{"id":576127,"date":"2023-05-26T17:03:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ed-ames-singer-and-daniel-boone-sidekick-dies-at-95\/"},"modified":"2023-05-26T17:03:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:03:13","slug":"ed-ames-singer-and-daniel-boone-sidekick-dies-at-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ed-ames-singer-and-daniel-boone-sidekick-dies-at-95\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ed Ames, Singer and \u2018Daniel Boone\u2019 Sidekick, Dies at 95"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ed Ames, the deep-toned baritone pop singer and actor who portrayed the faithful Cherokee sidekick Mingo on the 1960s NBC series<\/a> Daniel Boone<\/em>, has died. He was 95.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ames died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles after a battle with Alzheimer\u2019s, his wife Jeanne told The Hollywood Reporter.<\/em><\/p>\n

A native of Massachusetts and a son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Ames starred as the Oxford-educated Mingo opposite Fess Parker as Daniel Boone on the first four seasons (1964-68) of the TV Western.<\/p>\n

His most memorable night on television, however, came in April 1965 during an app<\/a>earance on NBC\u2019s The Tonight Show<\/em>. Demonstrating to host Johnny Carson how Mingo would expertly handle a tomahawk, he hurled the weapon at an outline of a cowboy drawn on a wooden board \u2014 and it stuck right in the crotch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the audience howled, Carson left his desk and said to Ames in now-classic ad-libbed lines, \u201cI didn\u2019t even know you were Jewish!\u201d and \u201cWelcome to frontier bris!\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole thing generated one of the longest laughs in the history of The Tonight Show<\/em> \u2014 at about four minutes, some say one of the longest in the annals of TV \u2014 and was a staple of highlight shows for decades.<\/p>\n

In a 2014 interview<\/a> with host Mark Malkoff on The Carson Podcast, the amiable Ames admitted that he had never tossed a tomahawk until he learned The Tonight Show<\/em> wanted him to do it on the air. (On earlier appearances with Carson, he had thrown a bolas and a lance and shot an arrow).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat afternoon, I practiced throwing it,\u201d he said. \u201cFirst I did it at home the night before and wrecked a couple of trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ames noted that the morning after the show aired, cab drivers yelled at him, \u201cGood for you, Ed!\u201d as he walked through the streets of New York City.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3 Ames got the job playing Mingo after 20th Century Fox talent scouts saw him as Chief Bromden opposite Kirk Douglas and Gene Wilder in the original 1963 Broadway production of Ken Kesey\u2019s One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ames and three of his older brothers \u2014 Vic, Gene and Joe \u2014 performed and recorded as the Ames Brothers. In 1950, they had their first No. 1 song, the double-sided tracker \u201cRag Mop\u201d\/\u201dSentimental Me,\u201d struck it rich three years later with \u201cYou, You, You\u201d on RCA Records and became one of the most popular quartets in the era before the intrusion of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

Ames went it alone in 1961 and had success with such songs as \u201cTry to Remember\u201d \u2014 his signature song<\/a> \u2014 \u201cApologize,\u201d \u201cWhen the Snow Is on the Roses,\u201d \u201cMy Cup Runneth Over\u201d and \u201cWho Will Answer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmond Dantes Urick was born on July 9, 1927, in Malden, Massachusetts, the youngest of nine children (five boys and four girls). As a child, he attended the rough-and-tumble Boston Latin School \u2014 Benjamin Franklin was another famous alum \u2014 \u00a0and sang in churches around town.<\/p>\n

He joined Vic, Gene and Joe as the frontman in an act they called the Urick Brothers and then the Armory Brothers (Vic\u2019s middle name), and they made their mark in Boston nightclubs like the Latin Quarter, founded by Barbara Walters\u2019 father, Lou.<\/p>\n

They headed to New York, landed a job with bandleader Art Mooney, signed with Decca Records and, at the suggestion of famed Broadway producer Abe Burroughs, became the Ames Brothers. (\u201cAmes\u201d means \u201ctruth\u201d in Yiddish.)<\/p>\n

They found their first chart success in 1949 with \u201cForever and Ever,\u201d recorded with Russ Morgan\u2019s orchestra. Listeners loved their rich, clean harmonies.<\/p>\n

After \u201cRag Mop,\u201d \u201cSentimental Me,\u201d \u201cUndecided\u201d and another top-10 hit, the 1954 novelty song \u201cThe Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,\u201d the brothers began to perform regularly on Arthur Godfrey\u2019s show and were one of the first acts to appear on Ed Sullivan\u2019s Toast of the Town<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1955, they had their own 15-minute syndicated TV program, The Ames Brothers Show<\/em>, and performed the title song for Man on Fire<\/em> (1957), starring Bing Crosby. At their peak, the foursome could command $20,000 a week on tour, and they were named Billboard<\/em>\u2018s best vocal group of 1958, when they had eight singles on the charts.<\/p>\n

Ames pursued acting in the \u201960s and studied at the Herbert Berghof Drama School in New York. He starred off-Broadway as John Proctor in a revival of Arthur Miller\u2019s The Crucible<\/em>, then landed the lead in the national company of Gower Champion\u2019s\u00a0Carnival.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ames also appeared in the off-Broadway smash The Fantasticks<\/em>, on which he sang \u201cTry to Remember.\u201d Carson loved his rendition, and he once sang it every night for a week on The Tonight Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ames also introduced the John Wayne film The War Wagon<\/em> (1967) with \u201cBallad of the War Wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

In later years, he appeared in concert and at supper clubs and showed up on such TV shows as Murder, She Wrote<\/em>, In the Heat of the Night<\/em> and The Marshal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ames also was an early minority owner of the NBA expansion team the Phoenix Suns along with Henry Mancini, Andy Williams, Bobbie Gentry and Tony Curtis.<\/p>\n

In addition to his wife, survivors include his children, Ronald and Sonya; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.<\/p><\/div>\n