Ed Ames

Ed Ames - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Ed Ames

Edmund Dantes Urick (July 9, 1927 – May 21, 2023), known professionally as Ed Ames or Eddie Ames, was an American pop singer and actor. He was known for playing Mingo in the television series Daniel Boone, and for his Easy Listening No. 1 hits of the mid-to-late 1960s including "My Cup Runneth Over", "Time, Time", and "When the Snow Is on the Roses". He was also part of the popular 1950s singing group with his siblings, the Ames Brothers.

This profile of Ed Ames covers Early Life and Family Background, Acting Career, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Summer stock and Career and Rise to Fame.

Early Life and Family Background of Ed Ames

Ames was born in Malden, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1927, to Jewish parents Sarah (Zaslavskaya) and David Urick, a.k.a. Eurich, who had emigrated from Ukraine. He was the youngest of nine children, five boys and four girls.

Ames grew up in a poor household. He attended the Boston Latin School and was educated in classical and opera music, as well as literature. While still in high school, the brothers formed a quartet and often won competitions around the Boston area. Three of the brothers later formed the Amory Brothers quartet and went to New York City, where they were hired by bandleader Art Mooney. Playwright Abe Burrows helped the brothers along the way, suggesting the siblings change their group's name to the Ames Brothers.

The Ames Brothers were first signed on with Decca Records in 1947, but because of the Musician Union's ban in 1948, a holdover from the 1942–1944 musicians' strike, Decca released only three singles by the brothers, and one backing Russ Morgan. As the ban was ending, they signed with Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca. They had their first major hit in the 1950s with the double-sided "Rag Mop" and "Sentimental Me". The brothers later joined RCA Victor records and continued to have success throughout the 1950s with many hits like "It Only Hurts For a Little While", "You, You, You", and "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane". The brothers made regular appearances on network television variety programs, and in 1955 briefly had a 15-minute show of their own.

Acting Career of Ed Ames

In the early 1960s, the Ames Brothers disbanded, and Ed Ames, pursuing a career in acting, studied at the Herbert Berghof School. His first starring role was in an off-Broadway production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, going on to starring performances in The Fantasticks off-Broadway and Carnival!, which was on Broadway.

Ames was in the national touring company of Carnival. His dark complexion and sharp facial features led to his being cast regularly as a Native American. He played Chief Bromden in the Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, opposite Kirk Douglas.

Talent scouts at 20th Century Fox saw Ames in the production and invited him to play the Cherokee tribesman, Mingo on the NBC television series Daniel Boone, with Fess Parker. His character's father was an English officer, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, played in the show by Walter Pidgeon. In that show, Mingo was the Earl's eldest son and thus entitled to claim the title as the fifth Earl, but decided to remain part of the Cherokee Nation. In an episode of Season One, Ames also portrayed Mingo's evil twin brother, Taramingo. Ames' main character was actually named Caramingo, but went by Mingo throughout the entire series.

Ames played a wanted murderer holed-up in a hotel during a smallpox quarantine on a 1962 The Rifleman episode ("Quiet Night, Deadly Night"), and guest-starred as Kennedy in the 1963 episode "The Day of the Pawnees, Part 2" on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with Kurt Russell in the title role. He guest-starred in 1963 on Richard Egan's NBC modern western series, Redigo.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

While playing Mingo on television, Ames developed some skill in throwing a tomahawk. This led to one of the most memorable moments of his career, when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on April 27, 1965.

During the course of the show, Ames and Johnny Carson were discussing Ames' tomahawk throwing abilities. When Ames claimed that he could hit a target from across the room, Carson asked Ames if he could demonstrate this skill. Ames agreed, and a wood panel with a chalk outline of a cowboy was brought on to the stage. As the studio band played a bar of the theme music from Adventures of Pow Wow, Ames proceeded to throw the tomahawk, which hit the drawn cowboy square in the groin with the handle pointing upward. This led to a long burst of laughter from the audience.

After a moment, Ames proceeded to walk toward the target to retrieve the tomahawk but Carson stopped him and allowed the situation to be appreciated for its humor. Ames then said to Carson: "Think I'm going into another business, John." To which Carson ad-libbed: "I didn't even know you were Jewish!" and "Welcome to Frontier Bris." (It's not known whether Carson was aware that Ames actually was Jewish.)

Ames then asked Carson if he would like to take a turn throwing, to which Carson replied: "I can't hurt him any more than you did." The clip became a favorite of Carson's own yearly highlight show and subsequent blooper television specials.

Summer stock

Later in his career, Ames became a fixture on the Kenley Players circuit, headlining in Shenandoah (1976, 1979, 1986), Fiddler on the Roof (1977), South Pacific (1980), Camelot (1981), and Man of La Mancha (1984).

Career and Rise to Fame

Ames recorded under the name "Eddie Ames" while still with the Ames Brothers, releasing the single "The Bean Song (Which Way to Boston?)" in January, 1957. Several of his other releases in 1963 and 1964 went unnoticed.

Ames is known for his baritone voice. He released his first RCA Victor chart single, "Try to Remember" in late 1964. The song did respectably (No. 73 on the pop charts, No. 17 in the Adult Contemporary listing) in 1965. A bigger success came in 1967 with "My Cup Runneth Over". The song was both a No. 8 pop hit and a No. 1 adult contemporary radio hit. Thereafter he had Adult Contemporary hits with "Time, Time", "When the Snow Is on the Roses", and "Timeless Love", the latter written by Buffy Sainte-Marie. He did make the pop Top 20 one last time in his singing career with the protest song "Who Will Answer?" written by Sheila Davis in 1968. The subsequent single "Apologize" reached No. 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 47 in the Canadian RPM Magazine Top 100 Singles chart. It climbed to the Adult Contemporary Top 10 during this time. In the summer Ames collaborated with songwriter Jimmy Webb for "All My Love's Laughter", which hit the charts in August.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Ames), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.