Biography for
Donald Elson More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

31 March 1923, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography

Donald Elson was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, just a "whoop and a holler" from Hollywood. He was a young college student at the outbreak of WWII. After serving in the Air Force, he attended the Columbia Radio School of Broadcasting on the GI Bill and pursued a career as a radio announcer at stations in Texas and Oklahoma before returning to college. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA degree in Theatre Arts in 1949 and headed to New York. Elson became a successful Broadway actor, appearing in "Inherit The Wind," "Desire Under the Elms," "Peter Pan," "Threepenny Opera" and numerous off-Broadway productions. He returned to Hollywood in the early 1960s, "saddling up" in a string of TV Westerns.

His skill and craftsmanship have enabled him to portray a wide variety of characters. Why is that craggy face so "gol'durn" familiar? Because we've seen it a thousand times in television series, anthologies and Movies of the Week . . . as well as countless television commercials!

IMDb Mini Biography By: Valerie Elson - valerie@elson.com

Spouse

Valerie Elson	(31 July 1996 - present)
Annette Robyns	(30 March 1961 - 21 January 1994) (her death)

Trivia

Appeared in an excess of two hundred TV commercials (1960 to present)

First cousin of New York Times best-selling author Leslie Waller and Oscar nominee Richard Elson.

Where Are They Now

(2004) Donald along with his wife, actress Valerie Elson, produce a successful interview/variety show for Adelphia public access television in Los Angeles.