Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Ron DeFore, Son of TV and Screen Star, Don DeFore
About Harvey's guest:
Today’s special guest, Ron DeFore, is the son of one of Hollywood’s most beloved and respected actors, Don DeFore, who appeared in dozens of great movies, including “A Guy Named Joe”, “30 Seconds Over Tokyo”, “The Male Animal”, “Ramrod”, “Romance on the High Seas”, “The Facts of Life”, and one of the great Christmas classics, “It Happened on 5th Avenue”.
He worked with everyone from Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore to John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Olivia de Havilland, Claudette Colbert, Lucille Ball, Judy Holiday - and that’s just scratching the surface. On television, he became a household name, first as “Mr. Thornberry”, or “Thorny”, the next-door neighbour on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”, earning him a 1954 Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor. And then, he became “Mr. Baxter”, affectionately referred to as “Mr. B.”, for 4 seasons, on the classic sitcom, “Hazel”, co-starring the wonderful Shirley Booth.
Don DeFore’s acting was seamless, because he was projecting his genuine, regular-guy personality, that made him endearing, enduring and beloved by his millions of fans. But there was much more to this man than his acting career.
He was a loving husband to big band singer Marion Holmes, and a devoted father to his 5 children. He owned a popular BBQ restaurant at Disneyland.
He served on the Board of the Screen Actors Guild, and was President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and he orchestrated the first nationally televised Emmy Awards show in 1955. In 1965 he co-authored a book with his sister Penny DeFore entitled, “With All My Love”, about her experiences working in a Korean orphanage. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He was part of the US delegation to the 1969 International Film Festival in Moscow. And after getting to know Ronald Reagan on the set of a movie they made together, he became heavily involved in President Reagan’s political career, and was on the Presidential Advisory Committee to the Peace Corps.
And if that weren’t enough, Don DeFore was a very gifted furniture maker. Our guest has had a remarkable life himself. He started out in the television industry and then moved on to an impressive career in Washington, first in the Peace Corps, then as part of President Reagan’s administration, and then as co-founder of one of the largest and most respected public affairs firms in Washington.
He’s here to talk about his wonderful book, “Growing Up in Disneyland: Memoirs of Stage, TV and Movie Star Don DeFore, and His Son’s Exciting Life in a Celebrity Family and Beyond”.
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