Veteran Actor Don Ameche, Won Oscar For `Cocoon' Role

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Don Ameche, versatile leading man of 1930s and '40s films whose comeback in the 1980s climaxed with an Oscar as supporting actor in "Cocoon," has died. He was 85.

Ameche died yesterday in Arizona. Details about his death were not given.

He had only recently completed a film with Whoopi Goldberg.

To an older generation of moviegoers, Ameche was remembered as the man who played the inventor of the telephone in the 1939 movie "The Story of Alexander Bell" and starred in light comedies such as "Heaven Can Wait" (1943).

But to younger fans, Ameche was best known for playing older characters in such hit movies as "Trading Places" in 1983, "Cocoon" in 1985 and its sequel, "Cocoon: The Return," in 1988.

He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Cocoon" as one of a group of old-age-home residents who discover a veritable fountain of youth.

Among the movie's most memorable moments was a scene in which Ameche's character gives a vigorous demonstration of breakdancing to show off his newfound vigor.

Ameche's Oscar - the first of his career - marked his successful comeback after a long absence from the silver screen.

"You have given me your recognition. You've given me your love, you have given to me, and I hope I have earned, your respect," he said in accepting the award.

He was born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wis., on May 31, 1908, to an Italian immigrant father and an Irish-German mother. In school his name was shortened to Don and his family name was Americanized.

Ameche was a star athlete and drama-club member at Columbia College in Dubuque, Iowa. His future in acting was set when the leading man in a local stock company was hurt in a car accident. The young Ameche replaced him.

Chicago radio was strong in the early '30s, and Ameche found steady work in such series as "Betty and Bo" and "Grand Hotel" and as "Mr. First Nighter" on "The Little Theater off Times Square."

He failed a screen test at MGM in 1935. But an agent showed the test to Darryl Zanuck, chief of 20th Century Fox, and Zanuck made Ameche the busiest actor at the studio.

Ameche proved the ideal leading man for such stars as Loretta Young ("Ramona," "Love Under Fire"), Betty Grable ("Down Argentine Way," "Moon Over Miami") and especially Alice Faye ("In Old Chicago," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Hollywood Cavalcade").

Zanuck cast Ameche as Stephen Foster in "Swanee River" and as the telephone inventor in "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell." A generation of Americans called each other to the phone with "You're wanted on the Ameche."

Ameche also starred opposite Claudette Colbert in the classic comedy "Midnight," which came out in 1939.

Ameche believed his Hollywood slide began when he refused a three-year extension on his Fox contract, but he remained active in television and theater until "Trading Places" returned him to movie fame.

His other, later films include "Coming to America," "Harry and the Hendersons," and "Oscar."

Ameche married his childhood sweetheart, Honore Prendergast, in 1932, and they had four sons and two daughters.