View source for Donald Rickles

{{short description|American actor (1927–1985)}}

{{about|the radio and  television announcer|the comedian|Don Rickles}}

{{Infobox person
|name         = Donald Rickles
|image        = 
|caption      = 
|birth_name   = Donald Newton Rickles
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1927|10|07}}
|birth_place  = [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1985|02|19|1927|10|07}}
|death_place  = [[Glendale, California|Glendale]], [[California]], U.S.
|occupation   = Radio and television announcer, news anchor, actor
|years active = 1938−1984
}}

'''Donald Newton Rickles''' (October 7, 1927 – February 19, 1985) was an American radio and television announcer, news anchor, and actor.

==Early life==
He was born Donald Newton Rickles in [[Portland, Oregon]] on October 7, 1927.

==Career==
Rickles began his announcing career at the age of 11 at [[KBPS (AM)]] in Portland.  Later, he was chief announcer for [[KUSC|KUSC-FM]] in [[Los Angeles, California]]. Other stations where he worked early in his career included [[KPOJ|KGW]] and [[KEX (AM)|KEX]] in Portland and [[KMTT|KVAN]] in [[Vancouver, Washington]].

In 1949, he became an announcer at [[KIEV (870 AM)|KIEV]] in Los Angeles, and a year later, joined the announcing staff of [[NBC]] in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]].  He was part of a core group of West Coast announcers for the network who, in his early years, included [[Don Stanley (announcer)|Don Stanley]], [[Arch Presby]], [[Eddy King (announcer)|Eddy King]], and [[Frank Barton (announcer)|Frank Barton]]; by the 1970s, the main core announcing lineup had become Rickles, Stanley, [[Victor Bozeman]], and [[Peggy Taylor]].

Rickles' radio announcing credits included ''[[The Whisperer (radio program)|The Whisperer]]'', ''[[The Great Gildersleeve]]'', ''[[Night Beat (radio program)|Night Beat]]'', and ''[[NBC University Theatre|NBC University Theater]]''. On television, over the next three decades, he  handled announcing duties for such programs as ''[[Coke Time with Eddie Fisher]]'', ''[[Tennessee Ernie Ford|The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show]]'', ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]'', ''[[The Flip Wilson Show]]'', ''[[Sanford and Son]]'', ''[[NBC Saturday Night at the Movies]]'', ''[[The NBC Monday Movie|NBC Monday Night at the Movies]]'', and [[Bob Hope]] specials. He appeared in [[Sketch comedy|sketches]] on, and frequently did [[voice-over]] work for, ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', and in a memorable 1978 episode of ''[[The Tomorrow Show]]'',  host [[Tom Snyder]] and he  spent 10 minutes playing the [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]] [[electronic game]] ''[[Simon (game)|Simon]]''. He also handled live booth-announcing duties for the network's Los Angeles [[owned-and-operated station]] [[KNBC]].

He had also worked as a newscaster, at one point, anchoring KNBC's 11 pm newscast. In later years, after [[John Schubeck]] became anchor, Rickles was one of the rotating announcers for the station's ''NewsCenter 4'', and was thanked on the air by Schubeck at the start of each newscast. As part of his continuity duties, Rickles also anchored out-of-vision for sign-on and sign-off editions of ''NewsCenter4''.

==Death==
On February 19, 1985, Rickles died in [[Glendale, California]] of a [[heart attack]] at age 57.

==References==
* Obituary in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', February 27, 1985.

==External links==
* [http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Rickles,_Don&ArtistNumber=10992 Donald Rickles radio credits] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202074938/http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Rickles,_Don&ArtistNumber=10992 |date=2017-02-02 }} (with some credits actually applicable to comedian Don Rickles)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071217140935/http://www.tv-signoffs.com/KNBC_1981.htm  Web page with video clip of September 27, 1981 sign-off of KNBC by Donald Rickles]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rickles, Donald}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Male actors from Portland, Oregon]]
[[Category:American radio personalities]]
[[Category:American male voice actors]]
[[Category:Radio and television announcers]]
[[Category:NBC network announcers]]
[[Category:Television anchors from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]