Don Porter
Born: 1912-09-24 in Miami, Oklahoma, USA
Died: 1997-02-11
Known For: Acting
Biography
Donald "Don" Porter (September 24, 1912 –February 11, 1997) was an American actor who appeared in a number of films since the 1940s, including Top Sergeant and Eagle Squadron. On television, he portrayed the widowed father of 15-year-old Frances "Gidget" Lawrence (Sally Field) in the 1965 ABC sitcom Gidget. Besides his work in film and television, Porter was active on stage, as he acted in more than 200 plays, including The Front Page, Plaza Suite, and Any Wednesday. He appeared in various films in the 1940s before landing the role of Peter Sands, the boss of Susan Camille MacNamara (Ann Sothern), on the 1950s sitcom Private Secretary. A retooled version of the series appeared later, titled The Ann Sothern Show. It featured many of the same actors, including Porter as hotel manager James Devery in the venue of a fashionable New York City hotel. He later guest starred on episodes of Green Acres, Love, American Style, The Mod Squad, Barnaby Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-O, Three's Company (on which he played Jack Tripper's uncle), and Switch.
Filmography
1986
- Matlock as Prof. Erskine Tate
1982
1980
- The Murder That Wouldn't Die as Gen. Rocky Jensen
- The Last Song as Philip Brockhurst
- Interview with Pontius Pilate as Theodore Michael
- The Ghosts of Buxley Hall as Judge Oliver Haynes
1979
- Tropic of Desire as Commodore Phillips
1978
- Dallas as Matt Devlin
- Vega$
- The Paper Chase
- The President's Mistress as Craig
1977
- The Love Boat as Slade Summerhill
- Three's Company
- Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. as Caufield
1975
- Switch as Paul Lorimer
- Ellery Queen
- A Woman for All Men as Barney
- White Line Fever as Cutler
- Last Hours Before Morning as Mr. Pace
- The Legend of Lizzie Borden as George Robinson
- Archer
1974
- The Six Million Dollar Man as Dr. Stanley Bacon
- Mame as Mr. Upson
- Happy Anniversary and Goodbye as Ed 'Mad Dog' Murphy
- The Morning After as Rudy King
- Murder or Mercy as Henry Balin
1973
- Barnaby Jones as Jeremy Markham
- 40 Carats as Mr. Latham
- The Norliss Tapes as Sanford T. Evans
1972
- The Rookies
- The Candidate as Senator Crocker Jarmon
1969
1968
- Hawaii Five-O as Jonathan Cavel
- Here's Lucy as Ken Richards
- The Mod Squad
- Live a Little, Love a Little as Mike Lansdown
1967
1965
- Green Acres
- The F.B.I. as Mason Hammond
- Gidget as Professor Russell Lawrence
1964
- Youngblood Hawke as Ferdie Lax
1963
- Vacation Playhouse as Battersea, The Housekeeper
- Gidget Goes to Rome as Russell Lawrence
1961
- Bachelor in Paradise as Thomas W. Jynson
1957
- Desk Set as Don the Elevator Operator (uncredited)
1956
- Our Miss Brooks as Lawrence Nolan
1953
1952
- The Savage as Running Dog
- Cripple Creek as Denver Jones
- The Turning Point as Joe Silbray
- Because You're Mine as Captain Burton Nordell Loring
- The Fallbrook Story as Narrator
1951
- The Racket as R. G. Connolly
1950
- 711 Ocean Drive as Larry Mason
- Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone as Myron Brynk
- My Friend Irma Goes West as Mr. Brent
1947
- Buck Privates Come Home as Capt. Christie
1946
- Wild Beauty as Dr. Dave Morrow
- Cuban Pete as Roberts
- She-Wolf of London as Barry Lanfield
- Danger Woman as Professor Claude Ruppert
1944
- Resisting Enemy Interrogation as Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot
- How to Fly the B-26 Airplane as Captain Dick
1943
- Reconnaissance Pilot as Camera Instructor
- Keep 'Em Slugging as Jerry
1942
- Eagle Squadron as Ramsey
- Madame Spy as David Bannister
- Who Done It? as 'Murder at Midnight' program manager
- Eyes of the Underworld as Edward Jason
- Night Monster as Dick Baldwin
- Top Sergeant as Al Bennett
1939
- Mystery of the White Room as Dr. Donald Fox