Dominic Felix Amici was born in Kenosha,Wisconsin on May 31st 1904. No one would have known at that time, that this baby would grow up to be a household name due to his portrayal of Alexander Graham Bell. For a very long time, his screen name, Ameche was the name of a telephone.

Ameche had it all, a fine voice, a great personna, and was a very dashing man was he at that. His voice might have taken him a long way in law, which was what he had wanted and even attended law school, but it was during law school, he was asked to do the leading role for the play "Excess Baggage". Law school suddenly took a back seat to acting and after getting up in many other roles, Ameche started doing radio shows.

Throwing out his first screen test, MGM lost a fairly large property and it was Darryl F. Zanuck, president of 20th Century Fox that signed Ameche to his first contract and gave him his first film role in Sins of Man. Ameche was given small parts at first and it really was not until he co-starred with Sonja Hene in One in a Million that his career really took off. Ameche was generally the good guy in his films, whether he was playing a lead part or second fiddle to Fox's other male star, Tyrone Power. Ameche had something over Power though, he got to do more films with Alice Faye. In fact, he was Faye's most frequent co-star.

Ameche was in many musicals, classics with not only Alice Faye, but Betty Grable in a few movies as well, such as Down Argentine Way and Moon Over Miami. Ameche was also wonderful as a straight dramatic actor and would give great performances in the 1940's, landing good film roles (like that of Henry Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait) while being loaned to other studios as a result of his lagging populartiy. He was the first top paid leading man to become a freelance actor in the mid-1940's.

After the roles stopped coming, Ameche turned to television and Broadway. Ameche was successful at both, yet his star would fall again. This time it wasn't until the seventies that his career got rolling again when he appeared in The Boatniks and rised even more when he appeared in Trading Places in 1983.

Ameche would continue to work until his death, which was only a few days after he finished scenes for Corina, Corina. He died of cancer in Scottsdale, Arizona December 6, 1993.

After his death, Ameche's career still endures. Radio fans still listen to "The Bickersons," a classic radio show Ameche co-starred in with Frances Langford and was also as host of "The Chase and Sandborne Hour" with Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy. As far as film goes, Ameche's role in Cocoon brought him an oscar for best supporting actor. The image of Ameche as Alexander Graham Bell is seen as one of his most enduring roles. Next time the telephone rings, remember Don Ameche and then pick up the "Ameche."

From radio, stage, and screen "Mr. Versatitily" did it all. Not many other stars of his time have validity to that claim. Ameche really was "One in a Million."