person

Sonny Tufts

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Gender

Male

Birthday

1911-07-16

Place of Birth

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Sonny Tufts

Biography

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.

Also Known For

poster

71

The Seven Year Itch

Jun 03, 1955

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42

Cat-Women of the Moon

Sep 03, 1953

poster

50

Here Come the Waves

Dec 18, 1944

poster

62

The Crooked Way

Apr 22, 1949

poster

45

No Escape

Jul 31, 1953

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66

Gift Horse

Jun 01, 1952

poster

52

Government Girl

Nov 05, 1943

poster

59

Easy Living

Oct 08, 1949

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NA

Run for the Hills

Jun 01, 1953

poster

61

The Virginian

May 05, 1946

poster

55

So Proudly We Hail

Sep 09, 1943

poster

61

Variety Girl

Aug 29, 1947

poster

41

The Parson and the Outlaw

Sep 23, 1957

poster

40

Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers

Jan 01, 1967

poster

30

Serpent Island

Jan 01, 1954

poster

NA

Easy Come, Easy Go

Mar 07, 1947

poster

40

Blaze of Noon

May 02, 1947

poster

40

I Love a Soldier

Jul 12, 1944

poster

60

Come Next Spring

Mar 09, 1956

poster

NA

Cross My Heart

Dec 18, 1946

poster

100

Miss Susie Slagle's

Mar 04, 1946

poster

61

Bring on the Girls

Mar 30, 1945

poster

64

Town Tamer

Jul 07, 1965

poster

40

The Well Groomed Bride

May 17, 1946

poster

61

Duffy's Tavern

Sep 28, 1945

poster

50

The Untamed Breed

Oct 20, 1948

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NA

Swell Guy

Dec 05, 1946

poster

62

The Merv Griffin Show

Oct 01, 1962

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68

The Ed Sullivan Show

Jun 20, 1948

poster

64

The Virginian

Sep 19, 1962

poster

65

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Jan 22, 1968

poster

43

My Mother the Car

Sep 14, 1965

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57

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

Oct 04, 1963

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57

The Loner

Sep 18, 1965

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NA

Land's End

Apr 21, 1968