Biography

Don DeFore toured the country in stock companies for several years before making his Broadway debut in 1938. In films since 1941, he occasionally played leads in B pictures, but was more often cast as the good-natured buddy of the hero or a likable but gullible character whom the hero has to bail out of trouble. DeFore found much more success on television, and was a regular in the hit series Hazel (1961) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Don Defore played Mr. Thornberry ("Thorny") on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), a role that came came easy for him as in real life he was pretty much like his "Thorny" character. He married his wife Marion in 1942 and they lived in a farmhouse in the Mandeville Canyon area outside Los Angeles, which was then farm country. They drew the plans for the house themselves, Marion did all of the interior work and Don made most of the furniture, which was a hobby of his.

DeFore was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of seven children and the only one to pursue an acting career. After graduating from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, he attended Iowa University. He showed great promise in basketball, track and baseball, but showed no interest in dramatics. Later he joined the Cedar Rapids Community Players. Since acting was not a major study at the university, he left and enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he won a scholarship and stayed for three years. During this time he and four fellow students wrote a play called "Where Do We Go From Here". It was presented in a little theater in Hollywood with Don in the cast. Oscar Hammerstein II offered to take it to Broadway and Don and five of the original cast members went along. The show ran for four weeks and Don was soon recognized as a member of legitimate theater. He remained in New York and won a key role in "The Male Animal", which ran for almost a year on Broadway and eight months on the road. When Warner Bros. made the film (The Male Animal (1942)), it signed Don to his original role. Don was also president of the Television Academy Of Arts and Sciences in 1954-55.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill Hafker thehuntzie@yahoo.com (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)