Ameche was a versatile and popular film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film career surged in a comeback in the 1980s with fine work as an aging millionaire in Trading Places and a rejuvenated oldster in Cocoon.


Brother of actor Jim Ameche. Father of six children: Ronald, Dominic, Thomas, Lonnie, Bonnie and Connie. Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald S. Smith, pg. 51-53 (article titled "The Bickersons"). New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 Attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa Father of Don Ameche Jr.. American people pronounce his last name in a way was not correct in Italian language. So he changed his name from Amici into Ameche, in order to keep the original Italian pronunciation. In The French Connection (1971), a mafia figure is followed to a NYC building in which 'the actor, Don Ameche' lives.