
Don Porter
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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.
Known for
Credits

40 Carats (1973)
as Mr. Latham

Tropic of Desire (1979)
as Commodore Phillips

The Savage (1952)
as Running Dog

The Racket (1951)
as R. G. Connolly

The Candidate (1972)
as Senator Crocker Jarmon

Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)
as Mike Lansdown

Mame (1974)
as Mr. Upson

Desk Set (1957)
as Don the Elevator Operator (uncredited)

Night Monster (1942)
as Dick Baldwin

White Line Fever (1975)
as Cutler

Bachelor in Paradise (1961)
as Thomas W. Jynson

The Last Song (1980)
as Philip Brockhurst

The Norliss Tapes (1973)
as Sanford T. Evans

Eyes of the Underworld (1942)
as Edward Jason

My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
as Mr. Brent

Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)
as Camera Instructor

Who Done It? (1942)
as 'Murder at Midnight' program manager

Cripple Creek (1952)
as Denver Jones

Our Miss Brooks (1956)
as Lawrence Nolan

The Turning Point (1952)
as Joe Silbray

A Woman for All Men (1975)
as Barney

Eagle Squadron (1942)
as Ramsey

Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. (1977)
as Caufield

The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)
as George Robinson

She-Wolf of London (1946)
as Barry Lanfield

711 Ocean Drive (1950)
as Larry Mason

Gidget Goes to Rome (1963)
as Russell Lawrence

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)
as Myron Brynk

The Ghosts of Buxley Hall (1980)
as Judge Oliver Haynes

The Morning After (1974)
as Rudy King

Mystery of the White Room (1939)
as Dr. Donald Fox

Murder or Mercy (1974)
as Henry Balin

Youngblood Hawke (1964)
as Ferdie Lax

Because You're Mine (1952)
as Captain Burton Nordell Loring

Last Hours Before Morning (1975)
as Mr. Pace

Happy Anniversary and Goodbye (1974)
as Ed Murphy

Top Sergeant (1942)
as Al Bennett

The President's Mistress (1978)
as Craig

Madame Spy (1942)
as David Bannister

Keep 'Em Slugging (1943)
as Jerry

Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944)
as Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot

Danger Woman (1946)
as Professor Claude Ruppert
Interview with Pontius Pilate (1980)
as Theodore Michael

The Fallbrook Story (1952)
as Narrator

Wild Beauty (1946)
as Dr. Dave Morrow

How to Fly the B-26 Airplane (1944)
as Captain Dick

The Murder That Wouldn't Die (1980)
as Gen. Rocky Jensen

Cuban Pete (1946)
as Roberts

Buck Privates Come Home (—)
as Capt. Christie





