Don Porter
Acting
74 titles
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.
Filmography
Matlock
1986
Hotel
1982
The Ghosts of Buxley Hall
1980
The Last Song
1980
The Murder That Wouldn't Die
1980
Interview with Pontius Pilate
1980
Tropic of Desire
1979
Vega$
1978
The Paper Chase
1978
Dallas
1978
The President's Mistress
1978
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.
1977
The Love Boat
1977
Three's Company
1977
City of Angels
1976
The Bionic Woman
1976
Ellery Queen
1975
Switch
1975
A Woman for All Men
1975
White Line Fever
1975
Last Hours Before Morning
1975
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1975
Archer
1975
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
1974
Murder or Mercy
1974
Mame
1974
The Morning After
1974
The Six Million Dollar Man
1974
40 Carats
1973
The Norliss Tapes
1973
Barnaby Jones
1973
The Rookies
1972
The Candidate
1972
Love, American Style
1969
Live a Little, Love a Little
1968
The Mod Squad
1968
Here's Lucy
1968
Hawaii Five-O
1968
Judd, for the Defense
1967
The F.B.I.
1965
Green Acres
1965
Gidget
1965
Youngblood Hawke
1964
Gidget Goes to Rome
1963
Vacation Playhouse
1963
Bachelor in Paradise
1961
Desk Set
1957
Our Miss Brooks
1956
Private Secretary
1953
Because You're Mine
1952
The Savage
1952
The Turning Point
1952
Cripple Creek
1952
The Fallbrook Story
1952
The Racket
1951
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
1950
711 Ocean Drive
1950
My Friend Irma Goes West
1950
Buck Privates Come Home
1947
Wild Beauty
1946
Danger Woman
1946
Cuban Pete
1946
She-Wolf of London
1946
Resisting Enemy Interrogation
1944
How to Fly the B-26 Airplane
1944
Keep 'Em Slugging
1943
Reconnaissance Pilot
1943
Madame Spy
1942
Who Done It?
1942
Night Monster
1942
Eyes of the Underworld
1942
Eagle Squadron
1942
Top Sergeant
1942
Mystery of the White Room
1939