---
name: "Don Ameche"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/don-ameche"
fi1m_id: "don-ameche"
imdb_id: "nm0000747"
tmdb_id: 18156
wikidata_id: "Q310413"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "31 May 1908"
died: "6 December 1993"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 75
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-04T18:54:25.205291+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Don Ameche

## Identity

Don Ameche

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/don-ameche
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** don-ameche
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000747
- **TMDB ID:** 18156
- **Wikidata ID:** Q310413
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ameche, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q310413, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000747/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/18156

Actor. Born 31 May 1908 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA. Died 6 December 1993.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 31 May 1908, Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
- **Died:** 6 December 1993
- **Active:** 1938–1985
- **Also known as:** Дон Амичи, Dominic Felix Amici
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 5 acting, 1 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Alice Faye](https://film.one/person/alice-faye.md), [Henry King](https://film.one/person/henry-king.md), [Lamar Trotti](https://film.one/person/lamar-trotti.md), [Tyrone Power](https://film.one/person/tyrone-power.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 75, as actor, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 67 (2), 1940s 84 (1), 1980s 77 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 74 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 5 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Comedy 3, Romance 2, Fantasy 1, History 1, Music 1
- **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $182m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ameche, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q310413, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000747/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/18156

## Streaming the US now

- **Tubi:** [*Heaven Can Wait*](https://film.one/film/heaven-can-wait-1943.md) (84)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Trading Places*](https://film.one/film/trading-places.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Don Ameche

> Don Ameche spent his first career in films being agreeable and his second being anything but, and the second suits him. As Mortimer Duke in *Trading Places* (1983) the radio baritone that once sold romance sells contempt, briskly, and the film is funnier for it.

Watch Mortimer Duke wait. In *Trading Places* (1983) Don Ameche plays one of the two Duke brothers as a man for whom every other person in the room is a delay, and he gives Mortimer a short, tight impatience that makes Ralph Bellamy's geniality beside him look like a slower strain of the same disease. The pair treat a man's ruin as a bet to be settled before lunch. We laughed at them, and then felt slightly uneasy about how easily we had, because Ameche never plays Mortimer as a monster. He plays him as a man who is late for something.

That was a return. Ameche came up through college theatre, repertory and vaudeville and became a radio star in Chicago from 1930, and it was the voice, a rich baritone, that got him a 20th Century Fox contract in 1935. Fox used him through the 1940s as a light romantic lead, often the likeable, well-bred sophisticate with a pencil-thin moustache, and put him opposite Alice Faye five times. In *In Old Chicago* (1938) he is Jack O'Leary, the honest lawyer of the family, earnest and clean-shaven, and the part gives him almost nothing to do except be decent while Tyrone Power gets the grin and Alice Brady gets the film. A year later he was Alexander Graham Bell, and for a while Americans called the telephone an ameche. *Heaven Can Wait* (1943), as Henry Van Cleve, is the one people reach for when they want his best comic lead, and we have not reviewed it, so we will leave it there.

Then film lost him for a long stretch. He spent the 1950s, 60s and 70s on Broadway, television and radio, and did not come back to the screen until *Trading Places*. What followed was a proper late run: Art Selwyn in *Cocoon* (1985), a retirement-community resident played with more physical energy than the part strictly required; Gino in *Things Change* (1988), where the comic timing the radio years built is the whole performance; Bellamy again in *Coming to America*. He kept working until his death in 1993.

The pattern across our two reviews is plain. Young, he was cast for decency, and decency is hard to make interesting when the script has already decided the charming brother gets the good lines. Old, he was cast for authority, and authority on screen is far more fun when it is being unkind or in a hurry. The voice was always made for the second job. What the late films understood, and *In Old Chicago* did not, is that Ameche lands a line by timing rather than by face, which is what radio teaches and what an honest lawyer in a fire picture is never allowed to use.

Start with *Trading Places* and stay for the brothers' scenes together, where two old men make cruelty sound like good manners. The young lead is there for the curious. He is perfectly nice, and that is the problem.

