Red Buttons

Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt; February 5, 1919 – July 13, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the 1957 film Sayonara. After his Oscar-winning role Buttons performed in numerous feature films, including the Africa adventure Hatari! with John Wayne, the adventure Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) (where he received top billing), the war epic The Longest Day, the biopic Harlow, the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, the dance-marathon drama They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, the family comedy Pete's Dragon, the disaster film When Time Ran Out with Paul Newman and the age-reversal comedy 18 Again! with George Burns.
In 1966 Buttons again starred in his own TV series, a spy spoof called The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, which ran for one season. Buttons also made guest appearances on several TV programs including The Eleventh Hour, Little House on the Prairie, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Knots Landing and Roseanne. His last TV role was in ER.
He became a nationally recognisable comedian, and his "Never Got A Dinner" routine was a standard of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for many years. He made numerous appearances at Friars Club[disambiguation needed] roasts and Chabad telethons, where he was often brought on and off stage to the tune of Hava Nagila, which he chose as a theme song to emphasize his cultural identification as a Jew. (He once told an interviewer, "I'm a Jew who is doing comedy, not a `Jewish comic'"[5])
His best-known catchphrase, "Never got a dinner!" formed the basis for elaborately eccentric lists of famous people (and their mothers) who had not been honoured with celebrity dinner roasts. Another of his catchphrases was "I did not come here to be made sport of," which was later taken up by the radio talk show host Howie Carr.
Buttons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television, his star being located at 1651 Vine Street. He was number 71 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.
Category:Celebrities