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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
September 24, 1912
Died
February 11, 1997
Place of Birth
Miami, Oklahoma, USA
Also Known As
- Donald Porter
- Donald Cecil Porter
Don Porter
0.7 Popularity
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.
Known For
7.1
Prof. Erskine Tate
Matlock
1986
6.8
Hotel
1982
6.3
Judge Oliver Haynes
The Ghosts of Buxley Hall
1980
7.0
Philip Brockhurst
The Last Song
1980
2.0
Gen. Rocky Jensen
The Murder That Wouldn't Die
1980
🎬
0.0
Theodore Michael
Interview with Pontius Pilate
1980
6.4
Commodore Phillips
Tropic of Desire
1979
7.0
Vega$
1978
7.6
The Paper Chase
1978
6.8
Matt Devlin
Dallas
1978
Credits
Matlock
as Prof. Erskine Tate
1986
7.1
Hotel
1982
6.8
The Ghosts of Buxley Hall
as Judge Oliver Haynes
1980
6.3
The Last Song
as Philip Brockhurst
1980
7.0
The Murder That Wouldn't Die
as Gen. Rocky Jensen
1980
2.0
🎬
Interview with Pontius Pilate
as Theodore Michael
1980
0.0
Tropic of Desire
as Commodore Phillips
1979
6.4
Vega$
1978
7.0
The Paper Chase
1978
7.6
Dallas
as Matt Devlin
1978
6.8
The President's Mistress
as Craig
1978
6.7
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.
as Caufield
1977
5.4
The Love Boat
as Slade Summerhill
1977
6.3
Three's Company
1977
7.6
City of Angels
1976
5.2
The Bionic Woman
1976
6.9
Ellery Queen
1975
7.4
Switch
as Paul Lorimer
1975
6.7
Switch
as Salvensen
1975
6.7
A Woman for All Men
as Barney
1975
4.8
White Line Fever
as Cutler
1975
6.0
Last Hours Before Morning
as Mr. Pace
1975
2.0
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
as George Robinson
1975
6.8
🎬
Archer
1975
6.7
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
as Ed 'Mad Dog' Murphy
1974
4.8
Murder or Mercy
as Henry Balin
1974
0.0
Mame
as Mr. Upson
1974
6.0
The Morning After
as Rudy King
1974
6.5
The Six Million Dollar Man
as Dr. Stanley Bacon
1974
7.3
40 Carats
as Mr. Latham
1973
5.7
The Norliss Tapes
as Sanford T. Evans
1973
6.0
Barnaby Jones
as Jeremy Markham
1973
6.9
The Rookies
1972
6.8
The Candidate
as Senator Crocker Jarmon
1972
6.5
Love, American Style
1969
6.1
Live a Little, Love a Little
as Mike Lansdown
1968
5.5
The Mod Squad
1968
6.2
Here's Lucy
as Ken Richards
1968
6.7
Hawaii Five-O
as Jonathan Cavel
1968
7.1
Hawaii Five-O
as Alex Kelsey
1968
7.1
Judd for the Defense
1967
7.5
The F.B.I.
as Mason Hammond
1965
5.4
Green Acres
1965
7.3
Gidget
as Professor Russell Lawrence
1965
6.6
Youngblood Hawke
as Ferdie Lax
1964
6.1
Gidget Goes to Rome
as Russell Lawrence
1963
4.8
🎬
Vacation Playhouse
as Battersea, The Housekeeper
1963
7.0
Bachelor in Paradise
as Thomas W. Jynson
1961
6.3
Desk Set
as Don the Elevator Operator (uncredited)
1957
7.0
Our Miss Brooks
as Lawrence Nolan
1956
6.2
Private Secretary
1953
5.0
Because You're Mine
as Captain Burton Nordell Loring
1952
6.7
The Savage
as Running Dog
1952
6.1
The Turning Point
as Joe Silbray
1952
6.2
Cripple Creek
as Denver Jones
1952
5.7
The Fallbrook Story
as Narrator
1952
0.0
The Racket
as R. G. Connolly
1951
6.3
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
as Myron Brynk
1950
6.0
711 Ocean Drive
as Larry Mason
1950
6.3
My Friend Irma Goes West
as Mr. Brent
1950
6.1
Buck Privates Come Home
as Capt. Christie
1947
6.3
Wild Beauty
as Dr. Dave Morrow
1946
0.0
Danger Woman
as Professor Claude Ruppert
1946
0.0
Cuban Pete
as Roberts
1946
5.0
She-Wolf of London
as Barry Lanfield
1946
5.5
Resisting Enemy Interrogation
as Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot
1944
6.6
How to Fly the B-26 Airplane
as Captain Dick
1944
0.0
Keep 'Em Slugging
as Jerry
1943
5.5
Reconnaissance Pilot
as Camera Instructor
1943
0.0
Madame Spy
as David Bannister
1942
6.0
Who Done It?
as 'Murder at Midnight' program manager
1942
7.0
Night Monster
as Dick Baldwin
1942
6.2
Eyes of the Underworld
as Edward Jason
1942
4.8
Eagle Squadron
as Ramsey
1942
5.5
Top Sergeant
as Al Bennett
1942
6.0
Mystery of the White Room
as Dr. Donald Fox
1939
0.0