Donald Buka

{{Infobox person

| name = Donald Buka

| image = Donald Buka in Watch on the Rhine still.jpg

| caption = Buka in 1943

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|08|17|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|2009|07|21|1920|08|17}}

| death_place = Reading, Massachusetts, U.S.

| resting_place =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1943–1987

| spouse = Irene Maskell Mitchell (1968-1968) (divorced)
Joy Weber (1972-?) (1 child)
Suzanne Sinaiko (1993-1998) (her death){{cite web | url=https://playbill.com/article/donald-buka-veteran-stage-and-film-actor-dies-at-88-com-163015 | title=Donald Buka, Veteran Stage and Film Actor, Dies at 88 }}

| children = 1

| awards =

}}

Donald Buka (August 17, 1920 – July 21, 2009) was an American supporting actor in radio, films, and television from 1943 to 1971.

Early years

Buka was born on August 17, 1920, in Cleveland, Ohio. When he was 17 years old, he went to Pittsburgh to study at Carnegie Tech.{{cite news |title=Donald Buka of Pittsburgh H. Hughes' New Discovery |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108391850/donald-buka/ |access-date=August 27, 2022 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=February 18, 1947 |page=18|via = Newspapers.com}}

Career

While he was at Carnegie Tech, aged 17, Buka read a scene for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in an otherwise-empty theater. They invited him to join their company immediately, and he accepted. He toured with them for three years.

Buka had worked on a film for Howard Hughes for three days when Hughes offered him a seven-year contract and told the screenwriter to expand Buka's part for the scenes that had not yet been filmed. Buka agreed to the contract with the stipulation that he be allowed to act on stage during the nine months of the traditional theatrical season each year.

After some early experience in the theater, he got his start in mass media by appearing on the CBS radio program Let's Pretend.{{cite episode |title=Donald Buka |url=http://www.goldenage-wtic.org/gaor-27.html |series=The Golden Age of Radio |last1=Bertel |first1=Dick |last2=Corcoran |last3=Ed |network=Broadcast Plaza, Inc. |station=WTIC Hartford, Conn. |airdate=June 1972 |season=3 |number=3 }}

He appeared in episodes of Dragnet, Ironside, Perry Mason and The High Chaparral.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

Buka's Broadway debut came in Twelfth Night (1940).{{cite web |last1=Eder |first1=Bruce |title=Donald Buka |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/donald-buka-p9436 |website=AllMovie |access-date=August 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311113524/http://www.allmovie.com/artist/donald-buka-p9436 |archive-date=March 11, 2015 |url-status=live}} He concluded his Broadway career in Design for Living (1984).{{cite web |title=Donald Buka |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donald-buka-33590 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=August 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207032637/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donald-buka-33590 |archive-date=December 7, 2021}}

Death

Buka died on July 21, 2009, in Reading, Massachusetts.[http://www.playbill.com/news/article/131407-Donald-Buka-Veteran-Stage-and-Film-Actor-Dies-at-88 Donald Buka, Veteran Stage and Film Actor, Dies at 88] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928164135/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/131407-Donald-Buka-Veteran-Stage-and-Film-Actor-Dies-at-88 |date=September 28, 2013 }}

Filmography

=Film=

Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
class="wikitable sortable" \|+ {{Screen reader-only\| Donald Buka Film credits}}
1943	Watch on the Rhine	Joshua	{{citation needed\|date=October 2017}}
1948	The Street with No Name	Shivvy	{{citation needed\|date=October 2017}}
rowspan=2 \| 1950	Between Midnight and Dawn	Ritchie Garris
Vendetta	Padrino, the Bandit
1951	New Mexico	Private Van Vechton
1953	Stolen Identity	Toni Sponer
1961	Operation Eichmann	David
1964	Shock Treatment	Psychologist
1970	The Great White Hope	Reporter	Uncredited

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable" \|+ {{Screen reader-only\| Donald Buka Television credits}}
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1960	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Mental Patient at the door	Episode: "The Cuckoo Clock" {{small\|(S5.E27)}}
1964 \| Perry Mason \| Clark \| 1 episode
1967 \| Ironside \| Vincent Longo \| 1 episode
1971 \|A Memory of Two Mondays \|Mr. Eagle \|TV play. PBS
1986 \|The Equalizer \|Ben Carrigan \| Episode: "The Line"

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ {{Screen reader-only| Donald Buka Television credits}}

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1960

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Mental Patient at the door

Episode: "The Cuckoo Clock" {{small|(S5.E27)}}

1964

| Perry Mason