{{Short description|American actor (1915–1983)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jim Ameche | image = Jim Ameche 1940.JPG | alt = | caption = Jim Ameche in 1940. | birth_name = James Amici | birth_date = {{birth date|1915|8|6}} | birth_place = Kenosha, Wisconsin | death_date = {{death date and age|1983|2|4|1915|8|6}} | death_place = Tucson, Arizona | other_names = | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1951–1957 | alma_mater = | spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth A. Harris|1936}} | children = 6 | parents = Felice Amici <br/> Barbara Etta Amici | relatives = Don Ameche (brother) }}
'''Jim Ameche''' (August 6, 1915<ref name="trib082248">{{cite news|last1=Ratty|first1=Marguerite|title=Telephone Call Turns Career of Jim Ameche|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1948/08/22/page/130/article/telephone-call-turns-career-of-jim-ameche|access-date=15 January 2015|agency=Chicago Tribune|date=August 22, 1948}}</ref> – February 4, 1983)<ref name="coxotd">Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3848-8}}. Page 29.</ref> was an American radio actor who is most notable for his role as radio's original Jack Armstrong on ''Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy''.<ref name=rs>DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2834-2}}. P. 11.</ref>
==Career== Born '''James Amici''' in Kenosha, Wisconsin,.<ref name=rs2>Cox, Jim (2007). ''Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6086-1}}. Pp. 10-11.</ref> When his elder brother, Don, left his position as the host and announcer for ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'' in the early 1940s, Jim took over for the remainder of the show's run. He also was heard as mountie Jim West on ABC's ''Silver Eagle'' (1951–55). Other shows Ameche was heard on included ''Grand Hotel'', ''Hollywood Playhouse'', and ''Big Sister''. In the 1940s, he had several programs on WGN radio in Chicago.<ref name=trib082248/>
He was heard on stations in Los Angeles and Palm Springs in the late 1950s and early 60s. For many years he was a popular local radio personality in the New York City area. By the late 1960s, he was working as an announcer on New York's WHN and the TV pitchman for a Longines Symphonette Society mail-order record album featuring clips of old-time radio broadcasts. In the 1960s he also read radio advertisements for Gibson wines. For many years, he was the afternoon announcer on WQXR, the classical radio station of ''The New York Times.'' He also recorded numerous radio ads in Phoenix, Arizona in his later years{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}.
==Film== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2025}} He portrayed Alexander Graham Bell in the 1957 film ''The Story of Mankind,'' a role his brother Don played in 1939's ''The Story of Alexander Graham Bell''.
==Family== Jim Ameche married Elizabeth "Betty" A. Harris of Oak Park, Illinois in 1936.<ref>{{cite news|date=August 30, 1936|title=Fire Chief's Niece Weds Radio Star|pages=23|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-fire-chiefs-niec/169757709/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 7, 2025}}</ref> The couple had six children.<ref name=trib082248/> Alan Ameche, the professional football player, was a cousin of Jim.<ref name="who">{{cite encyclopedia|title=AMECHE, Don|encyclopedia=Who's Who in the Theatre|volume=1|page=15|publisher=Gale Research Company|year=1981|editor=Ian Herbert|issn=0083-9833}}</ref>
==Death== Jim Ameche died February 4, 1983, of lung cancer at Tucson Medical Center at age 67.<ref name=died>{{cite news|author=<!--Not stated-->|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1983/02/06/page/43/article/jim-ameche-radio-actor-for-40-years|title=Jim Ameche, radio actor for 40 years|work=Chicago Tribune|date=February 6, 1983|access-date=August 22, 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0024503|name=Jim Ameche}} *[http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=1322 Video clip featuring Jim Ameche's ad campaign for the ''Remembering the Golden Days of Radio'' LP set (1971)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726132550/http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=1322 |date=2011-07-26 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ameche, Jim}} Category:1915 births Category:1983 deaths Category:American male radio actors Category:Radio personalities from New York City Category:Jubilee Records artists Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Arizona Category:Male actors from Kenosha, Wisconsin Category:20th-century American male actors Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Italian descent