## Biography

Don Ameche was an American actor. Born Dominic Felix Amici on 31 May 1908 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he worked in vaudeville, repertory theatre and radio before signing a film contract with 20th Century Fox in 1935.

Ameche appeared regularly in films during the 1930s and 1940s. After a period working mainly in theatre and television, he returned to cinema in the 1980s. He played Mortimer Duke in *Trading Places* (1983) and received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for *Cocoon* (1985). Other later credits include *Harry and the Hendersons* (1987), *Coming to America* (1988) and *Cocoon: The Return* (1988).

Ameche died on 6 December 1993 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, thefilmaholic.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

### Performed in (5) — the average rests on these

- *Cocoon* (1985), Fi1m 75, as Arthur Selwyn — [page](https://film.one/film/cocoon.md)
- *Trading Places* (1983), Fi1m 80, as Mortimer Duke — [page](https://film.one/film/trading-places.md)
- *Heaven Can Wait* (1943), Fi1m 84, as Henry Van Cleve — [page](https://film.one/film/heaven-can-wait-1943.md)
- *Alexander's Ragtime Band* (1938), Fi1m 70, as Charlie Dwyer — [page](https://film.one/film/alexanders-ragtime-band.md)
- *In Old Chicago* (1938), Fi1m 64, as Jack O'Leary — [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-chicago.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Coming to America* (1988), Fi1m 76, as Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/coming-to-america.md)

