Don Porter

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: Miami, Oklahoma, USA, 1912-09-24

Died: 1997-02-11

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1939	Mystery of the White Room	Dr. Donald Fox	0
2	1942	Top Sergeant	Al Bennett	60
3	1942	Eagle Squadron	Ramsey	0
4	1942	Eyes of the Underworld	Edward Jason	48
5	1942	Night Monster	Dick Baldwin	62
6	1942	Who Done It?	'Murder at Midnight' program manager	70
7	1942	Madame Spy	David Bannister	60
8	1943	Reconnaissance Pilot	Camera Instructor	0
9	1943	Keep 'Em Slugging	Jerry	55
10	1944	How to Fly the B-26 Airplane	Captain Dick	0
11	1944	Resisting Enemy Interrogation	Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot	66
12	1946	She-Wolf of London	Barry Lanfield	56
13	1946	Cuban Pete	Roberts	50
14	1946	Danger Woman	Professor Claude Ruppert	0
15	1946	Wild Beauty	Dr. Dave Morrow	0
16	1947	Buck Privates Come Home	Capt. Christie	63
17	1950	My Friend Irma Goes West	Mr. Brent	61
18	1950	711 Ocean Drive	Larry Mason	63
19	1950	Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone	Myron Brynk	60
20	1951	The Racket	R. G. Connolly	63
21	1952	The Fallbrook Story	Narrator	0
22	1952	Cripple Creek	Denver Jones	57
23	1952	The Turning Point	Joe Silbray	62
24	1952	The Savage	Running Dog	61
25	1952	Because You're Mine	Captain Burton Nordell Loring	67
26	1956	Our Miss Brooks	Lawrence Nolan	62
27	1957	Desk Set	Don the Elevator Operator (uncredited)	70
28	1961	Bachelor in Paradise	Thomas W. Jynson	65
29	1963	Gidget Goes to Rome	Russell Lawrence	48
30	1964	Youngblood Hawke	Ferdie Lax	61
31	1968	Live a Little, Love a Little	Mike Lansdown	55
32	1972	The Candidate	Senator Crocker Jarmon	65
33	1973	The Norliss Tapes	Sanford T. Evans	60
34	1973	40 Carats	Mr. Latham	60
35	1974	The Morning After	Rudy King	65
36	1974	Mame	Mr. Upson	60
37	1974	Murder or Mercy	Henry Balin	0
38	1974	Happy Anniversary and Goodbye	Ed 'Mad Dog' Murphy	48
39	1975	The Legend of Lizzie Borden	George Robinson	68
40	1975	Last Hours Before Morning	Mr. Pace	20
41	1975	White Line Fever	Cutler	60
42	1975	A Woman for All Men	Barney	51
43	1977	Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.	Caufield	54
44	1978	The President's Mistress	Craig	67
45	1979	Tropic of Desire	Commodore Phillips	64
46	1980	Interview with Pontius Pilate	Theodore Michael	0
47	1980	The Murder That Wouldn't Die	Gen. Rocky Jensen	20
48	1980	The Last Song	Philip Brockhurst	60
49	1980	The Ghosts of Buxley Hall	Judge Oliver Haynes	63

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1953	Private Secretary		50
2	1963	Vacation Playhouse	Battersea, The Housekeeper	70
3	1965	Green Acres		73
4	1965	Gidget	Professor Russell Lawrence	64
5	1965	The F.B.I.	Mason Hammond	55
6	1967	Judd for the Defense		75
7	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Jonathan Cavel	71
8	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Alex Kelsey	71
9	1968	Here's Lucy	Ken Richards	67
10	1968	The Mod Squad		63
11	1969	Love, American Style		61
12	1972	The Rookies		68
13	1973	Barnaby Jones	Jeremy Markham	69
14	1974	The Six Million Dollar Man	Dr. Stanley Bacon	73
15	1975	Archer		75
16	1975	Switch	Paul Lorimer	67
17	1975	Switch	Salvensen	67
18	1975	Ellery Queen		74
19	1976	The Bionic Woman		70
20	1976	City of Angels		60
21	1977	Three's Company		77
22	1977	The Love Boat	Slade Summerhill	63
23	1978	Dallas	Matt Devlin	69
24	1978	The Paper Chase		76
25	1978	Vega$		70
26	1982	Hotel		68
27	1986	Matlock		71

Don Porter

Film

Television