
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

Tropic of Desire (1979)
as Commodore Phillips

The Candidate (1972)
as Senator Crocker Jarmon

She-Wolf of London (1946)
as Barry Lanfield

Mame (1974)
as Mr. Upson

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

40 Carats (1973)
as Mr. Latham

Bachelor in Paradise (1961)
as Thomas W. Jynson

The Racket (1951)
as R. G. Connolly

The Savage (1952)
as Running Dog

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

Cripple Creek (1952)
as Denver Jones

The Turning Point (1952)
as Joe Silbray

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

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

Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
as Capt. Christie

White Line Fever (1975)
as Cutler

711 Ocean Drive (1950)
as Larry Mason

Youngblood Hawke (1964)
as Ferdie Lax

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

Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)
as Camera Instructor

Danger Woman (1946)
as Professor Claude Ruppert

Gidget Goes to Rome (1963)
as Russell Lawrence

The Norliss Tapes (1973)
as Sanford T. Evans

A Woman for All Men (1975)
as Barney

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

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

Our Miss Brooks (1956)
as Lawrence Nolan

Happy Anniversary and Goodbye (1974)
as Ed Murphy

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

The Last Song (1980)
as Philip Brockhurst

The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)
as George Robinson

Last Hours Before Morning (1975)
as Mr. Pace

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

Night Monster (1942)
as Dick Baldwin

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

Madame Spy (1942)
as David Bannister

Murder or Mercy (1974)
as Henry Balin

Eagle Squadron (1942)
as Ramsey

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

The President's Mistress (1978)
as Craig

Top Sergeant (1942)
as Al Bennett

The Morning After (1974)
as Rudy King

Keep 'Em Slugging (1943)
as Jerry

Eyes of the Underworld (1942)
as Edward Jason

The Fallbrook Story (1952)
as Narrator

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

Wild Beauty (1946)
as Dr. Dave Morrow

Cuban Pete (1946)
as Roberts
Interview with Pontius Pilate (1980)
as Theodore Michael





