Don Adams

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Birth Name: Donald James Yarmy

Born: 13 April 1923 Died: 25 September 2005

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 9"

Lists

98 votes

Gone, but not forgotten (1954 items)
list by Agent Kermit D. Fonz

Published 5 months, 3 weeks ago

10 comments

6 votes

A R I E S ♈ (36 items)
list by Márcia Alice

Published 13 years, 2 months ago

2 comments

6 votes

He's So Funny (46 items)
list by Alabama1971

Published 14 years, 10 months ago

2 comments

4 votes

Primetime Emmy Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Winne (34 items)
list by Leo

Published 12 years, 4 months ago

1 comment

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Photos

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Description: Don Adams was born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923, in New York City. The second son and middle child of a Hungarian-Jewish restaurant manager and his Irish Roman Catholic wife, he was baptized Catholic by his mother while his older brother had been brought up in their father's faith. More interested in going to see movies than in attending school, Adams was a frequent truant, whose frustrated father eventually packed him off to DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Nevertheless, Adams dropped out of high school and worked briefly as a theater usher. He was living with family in Pennsylvania at the time of the Japanese I Don Adams was born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923, in New York City. The second son and middle child of a Hungarian-Jewish restaurant manager and his Irish Roman Catholic wife, he was baptized Catholic by his mother while his older brother had been brought up in their father's faith. More interested in going to see movies than in attending school, Adams was a frequent truant, whose frustrated father eventually packed him off to DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Nevertheless, Adams dropped out of high school and worked briefly as a theater usher. He was living with family in Pennsylvania at the time of the Japanese Imperial Navy's attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Following the cue of his teenage cousins, he swiftly enlisted in the U.S. Marines like many young men at that time. Assigned to the Third Marines in Samoa, Adams was transferred to Guadalcanal for the second major Allied offense against Japan. Taken out of the action early on due to a bout of blackwater fever secondary to malaria, Adams would be his platoon's only survivor after the protracted Battle of Guadalcanal.

After spending a year in a military hospital in New Zealand, he finished his Marine Corps career as a stateside drill instructor. After his military discharge, Adams worked for a time as a commercial artist but his childhood talent for mimicry pulled him toward the life of a performer. He relocated to Miami, FL and formed a brief comedy partnership with Jay Storch, brother of his New York neighbor Larry Storch. Together Adams and Storch toured as The Young Brothers. When the act broke up, Adams continued alone. Married in 1945 to nightclub singer Adelaide Adams, the budding comedian adopted his bride's stage name to become Don Adams for the first time. Fathering four children in quick succession, Adams quit performing and settled in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area, where he earned a wage as an engineering draftsman and cartographer. Upon the death of his mother in 1954, Adams returned to New York, where he learned that auditions were being held for Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" (CBS, 1948-1958). Adams angled himself a spot among the hopefuls and his comic talents impressed the famously prickly Godfrey. Adams' victory on the broadcast led to subsequent appearances on "The Steve Allen Show" (NBC, 1956-1960), "The Ed Sullivan Show" (CBS, 1948-1971) and "The Gary Moore Show" (CBS, 1958-1967). ... (more)