Famed for his red hair, his career began in the 1930s on stage before he landed his own television programme, The Red Buttons Show, in 1952.
A move into cinema brought him a 1957 Oscar win for best supporting actor as Sgt Joe Kelly in the film Sayonara, starring Marlon Brando.
His last screen appearance was in a recurring guest role in hospital drama ER in 2005, for which he was nominated for an Emmy.
He was born Aaron Chwatt on 15 February, 1919, the son of an immigrant milliner, in Manhattan, New York.
The name Red Buttons came from his hair colour and the nickname "buttons" given to hotel porters - a job he did in his teens.
At the age of 16, he worked as a singer on the Borscht Circuit, a string of resorts in New York state catering to a mainly Jewish clientele.
Other stars who also once performed on the circuit in the early days of their paths to fame include Danny Kaye and Mel Brooks.
And don't forget the Jewish angle.
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