Comedian Red Buttons, winner of a best-supporting-role Oscar for Sayonara (1958) with Marlon Brando, died in Los Angeles on Thursday at 87, his spokesperson said.
Buttons, whose real name was Aaron Chwatt, died of circulation problems that he had suffered from for several years, spokesperson Warren Cowan said.
He was born in New York, and took his name from the buttons on his uniform while a waiter at Dinty Moore’s Tavern there.
In the 1950s, he lent his name to his own television programme, The Red Buttons Show, when his catchphrase, “strange things are happening” entered the United States lexicon.
After playing the role of a pilot in Sayonara, the tragic story of love between a US soldier and a Japanese woman during the Korean War, he received many more calls from Hollywood studios.
He also starred in Hatari!, The Longest Day, The Poseidon Adventure, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and Pete’s Dragon.
He married three times and had two children.
Buttons was a frequent stand-up comedian in the Borscht Belt, a series of Catskill New York State summer resorts frequented by Jews living in New York City. — AFP