Don Ameche

But Don Ameche did not find the greatest recognition in the world of cinema, the Oscar, until 1984, at the age of 77, thanks to his participation in the filmCocoon , where he played the character of Art Selwyn. For many years before, however, he had participated in memorable films, where his neat, lanky and elegant physiognomy had given him much fame among the public.

The son of an Italian father who had emigrated to the United States and a mother of Irish and German descent, Dominic Felix Amici was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (USA), on May 31, 1908. The couple had five children. Don Ameche (Americanization of his name) began to work successfully in vaudeville performances, and did not make his film debut until 1935, when Ameche was 27 years old, appearing uncredited in some films. Before, at the age of 24, Ameche married Honore Prendergast. With her he had six children and remained until her death in 1986.

The following year, he already had larger roles in nice films, such asyoung lovers orRamona , both with the starring presence of Loretta Young , with whom he would shoot a total of six films. In 1937 she participated in another comedy that is among the best in her filmography. Is aboutLove and journalism , about the goings-on of a rich heiress who wants to tell good news about her. The film is played by Tyrone Power and again by Loretta Young. Curiously, it is directed by Tay Garnett , a cursed director who would become famous for his black films (The postman always rings twice ). He was again the third in the credits in two other films starring Tyrone Power, the dramaChicago (1937) and the funny musicalAlexander’s Band (1938), directed by a Henry King in full form, and which won the Oscar for best soundtrack. That same year Ameche had starred in the comedyJosette , although with less luck. In 1939 two of his most outstanding films would arrive.The great miracle was a careful biography of the inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Directed with a good hand by Irving Cummings , the protagonist was played by Don Ameche, and again he was accompanied by Loretta Young. And perhaps of even greater depth is comedyMidnight , starring the then big star Claudette Colbert .

The forties were also good years for the actor. With Cummings he worked on two other films, where Carmen Miranda was his co-star. InArgentine Serenade (1940) Ameche plays the owner of a racehorse, with whom a young girl falls in love; and in Una noche en Río they both met again, this time under the musical genre. Later, in 1944, the couple met again under the baton of Walter Lang inGreenwich Village , another musical that did not have a very good reception at the box office. With the nice Rosalind Russell , the famous Hildy fromNew Moon (1940) , he worked on the splendid comedy Female Footprints, directed by WS Van Dyke . Two years later she starred with Gene Tierney in what was perhaps her best film. Is aboutThe Devil Said No , a stupendous comedy by the great genius Ernst Lubitsch . The Berlin filmmaker recreates the story of a man who appears in hell, where he is rejected by the devil. Thus we know his adventures and his love conquests.

Some time later, Ameche tried his luck in films far from comedy. Such were the warlikeWings and a Prayer (1944) or years laterA Fever in the Blood (1961). Best reception had the film close to film noirDark pact , directed in 1948 by Douglas Sirk and with Claudette Colbert as the protagonist. But from the musical comedySlightly French (1949), almost all of Ameche’s work took place in telefilms or television series. Little by little he was moving away from the big screen, except in sporadic appearances. However, in the 80s he returned to the fore with some films that recovered him for the cinema, such asEntre pillos anda el juego (1983), or the aforementionedCocoon (1985), with which he won the Oscar, and for which he even filmed a sequelCocoon: The Return (1988). That same year she also featured heavily in Things Change, a comedy directed by David Mamet . The last appearance of him in the cinema took place in the family comedyCorina, Corina , in 1993, the same year that on December 6 prostate cancer ended his life.