RIP: Red Buttons
Jul 13, 2006, 06:16 PM | by Gary Susman
Categories: Film, Television
Red Buttons, who died today at 87, was a serious comedian. Serious in that he was one of the first funnymen to show that comics could be Oscar-winning thespians as well, thanks to his Supporting Actor trophy for 1957's Sayonara, in which he co-starred with Marlon Brando as a U.S. airman who embarks on a tragic romance with a Japanese woman. And serious in that he was such a quick-witted master of his craft that he was a longtime fixture at Friar's Club roasts, where few could touch him.
Buttons got his start in showbiz 70 years ago as a teenage singing bellhop (the uniform and his red hair became the source of young Aaron Chwatt's stage name). Over the years, he conquered the Borscht Belt comedy circuit, Broadway, movies (younger viewers probably best remember him from the original Poseidon Adventure), and TV (where his 1950s sketch comedy show once rivaled Milton Berle's in popularity). He never really slowed down; in 2000, he and several other old-school comics launched Laugh.com, an e-store for comedy recordings and videos. Last year, he earned an Emmy nomination for a guest role as a patient on ER.
And his wit and timing never slowed either. A year ago today, at a TV Critics Association press conference to promote a PBS special called Pioneers of Primetime, Mickey Rooney hijacked a panel of legends to spin his own nostalgic stories, until Buttons hijacked it back. ''By the way, Mickey,'' Buttons said, ''was Lincoln a nice guy?'' (You can read more of Buttons' quips from the event here and here.) Until the end, it seems, Buttons wasn't going to allow anyone to steal his spotlight, especially if he could win it back with a joke.
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