Don Porter

Donald Cecil Porter was born on September 24, 1912, in Miami, Oklahoma, and went on to become an American actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across several decades. As a youth he also lived in Nebraska and Oregon. At the age of 14 he enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard by falsely claiming to be 18, and he was eventually commissioned as a lieutenant. During World War II he served as a combat photographer and appeared in military training films.

Porter's performing career began at 17 with dramatic roles on radio. His stage work commenced in earnest in 1936, when he appeared in Portland in Maxwell Anderson's Elizabeth the Queen, and over the course of his career he accumulated more than 200 stage productions. His Broadway work ran from 1964 to 1969 and included three productions: Any Wednesday, Plaza Suite, and The Front Page. The run of Any Wednesday, which featured Sandy Dennis and Gene Hackman, proved to be a long-running hit. Plaza Suite followed in 1967, and The Front Page in 1968.

His film appearances began in the 1940s, and among his earlier theatrical features were The Turning Point in 1952 and Our Miss Brooks in 1956. He played Russell Lawrence in Gidget Goes to Rome in 1963, two years before reprising the role on television. In Live a Little, Love a Little, released in 1968, he appeared alongside Elvis Presley. In the 1972 political film The Candidate he portrayed Senator Crocker Jarmon, a incumbent being challenged by a character played by Robert Redford, and the New Statesman noted that Porter gave a beautiful performance of Jarmon giving a beautiful performance. He played Mr. Upson in the 1974 film adaptation of Mame, which starred Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur. His final onscreen appearance came in a 1988 episode of CBS Summer Playhouse.

On television, Porter became widely recognized for playing Peter Sands, the boss of Ann Sothern's character Susan Camille MacNamara, on the 1950s sitcom Private Secretary. When a retooled version of the series appeared under the title The Ann Sothern Show, Porter returned in the role of hotel manager James Devery, set in a fashionable New York City hotel. In 1965 he starred in the ABC sitcom Gidget as Russell Lawrence, the widowed father of 15-year-old Frances Lawrence, played by Sally Field. He also guest-starred on numerous series, including Barnaby Jones, Green Acres, Hawaii Five-O, Love American Style, The Mod Squad, The Six Million Dollar Man, Switch, and Three's Company, on which he played Jack Tripper's uncle.

Porter was married to actress Peggy Converse, and the couple had two children. He died on February 11, 1997, at the age of 84, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.