
Sonny Tufts
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.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.757 |
Birthday | 1911-07-16 |
Place of Birth | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
Also Known As | Bowen Charlton "Sonny" Tufts III, Bowen Charlton Tufts III, |

1955

The Seven Year Itch
7/897
With his family away for their annual summer holiday, a publishing executive decides to live a bachelor's life. The beautiful but ditzy blonde from th...
Watch Now
The Seven Year Itch

1953

Cat-Women of the Moon
4.167/45
Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive young women in black tights.
Watch Now
Cat-Women of the Moon

1944

Here Come the Waves
5/7
Show business twin sisters Rosemary and Susie, one serious and the other a scatterbrain, join the WAVES and both fall in love with crooner Johnny Cabo...
Watch Now
Here Come the Waves

1949

The Crooked Way
6.4/29
A war veteran suffering from amnesia, returns to Los Angeles from a San Francisco veterans hospital hoping to learn who he is and discovers his crimin...
Watch Now
The Crooked Way

1953

No Escape
4.5/12
When the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling...
Watch Now
No Escape

1952

Gift Horse
6.556/18
Compton Bennett's war drama The Gift Horse follows the fortunes of ageing destroyer The Ballantrae and her crew from the time they come together in 19...
Watch Now
Gift Horse

1943

Government Girl
5.2/8
An aviation engineer and a government secretary are thrown together by the war effort.
Watch Now
Government Girl

1953

Run for the Hills
0/1
Fearing nuclear war, an insurance man moves to a cave with his wife and family.
Watch Now
Run for the Hills

1949

Easy Living
5.944/18
A football halfback has a heart condition, a nagging wife and a team secretary who loves him.
Watch Now
Easy Living

1946

The Virginian
6.1/19
Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot...
Watch Now
The Virginian

1943

So Proudly We Hail
5.5/21
During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped beh...
Watch Now
So Proudly We Hail

1947

Variety Girl
6.1/9
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful...
Watch Now
Variety Girl

1957

The Parson and the Outlaw
4.1/7
Billy the Kid fakes his own death at the hands of Pat Garret, but is forced to come out of hiding to stop a ruthless cattle baron from destroying a sm...
Watch Now
The Parson and the Outlaw

1967

Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
4/7
Darby Clyde Fenster and Jerry Martin are a pair of penniless nincompoop-drifters who hop a freight train on their way to Florida. Our intrepid heroes...
Watch Now
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers

1954

Serpent Island
3.5/4
On the trail of a million-dollar gold treasure, an Eastern gal hires a California dockside bum to accompany her to the Caribbean where one of her ance...
Watch Now
Serpent Island

1947

Easy Come, Easy Go
0/0
Comedy about an Irish father, who enjoys betting on horses, who keeps interfering with his daughter's romance with a serviceman.
Watch Now
Easy Come, Easy Go

1947

Blaze of Noon
4/2
In this aerial melodrama, four brothers working as stunt pilots for a flying circus leave their jobs to become mail pilots. Because their job requires...
Watch Now
Blaze of Noon

1944

I Love a Soldier
4/2
During World War II in San Francisco, Eve Morgan and her single girlfriends spend their days welding ships and their nights dancing with soldiers and...
Watch Now
I Love a Soldier

1956

Come Next Spring
6/6
Matt Ballot has returned home after 12 years of hard-drinking in all 48 states. His wife has managed to raise their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-o...
Watch Now
Come Next Spring

1946

Cross My Heart
0/0
A compulsive liar admits to a killing she didn't commit so her husband, a lawyer, can clear her and build a reputation for himself.
Watch Now
Cross My Heart

1945

Bring on the Girls
6.1/5
A millionaire joins the Navy hoping to find a girl who'll marry him for himself, not for his money. A beautiful gold-digger who works at a resort hote...
Watch Now
Bring on the Girls

1946

Miss Susie Slagle's
10/1
A student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease.
Watch Now
Miss Susie Slagle's

1965

Town Tamer
6.4/9
A gunfighter is hired to clean up a wild frontier town, but there are forces afoot who want to keep the town as wide-open as it is. Lyle Bettger, Bruc...
Watch Now
Town Tamer

1946

The Well Groomed Bride
4/2
A man and a woman fight over the last bottle of champagne left in San Francisco--she wants it for a wedding, and he wants to use it to christen a ship...
Watch Now
The Well Groomed Bride

1945

Duffy's Tavern
6.1/7
The staff of a record factory drown their sorrows at Duffy's Tavern, while the company owner faces threats of bankruptcy.
Watch Now
Duffy's Tavern

1948

The Untamed Breed
5/1
A cowboy sets out to capture an escaped Brahma bull that is terrorizing local ranchers. Based on a story by Eli Colter that appeared in The Saturday E...
Watch Now
The Untamed Breed

1946

Swell Guy
0/0
Perception vs. reality in a tale of a scoundrel and user whose jovial manner masks his true nature until a climatic redemption.
Watch Now