Sayonara, Buttons

Red Buttons distinguished himself both as a character actor and a comedian in several Hollywood films. Vikramdeep Johal pays a tribute to the little big man who died on July 13

Both Buttons (right) and his co-star Miyoshi Umeki won Oscars for the 1957 film Sayonara

If the biblical Samson was renowned for his long locks, Hollywood comedian-cum-character actor Red Buttons was no less conspicuous for his red hair. Born Aaron Chwatt on February 5, 1919, he presumably got his first name from his hair colour and the second from the uniform he donned working as a singing bellboy during his schooldays in the Bronx.

Buttons had already experienced the highs and lows of TV stardom as a stand-up comedian when he got a part in Joshua Logan’s Korean War drama Sayonara (1957). It was a gamble by the film-maker to cast a well-known funny man in a dramatic role. Buttons played Sergeant Joe Kelly, an American soldier who marries a Japanese woman (Miyoshi Umeki) in defiance of his Army’s stance against miscegenation. When the bigoted authorities try to separate the couple, they choose to end their lives. Their sacrifice, however, facilitates the union between another US soldier (Marlon Brando) and a kabuki dancer (Miiko Taka).

The tragic role was quite challenging for Buttons as he had made a name for himself regaling TV, theatre and nightclub audiences. He had to dye his hair to their original colour — red — as they had turned dark brown. His performance overshadowed even Brando’s, and he deservingly received the best supporting actor Oscar (Miyoshi got one herself, and that too on her Hollywood debut).

Sayonara was Buttons’s second film — it came over a decade after his debut in Winged Victory (1944). In this George Cukor film, he played a young pilot who is sent on a dangerous mission during World War II. The role partially mirrored reality as Buttons joined the US Air Corps at that time and flew to Europe to entertain the troops along with fellow performer Mickey Rooney.

His Oscar success in a serious role didn’t stop him from doing comedy. The diminutive Buttons displayed his fabled funny side in Imitation General (1958), One, Two, Three (1961), Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) and Hatari! (as wild ‘n’ whacky driver Pockets). However, it was again a tragic part that won him greater acclaim — in Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). He touched many hearts with his portrayal of an impoverished man who participates in a marathon dance contest just to earn a few dollars. His exhausting efforts come to a sad end when he dies in the arms of his partner.

Buttons held his own against the big guns in multi-starrers like The Longest Day (1962), Stagecoach (1966) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). His last feature film was the Rob Reiner comedy The Story of Us (1999), in which he looked his usual self — as cute as a button.

As he entered old age, film roles began to dry up, and he returned to the two media that had made him popular during the early years — theatre and television. His sense of humour stood the test of time. "Eighty isn’t old," he said in 1999, "You’re old when your doctor doesn’t X-ray you anymore, he just holds you up to the light." When the Israel Cancer Fund instituted a fellowship in his name, he quipped: "I have whole forests in Israel planted in my name." Proud of his cultural identity, Buttons insisted that he was a Jew doing comedy, not a Jewish comic.

"It’s been a long ride," he said, summing up his career, "but in the end it’s the laughs you remember." For his fans, the little big man ensured that they had much else to remember about him.

HOME