## Complete filmography (80)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing* (2009), as (archive footage)
- *Corrina, Corrina* (1994), as Grandpa Harry
- *Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey* (1993), as Shadow (voice)
- *Sunstroke* (1992), as Jake
- *Folks!* (1992), as Harry Aldrich
- *Our Shining Moment* (1991), as John 'Papa' McGuire Sr.
- *Oscar* (1991), as Father Clemente
- *Oddball Hall* (1990), as G. Paul Siebriese
- *Things Change* (1988), as Gino
- *Cocoon: The Return* (1988), as Art Selwyn
- *Coming to America* (1988), as Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited) — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/coming-to-america.md)
- *Harry and the Hendersons* (1987), as Dr. Wallace Wrightwood
- *Pals* (1987), as Art Riddle
- *A Masterpiece of Murder* (1986), as Frank Aherne
- *The Golden Girls* (1985), series, as Brother Martin — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-golden-girls.md)
- *Cocoon* (1985), as Arthur Selwyn — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/cocoon.md)
- *Trading Places* (1983), as Mortimer Duke — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/trading-places.md)
- *The Chinese Typewriter* (1979), as Armand Beller
- *The Love Boat* (1977), series, as Stewart Coolidge, Henry Dobson, Hollis Witkin
- *Quincy, M.E.* (1976), series, as Harry Whitehead
- *Good Heavens* (1976), series, Actor
- *Ellery Queen* (1975), series, as Dr. Norman Marsh
- *Gidget Gets Married* (1972), as Otis Ramsey
- *Columbo* (1971), series, as Frank Simpson — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/columbo.md)
- *Alias Smith and Jones* (1971), series, Actor
- *Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?* (1970), as Col. Flanders
- *The Boatniks* (1970), as Commander Taylor
- *McCloud* (1970), series, Actor
- *Julia* (1968), series, Director
- *Shadow Over Elveron* (1968), as Justin Travers
- *Rings Around the World* (1967), as Host/Ringmaster
- *Picture Mommy Dead* (1966), as Edward Shelley
- *Petticoat Junction* (1963), series, as Uncle George
- *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as Whitman Saunders
- *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1963), series, as Collie McCullough
- *A Fever in the Blood* (1961), as Senator Alex S. Simon
- *DuPont Show of the Month* (1957), series, as Harry Graves
- *Climax!* (1954), series, as Sam Waterman
- *Coke Time with Eddie Fisher* (1953), series, Actor
- *Slightly French* (1949), as John Gayle
- *Sleep, My Love* (1948), as Richard W. Courtland
- *That's My Man* (1947), as Joe Grange
- *So Goes My Love* (1946), as Hiram Stephen Maxim
- *Guest Wife* (1945), as Joseph Jefferson 'Joe' Parker
- *It's in the Bag!* (1945), as Don Ameche
- *Greenwich Village* (1944), as Kenneth Harvey
- *Wing and a Prayer* (1944), as Bingo Harper
- *Happy Land* (1943), as Lew Marsh
- *Heaven Can Wait* (1943), as Henry Van Cleve — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/heaven-can-wait-1943.md)
- *Something to Shout About* (1943), as Ken Douglas
- *Girl Trouble* (1942), as Pedro Sullivan
- *The Magnificent Dope* (1942), as Dwight Dawson
- *Confirm or Deny* (1941), as 'Mitch' Mitchell
- *The Feminine Touch* (1941), as John Hathaway
- *Kiss the Boys Goodbye* (1941), as Lloyd Lloyd
- *Moon Over Miami* (1941), as Phil O'Neil (Credits) / Phil 'Mac' McNeil
- *That Night in Rio* (1941), as Larry Martin / Baron Manuel Duarte
- *Down Argentine Way* (1940), as Ricardo Quintana
- *Four Sons* (1940), as Chris Bern
- *Lillian Russell* (1940), as Edward Solomon
- *Swanee River* (1939), as Stephen Foster
- *Hollywood Cavalcade* (1939), as Mike Connors
- *Land of Liberty* (1939), as Alexander Graham Bell (archive footage)
- *Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8* (1939), as Don Ameche
- *The Story of Alexander Graham Bell* (1939), as Alexander Graham Bell
- *Midnight* (1939), as Tibor Czerny
- *The Three Musketeers* (1939), as D'Artagnan
- *Gateway* (1938), as Dick Court
- *Josette* (1938), as David Brassard Jr.
- *Alexander's Ragtime Band* (1938), as Charlie Dwyer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/alexanders-ragtime-band.md)
- *In Old Chicago* (1938), as Jack O'Leary — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-chicago.md)
- *Happy Landing* (1938), as Jimmy Hall
- *Love Under Fire* (1937), as Tracy Egan
- *You Can't Have Everything* (1937), as George Macrae
- *Fifty Roads to Town* (1937), as Peter Nostrand
- *Love Is News* (1937), as Martin J. Canavan
- *One in a Million* (1937), as Bob Harris
- *Ladies in Love* (1936), as Dr. Rudi Imre
- *Ramona* (1936), as Alessandro
- *Sins of Man* (1936), as Karl Freyman / Mario Signarelli

## Gallery

- ![Don Ameche](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-baa30b646329.jpg) Don Ameche — NBC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Don_Ameche_1964.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Don Ameche (2021)](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-6ed89cae1600.jpg) Don Ameche (2021) — Fox Studios, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Don_Ameche_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Don Ameche (2021)](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-1897037e40e0.jpg) Don Ameche (2021) — Fox Studios, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Don_Ameche_02.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Don Ameche (2021)](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-4a9e18f7cd87.jpg) Don Ameche (2021) — Fox Studios, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Don_Ameche_03.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Don Ameche](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-77bd571aeac0.jpg) Don Ameche — Image via TMDB
- ![Don Ameche and Cher at the 1986 Academy Awards. Cher's dress was designed by Bob Mackie.](https://film.one/media/person/117945/gallery-91305574944a.jpg) Don Ameche and Cher at the 1986 Academy Awards. Cher's dress was designed by Bob Mackie. — Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Don_Ameche_and_Cher.jpg/1280px-Don_Ameche_and_Cher.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 1986: Best Supporting Actor (won), for *Cocoon*

### Other awards — 2 won

- Volpi Cup for Best Actor 1988: Volpi Cup for Best Actor (won), for *Things Change*
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 1960: star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/don-ameche