DP
Don Porter
Actor, Director
Died February 11, 1997 (84 years)
Donald "Don" Porter was an American actor who appeared in a number of films in 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.
Filmography
| 1986 | Matlock (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1983 | Hotel (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1980 | The Ghosts of Buxley Hall · as Judge Oliver Haynes |
| 1980 | The Last Song · as Philip Brockhurst |
| 1978 | The President's Mistress · as Craig |
| 1978 | Dallas (TV Series) · as Matt Devlin |
| 1978 | Vega$ (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1977 | Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. · as Caufield |
| 1977 | Fantasy Island (TV Series) · as Emmett Latham |
| 1977 | The Love Boat (TV Series) · as Slade Summerhill |
| 1976 | The Bionic Woman (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1976 | Three's Company (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1975 | White Line Fever · as Cutler |
| 1975 | The Legend of Lizzie Borden · as George Robinson |
| 1975 | A Woman for All Men · as Barney |
| 1975 | Ellery Queen (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1974 | Mame · as Mr. Claude Upson |
| 1974 | Happy Anniversary and Goodbye · as Ed 'Mad Dog' Murphy |
| 1974 | The Six Million Dollar Man (TV Series) · as Dr. Stanley Bacon |
| 1973 | 40 Carats · as Mr. Latham |
| 1973 | The Norliss Tapes · as Sanford T. Evans |
| 1973 | Barnaby Jones (TV Series) · as Jeremy Markham |
| 1972 | The Candidate · as Senator Crocker Jarmon |
| 1972 | The Rookies (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1972 | Banacek (TV Series) · as Arnold Leeland |
| 1971 | McMillan and Wife (TV Series) · as Adrian Danzinger |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as (segment "Love and the Teddy Bear") |
| 1968 | Live a Little, Love a Little · as Mike Lansdown |
| 1968 | The Mod Squad (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1968 | Here's Lucy (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1968 | Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) · as Jonathan Cavel |
| 1966 | Love On A Rooftop (TV Series) · as Narrator |
| 1965 | Green Acres (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | Gidget (TV Series) · as Professor Russell Lawrence |
| 1965 | The F.B.I. (TV Series) · as Mason Hammond |
| 1964 | Youngblood Hawke · as Ferdie Lax |
| 1963 | Gidget Goes to Rome · as Russell Lawrence |
| 1961 | Bachelor in Paradise · as Thomas W. Jynson |
| 1958 | The Ann Sothern Show (TV Series) · as James Devery |
| 1957 | Desk Set · as Unknown |
| 1956 | Our Miss Brooks · as Lawrence Nolan |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as Judge Oliver Haynes |
| 1953 | Private Secretary (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1952 | The Turning Point · as Joe Silbray |
| 1952 | The Savage · as Running Dog |
| 1952 | Cripple Creek · as Denver Jones |
| 1952 | Because You're Mine · as Captain Burton Nordell Loring |
| 1951 | The Racket · as R. G. Connolly |
| 1950 | 711 Ocean Drive · as Larry Mason |
| 1950 | My Friend Irma Goes West · as Mr. Brent |
| 1946 | She-Wolf of London · as Barry Lanfield |
| 1944 | Resisting Enemy Interrogation · as Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot |
| 1942 | Who Done It? · as Art Fraser |