Sonny Tufts

Sonny Tufts

Born: July 16, 1911
Died: June 4, 1970
in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sonny Tufts (born Bowen Charlton Tufts III, July 16, 1911, Boston, Massachusetts - June 4, 1970, Santa Monica, California) was a United States film actor.

Tufts was born into a prominent banking family, whose patriarch had supposedly sailed to America from England in 1683. He broke with the family banking tradition by studying opera at Yale, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. After graduating from college in 1935, he auditioned with the Metropolitan Opera in New York but eventually worked on the Broadway stage. In 1942, Tufts went to Hollywood. He attained some fame during World War II, principally because, due to an old college football injury, he was one of the few handsome male actors not serving overseas in the war.

He was married to Spanish dancer Barbara Dare from 1938 to 1953.

In the 1980s he was best known as one of the semi-random people and places that TV host Johnny Carson used in his jokes.

Tufts died of pneumonia at age 58 in Santa Monica, California, on June 4, 1970.

Tufts is the subject of an urban legend. The legend holds that he had been selected to host a well-known radio show as a last-minute replacement for a better known celebrity. The week before Tufts's episode was scheduled, the previous host introduced him with a combination of surprise and outrage, shocked that a relatively unknown actor would succeed him as host. There is no evidence, however, that such an incident occurred. Tufts himself parodied this legend in frequent appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: seated in a director's chair with his name printed on it, he would turn around to face the camera and utter a word or phrase relevant to the previous bit, in mock contempt.

Sonny Tufts was related to Charles Tufts, for whom Tufts University is named.

In a non sequitur on the cartoon show Rocky and His Friends, in the Jet Fuel Formula story arc, Bullwinkle J. Moose becomes very upset when Boris Badenov steals his autographed picture of Sonny Tufts.

Also, Tufts is mentioned in the last sentence of the third sketch of the 48th show of the second season of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (also featuring Wailing Whale episodes 5 & 6), which was first released on May 13, 1961.

In an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob sees a flying saucer that makes a noise "Uhny Uftz", which Rob mis-hears as "Sonny Tufts"

In Episode 12, Season 1 of the TV sitcom "My Mother The Car", titled "And Leave The Drive-In To Us," the mother wants to go to a drive-in to see Sonny Tufts for her birthday. He makes an appearance at the very end of the episode, much to the appreciation of the car!

Sonny Tufts was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Sonny Tufts, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Sonny Tufts...

