of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.

Don Alvarado

Don Alvarado was an American actor, assistant film director, and film production manager.

Born as José Paige in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He first studied agriculture on his father's sheep and cattle ranch but ran away from home and went to Los Angeles in 1922, still a teenager, hoping to find acting work in the fledgling silent film industry. He secured work in a sweet factory before getting into the films via work as an extra, his first appearance being in Mademoiselle Midnight. In Los Angeles, he became close friends with another Mexican actor, Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, who would later be known as Gilbert Roland.

The struggling young actors shared a place for a time, but Alvarado soon met and fell in love with sixteen-year-old Ann Boyar, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. They married in 1924. Later that year they had a daughter, actress Joy Page. Jack Warner convinced Ann to file for a quick divorce from Alvarado in Mexico in August 1932. She moved in with Warner perhaps as early as September 1933, and married him in 1936. In 1932, Alvarado was briefly engaged to the musical-comedy star Marilyn Miller, but the marriage did not take place.

Alvarado got his first uncredited silent film part in 1924 and, with the studio capitalizing on his "Latin Lover" looks, he was very shortly cast in secondary then leading roles. The advent of talkies all but ended his starring roles but he still managed to work regularly, usually cast in secondary Spanish character roles, such as in the 1929 Thornton Wilder adaptation The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Mr. Alvarado appeared on stage in "Dinner At Eight" at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles in 1933.

Don Ameche

Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor.

Ameche was born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the son of Barbara, who was of Irish and German descent, and Felix Ameche, an immigrant from Italy whose original surname was “Amici.” He had three brothers, Omberto, James, and Louis and three sisters, Jane, Elizabeth and Catherine.

Ameche attended Marquette University, Loras College and the University of Wisconsin, where his cousin Alan Ameche played football and won the Heisman Trophy in 1954. Ameche had gone to university to study law but found theatricals far more interesting and so decided on a stage career.

Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986. They had six children. One, Ron Ameche, owned the restaurant “Ameche’s Pumpernickel” in Coralville, Iowa. Ameche’s younger brother, Jim Ameche, was also an actor in radio and films. His other brother, Bert, is an Architect who worked for many years for the U S Navy at Port Hueneme, CA and towards the end of his career for the U S Postal Service in Los Angeles, CA.

Don Cornelius

Donald Cortez "Don" Cornelius is an African-American television show host and producer who is best known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance/music franchise, Soul Train, which he hosted from 1971-1993. After owning the program for its entire run, Cornelius sold the show to MadVision Entertainment in 2008.

Cornelius was one of the early employees of WVON.

Originally a journalist inspired by the civil rights movement, Cornelius recognized that in the late 1960s there was no television venue in the United States for soul music, and introduced many African-American musicians to a larger audience as a result of their appearances on Soul Train, a program that was influential among African-Americans, and popular with a wider audience. As writer, producer, and host of Soul Train, Cornelius was instrumental in offering wider exposure to black musicians like James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson, as well as creating opportunities for talented dancers that would presage subsequent television dance programs. Cornelius said "We had a show that kids gravitated to," and Spike Lee described the program as an "urban music time capsule."

Cornelius is best known for the catchphrase that he used to close the show: ". and you can bet your last money, it's all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I'm Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!" After Cornelius's departure, it was shortened to ".and as always, we wish you love, peace and soul!" and was used through the most recent new episodes in 2006. Another introductory phrase he often used was: ''"We got another sound comin' out of Philly that's a sure 'nough dilly".

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.