Don Ameche

Ameche has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard. Barthelmess was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His final scenes for the film Corrina, Corrina (1994) were completed only days before his death in Scottsdale, Arizona from prostate cancer. He died of cancer in 1963. Ameche's next role, in Cocoon (1985), won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he continued working for the rest of his life (including a role in the sequel, Cocoon: The Return). He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in World War II, served as a lieutenant commander, and never returned to film, preferring instead to live off his investments. The actors played rich brothers intent on ruining an innocent man for the sake of a bet and the film's great success, and their acclaimed comedic performances, brought them both back into the limelight. He made several films in the new medium, most notably Only Angels Have Wings, but he failed to achieve the stardom of his silent film days and gradually left entertainment.

For three decades he was virtually absent from films, until he was cast alongside fellow veteran actor Ralph Bellamy in the film Trading Places in 1983. With the advent of the sound era, Barthelmess' fortunes changed. By the end of the decade his films had lost appeal, and he turned to radio where he achieved great success during the fifties playing opposite Frances Langford in The Bickersons. One of their films, Tol'able David (1921), in which Barthelmess starred as a teenage mailman, was a major success, and is considered by many to be his finest performance. He was so associated with his role as Bell that for a time, "Ameche" was slang for telephone. He also founded his own production company, Inspiration Film Company, together with Charles Duell and Henry King. He appeared successfully in such films as Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), as Alexander Graham Bell in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) and Heaven Can Wait (1943). In the coming years, he was one of Hollywood's highest paid performers, starring in such classics as The Patent Leather Kid (1927) and The Noose (1928); he was nominated for Best Actor at the first Academy Awards for his performance in both these films.

He made his film debut in 1935 and by the late thirties had established himself as a leading actor in Hollywood. Griffith, who offered him several important roles, finally casting him opposite Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920). Born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Ameche began his career in vaudeville with Texas Guinan until Guinan dropped him from the act, dismissing him as "too stiff". W. Don Ameche (May 31, 1908 - December 6, 1993) was an American actor. His next role, in War Brides opposite Alla Nazimova, attracted the attention of legendary director D. Convinced by a family friend, actress Alla Nazimova, to try acting professionally, he made his first film appearance in 1916 in the serial Gloria's Romance as an extra.

The son of an actress, Barthelmess began acting in college, doing amateur productions. Richard (Dick) Barthelmess (May 9, 1895 - August 17, 1963) was a silent film star.