Title: Land's End
Character: Hal
Released: April 21, 1968
Type: TV
The owner of a small Mexican hotel and the local sheriff assist travelers and natives in trouble.
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Title: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Character: Self
Released: September 9, 1967
Type: TV
An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.
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Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
Title: Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
Character: Cousin Urie
Released: January 1, 1967
Type: Movie
Darby Clyde Fenster and Jerry Martin are a pair of penniless nincompoop-drifters who hop a freight train on their way to Florida. Our intrepid heroes find themselves facing one comic situation after another in this gloriously loopy Southern fried comedy-with-music.
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Title: The Loner
Released: September 18, 1965
Type: TV
The Loner is an American western series that ran for less than one season on CBS from 1965 to 1966, under the alternate sponsorship of Philip Morris and Procter & Gamble.
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Title: My Mother the Car
Released: September 14, 1965
Type: TV
The story of the relationship between a man and his mother, the latter having been reincarnated as a 1928 Porter automobile.
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Town Tamer
Title: Town Tamer
Character: Carmichael
Released: July 7, 1965
Type: Movie
A gunfighter is hired to clean up a wild frontier town, but there are forces afoot who want to keep the town as wide-open as it is. Lyle Bettger, Bruce Cabot and Richard Jaeckel co-star as the lawless bad guys in this Western based on a novel by Frank Gruber.
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Title: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Released: October 4, 1963
Type: TV
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an American anthology series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comedy.
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Title: The Merv Griffin Show
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.
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Title: The Virginian
Character: Frank Trampas
Released: September 19, 1962
Type: TV
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.
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The Parson and the Outlaw
Title: The Parson and the Outlaw
Character: Jack Slade
Released: September 23, 1957
Type: Movie
Billy the Kid fakes his own death at the hands of Pat Garret, but is forced to come out of hiding to stop a ruthless cattle baron from destroying a small frontier community.
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Come Next Spring
Title: Come Next Spring
Character: Leroy Hightower
Released: March 9, 1956
Type: Movie
Matt Ballot has returned home after 12 years of hard-drinking in all 48 states. His wife has managed to raise their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son nicely without his help. Matt is considered a disgrace to the town he came from and now he finds himself trying to win the love of his children, his wife, and the respect of the townspeople. Set in Arkansas in the 1920s.
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The Seven Year Itch
Title: The Seven Year Itch
Character: Tom MacKenzie
Released: June 3, 1955
Type: Movie
With his family away for their annual summer holiday, a publishing executive decides to live a bachelor's life. The beautiful but ditzy blonde from the apartment above catches his eye and they soon start spending time together—maybe a little too much time!
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Serpent Island
Title: Serpent Island
Character: Peter Mason
Released: January 1, 1954
Type: Movie
On the trail of a million-dollar gold treasure, an Eastern gal (Mary Munday) hires a California dockside bum (Sonny Tufts) to accompany her to the Caribbean where one of her ancestors reportedly buried the booty. Soon the jungles are echoing with the sound of voodoo drums, the locals are licking their native chops and there are snakes on a plain!Packed with flubs, sockt footage—and Sonny Tufts. If laughter were food, this would be a full-course meal for Worst Films connoisseurs. (Filmed in 16mm Kodachrome on an $18,000 budget!)
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Cat-Women of the Moon
Title: Cat-Women of the Moon
Character: Laird Grainger
Released: September 3, 1953
Type: Movie
Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive young women in black tights.
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No Escape
Title: No Escape
Character: Det. Simon Shayne
Released: July 31, 1953
Type: Movie
When the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a bar to be blamed for the crime. The girl, knowing that neither she nor the piano player committed the murder, helps him to escape from the police dragnet and try to find the real killer.
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Run for the Hills
Title: Run for the Hills
Character: Charlie Johnson
Released: June 1, 1953
Type: Movie
Fearing nuclear war, an insurance man moves to a cave with his wife and family.
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Gift Horse
Title: Gift Horse
Character: Yank Flanagan
Released: June 1, 1952
Type: Movie
Compton Bennett's war drama The Gift Horse follows the fortunes of ageing destroyer The Ballantrae and her crew from the time they come together in 1940 until the climactic raid on occupied St Nazaire in 1942. Trevor Howard plays Lt Cmdr Hugh Alginon Fraser, the newly appointed captain, back in service after having left the navy following a court martial.
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Easy Living
Title: Easy Living
Character: Tim 'Pappy' McCarr
Released: October 8, 1949
Type: Movie
A football halfback has a heart condition, a nagging wife and a team secretary who loves him.
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The Crooked Way
Title: The Crooked Way
Character: Vince Alexander
Released: April 22, 1949
Type: Movie
A war veteran suffering from amnesia, returns to Los Angeles from a San Francisco veterans hospital hoping to learn who he is and discovers his criminal past.
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The Untamed Breed
Title: The Untamed Breed
Character: Tom Kilpatrick
Released: October 20, 1948
Type: Movie
A cowboy sets out to capture an escaped Brahma bull that is terrorizing local ranchers. Based on a story by Eli Colter that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self - Sketch Actor
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Variety Girl
Title: Variety Girl
Character: Sonny Tufts
Released: August 29, 1947
Type: Movie
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful young ladies who come to Hollywood, exchange identities, and cause comic confusion (with slapstick interludes) throughout the Paramount studio.
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Blaze of Noon
Title: Blaze of Noon
Character: Roland McDonald
Released: May 2, 1947
Type: Movie
In this aerial melodrama, four brothers working as stunt pilots for a flying circus leave their jobs to become mail pilots. Because their job requires that they constantly travel, they are advised to not settle down with wives and kids. Still, one pilot falls in love and marries. Unfortunately, the woman dislikes his brothers and constantly worries that he will be killed during a flight. Her fears are not unfounded and much tragedy ensues as the story unfolds.
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Easy Come, Easy Go
Title: Easy Come, Easy Go
Character: Kevin O'Connor
Released: March 7, 1947
Type: Movie
Comedy about an Irish father, who enjoys betting on horses, who keeps interfering with his daughter's romance with a serviceman.
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Cross My Heart
Title: Cross My Heart
Character: Oliver Clarke
Released: December 18, 1946
Type: Movie
A compulsive liar admits to a killing she didn't commit so her husband, a lawyer, can clear her and build a reputation for himself.
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Swell Guy
Title: Swell Guy
Character: Jim Duncan
Released: December 5, 1946
Type: Movie
Perception vs. reality in a tale of a scoundrel and user whose jovial manner masks his true nature until a climatic redemption.
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The Well Groomed Bride
Title: The Well Groomed Bride
Character: Torchy McNeil
Released: May 17, 1946
Type: Movie
A man and a woman fight over the last bottle of champagne left in San Francisco--she wants it for a wedding, and he wants to use it to christen a ship.
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The Virginian
Title: The Virginian
Character: Steve Andrews
Released: May 5, 1946
Type: Movie
Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life.
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Miss Susie Slagle's
Title: Miss Susie Slagle's
Character: Pug Prentiss
Released: March 4, 1946
Type: Movie
A student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease.
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Duffy's Tavern
Title: Duffy's Tavern
Character: Sonny Tufts
Released: September 28, 1945
Type: Movie
The staff of a record factory drown their sorrows at Duffy's Tavern, while the company owner faces threats of bankruptcy.
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Bring on the Girls
Title: Bring on the Girls
Character: Phil North
Released: March 30, 1945
Type: Movie
A millionaire joins the Navy hoping to find a girl who'll marry him for himself, not for his money. A beautiful gold-digger who works at a resort hotel sets out to get him.
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Here Come the Waves
Title: Here Come the Waves
Character: Windy 'Pinetop' Windhurst
Released: December 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Show business twin sisters Rosemary and Susie, one serious and the other a scatterbrain, join the WAVES and both fall in love with crooner Johnny Cabot.
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I Love a Soldier
Title: I Love a Soldier
Character: Dan Kilgore
Released: July 12, 1944
Type: Movie
During World War II in San Francisco, Eve Morgan and her single girlfriends spend their days welding ships and their nights dancing with soldiers and sailors shipping out that night. Eve is determined to avoid any romantic entanglements until the war is over she refuses to spend her days and nights worrying about getting bad news about a man she has fallen for. But she doesn't count on meeting a soldier who is determined to change her mind.
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Government Girl
Title: Government Girl
Character: E.H. 'Ed' Browne
Released: November 5, 1943
Type: Movie
An aviation engineer and a government secretary are thrown together by the war effort.
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So Proudly We Hail
Title: So Proudly We Hail
Character: Kansas
Released: September 9, 1943
Type: Movie
During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Davidson tries to keep up the spirits of her staff, which includes Lieutenants Joan O'Doul and Olivia D'Arcy. They all seek to maintain a sense of normal life, including dating, while under constant danger as they tend to wounded soldiers.