Future Favorites — Don Ameche (1936) 🇺🇸
Three hours after he landed in town recently, Ameche was on a sound stage at 20th Century-Fox in make-up playing in “Sins of Man” ... Well, that night Zanuck saw the rushes on the picture and ordered Ameche to change his make-up the next day and play an additional role, thus giving Don a double jump on Hollywood that very few if any actors have ever had before ...
It doesn't seem strange, however, that Ameche should have such a break right off the bat ... He was an experienced actor of the stage and radio ... The way he became an entertainer of the stage and radio is a story in itself ... He was working with a stock company when the leading man had an auto accident the morning of their matinee ... The whole company was in a turmoil ... At noon it was decided that Ameche take the part of the injured actor ... Between noon and three, Ameche learned twenty pages and went on at the curtain call ... He carried the part without a mistake and as a result found work on the New York stage ... The fact of the matter is, he appeared with Texas Guinan in New York ... He came to the front in the radio field by accompanying a friend to an audition one evening with no intention of getting a job ... but before the week was out, he had the lead in a radio program called Empire Builders ... From this, he became the star of Grand Hotel and the First Nighter ... And after seeing him perform on sound stages for his part in Ramona, there isn't a bit of doubt but what his climb to fame in pictures will be rapid ...
Ameche is five-feet-eleven and-one-half inches tall, weighs 170 pounds, has hazel eyes and brown hair ... He has no hobbies, but loves to play poker with a few friends ... Golf and swimming are his outdoor sports ...
Being a Latin, his favorite dish is spaghetti ...To tell the truth, his given name is Dominich Ameche ... He is married and has two boys ... One Don Jr. and the other, Ronald ... However, don't let that stop any of the romantic thoughts you might have about him when you see “Ramona,” Remember, Bing Crosby has children, too!
Collection: Motion Picture Magazine, September 1936
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