Don DeFore

His father was Joseph Ervin DeFore (1878 - 1942), a railroad engineer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His mother was Albina Sylvia Nezerka (1883 - 1975), aka Mrs. Joseph E. DeFore.

According to the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Tribune of December 25, 1936, he appeared uncredited in the film Reunion (1936).

Don DeFore toured the country in stock companies for several years before making his Broadway debut in 1938.

Appeared at the 1939 New York World's Fair Railroad Pageant.

Created the role of Wally Myers in the Broadway play "The Male Animal", which opened at the Cort Theatre on January 9, 1940 and ran for 243 performances. He later played the same role in the film version The Male Animal (1942) starring Olivia de Havilland and Henry Fonda. He also appeared in the remake of that film, She's Working Her Way Through College (1952) starring Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan.

In films since 1941, he occasionally played leads in B pictures, but was more often cast as the good-natured buddy of the hero or a likable but gullible character whom the hero has to bail out of trouble.

Son David Allan DeFore was born on August 22, 1945, in Los Angeles County, California.

Was the first honorary mayor of Brentwood, the neighborhood in Los Angeles where he built a home in 1948.

In 1949, Photoplay Magazine sent DeFore, actor Lon McCallister and a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe on a train trip to Warrensburg, New York to present Photoplay's "Dream Home" contest winner with the key to her new home. Surviving photos dated June 1, 1949 show Don DeFore playing cards with Marilyn on the train trip, and also in front of the home during the event. When Photoplay recruited the group for this, Marilyn Monroe had been in New York to promote her new film Love Happy (1949). It is believed that Don DeFore was in New York to shoot My Friend Irma (1949), the film debut of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Son Ronald Holmes "Ronnie" DeFore was born on August 25, 1950, in Los Angeles County, California.

Served as president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 1954-1955 and was instrumental in arranging for the Emmy Awards to be broadcast on national TV for the first time on March 7, 1955.

He was the only individual allowed to open a restaurant at Disneyland. He operated the Silver Banjo in Frontierland from 1957 to 1961. His brother Verne DeFore helped him, and they used a gift that their father, a railroad engineer, had brought home from Louisiana - a beautiful silver banjo - as the tiny restaurant's inspiration.

Daughter Amy N. DeFore was born on March 30, 1959, in Los Angeles County, California.

Co-starred as George Baxter, the boss of housekeeper Shirley Booth, for four years on the popular NBC-TV series Hazel (1961). When the show changed networks to CBS, DeFore and his pretty TV wife Whitney Blake were replaced by his character's "younger brother" Steve (played by Ray Fulmer) and his pretty wife (Lynn Borden). It was explained that George Baxter was "transferred" to Saudi Arabia for business reasons. DeFore's TV son (Bobby Buntrock) continued on in the role, staying behind to live with his aunt and uncle. The show lasted only one more season before it was canceled.

Appeared on the cover of the 6 October 1962 issue of "TV Guide" with Shirley Booth, his costar on the TV series Hazel (1961).

As for sidelines, DeFore was a one-time restaurateur, operating with his brother Don DeFore's Silver Banjo at Disneyland in Anaheim, California; was the American delegate to the Moscow Film Festival in 1969; and was a board committee member for the California Department of Rehabilitation.

Went to Des Moines, Iowa in June 1976 to campaign for his longtime friend Ronald Reagan at the Republican State Convention in his bid for President of the United States. DeFore appeared in at least two films with Reagan, Brother Rat (1938) and She's Working Her Way Through College (1952).

His last film was Rare Breed (1984) which was directed by David Nelson, the son of his old TV boss Ozzie Nelson.