Don Porter
Donald "Don" Porter (September 24, 1912 –February 11, 1997) was an American actor who appeared in a number of films since the 1940s, including Top Sergeant and Eagle Squadron. On television, he portrayed the widowed father of 15-year-old Frances "Gidget" Lawrence (Sally Field) in the 1965 ABC sitcom Gidget. Besides his work in film and television, Porter was active on stage, as he acted in more than 200 plays, including The Front Page, Plaza Suite, and Any Wednesday. He appeared in various films in the 1940s before landing the role of Peter Sands, the boss of Susan Camille MacNamara (Ann Sothern), on the 1950s sitcom Private Secretary. A retooled version of the series appeared later, titled The Ann Sothern Show. It featured many of the same actors, including Porter as hotel manager James Devery in the venue of a fashionable New York City hotel. He later guest starred on episodes of Green Acres, Love, American Style, The Mod Squad, Barnaby Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-O, Three's Company (on which he played Jack Tripper's uncle), and Switch.
Known for
The Love Boat
Slade Summerhill
Dallas
Matt Devlin
Hawaii Five-O
Jonathan Cavel
Hawaii Five-O
Alex Kelsey
Hotel
Matlock
Green Acres
Love, American Style
The Six Million Dollar Man
Dr. Stanley Bacon
Here's Lucy
Ken Richards
The F.B.I.
Mason Hammond
Barnaby Jones
Jeremy Markham
Switch
Paul Lorimer
Switch
Salvensen
Three's Company
The Bionic Woman
The Rookies
Vega$
Ellery Queen
The Mod Squad
Judd for the Defense
Gidget
Professor Russell Lawrence
The Paper Chase
The Racket
R. G. Connolly
40 Carats
Mr. Latham
Cuban Pete
Roberts
Vacation Playhouse
Battersea, The Housekeeper
Mame
Mr. Upson
Wild Beauty
Dr. Dave Morrow
Madame Spy
David Bannister
The Murder That Wouldn't Die
Gen. Rocky Jensen
The Candidate
Senator Crocker Jarmon
Top Sergeant
Al Bennett
Eyes of the Underworld
Edward Jason
The Turning Point
Joe Silbray
Who Done It?
'Murder at Midnight' program manager
711 Ocean Drive
Larry Mason
Desk Set
Don the Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Youngblood Hawke
Ferdie Lax
Night Monster
Dick Baldwin
Last Hours Before Morning
Mr. Pace
Keep 'Em Slugging
Jerry
Bachelor in Paradise
Thomas W. Jynson
The Last Song
Philip Brockhurst
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
Ed 'Mad Dog' Murphy
Gidget Goes to Rome
Russell Lawrence
White Line Fever
Cutler
Archer
The President's Mistress
Craig
Eagle Squadron
Ramsey
Our Miss Brooks
Lawrence Nolan
Tropic of Desire
Commodore Phillips
City of Angels
Private Secretary
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.
Caufield
Resisting Enemy Interrogation
Lt. Frank L. Williams, Jr. - American Co-pilot
Buck Privates Come Home
Capt. Christie
The Savage
Running Dog
Interview with Pontius Pilate
Theodore Michael
The Norliss Tapes
Sanford T. Evans
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
George Robinson
Live a Little, Love a Little
Mike Lansdown
Cripple Creek
Denver Jones
The Morning After
Rudy King
My Friend Irma Goes West
Mr. Brent
Because You're Mine
Captain Burton Nordell Loring
She-Wolf of London
Barry Lanfield
Reconnaissance Pilot
Camera Instructor
Mystery of the White Room
Dr. Donald Fox
A Woman for All Men
Barney
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Myron Brynk
The Fallbrook Story
Narrator
The Ghosts of Buxley Hall
Judge Oliver Haynes
How to Fly the B-26 Airplane
Captain Dick
Danger Woman
Professor Claude Ruppert
Murder or Mercy
Henry Balin