Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom Hazel from 1961 to 1965, the former of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.DeFore was one of seven children born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Joseph Ervin, a railroad engineer who worked at the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company and was also a local politician, and Albina Sylvia DeFore (née Nezerka).[1] DeFore's mother, who occasionally directed plays at their local church, was of Czechoslovakian descent.[2][3] After graduating from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, DeFore attended the University of Iowa.[4] He initially studied law while also playing basketball, track, and baseball before becoming interested in acting. Since acting was not a major study at the university, he left and enrolled at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he won a scholarship and stayed for three years. During this time, he and four fellow students wrote a play called Where Do We Go From Here? It was presented in a little theater in Hollywood with DeFore in the cast. As a young man, DeFore toured the country in stock companies for several years before making his Broadway debut in Where Do We Go From Here? in 1938, when Oscar Hammerstein II offered to take it to Broadway, and DeFore and five of the original cast members went along. The show ran for four weeks, and DeFore was soon recognized as a member of legitimate theater. He remained in New York and won a key role in The Male Animal, which ran for almost eight months on Broadway[6] and eight months on the road.

In Hollywood, DeFore's first screen appearance was in a bit part in 1936's Reunion. By the early 1940s, he was appearing regularly in films such as: The Male Animal (1942), A Guy Named Joe (1943), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), You Came Along (1945), Without Reservations (1946), It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947), Romance on the High Seas (1948), My Friend Irma (1949) and Jumping Jacks (1952). In 1946, exhibitors voted him the fourth-most promising "star of tomorrow".[7]

DeFore also worked in radio, performing on such programs as Suspense, Old Gold Comedy Theater, and Lux Radio Theatre, but he is best known for his work in television. Beginning in 1952, DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons' friendly neighbor, "Thorny", on the ABC sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,[8] earning a nomination in 1955 for a Best Supporting Actor in a Regular Series Primetime Emmy Award.[9] In time though, the role of Thorny was superseded by Lyle Talbot as Joe Randolph, and Mary Jane Croft as his wife Clara.

From 1954 to 1955, he served as president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He was instrumental in arranging for the Emmy Awards to be broadcast on national television for the first time on March 7, 1955.[8] He also served on the board of the Screen Actors Guild.[10]

From 1961 to 1965, DeFore was a co-star of the television series Hazel as "Mr. B." (George Baxter), employer of the spirited, domineering housekeeper Hazel Burke, played by Shirley Booth and based on the cartoon character appearing in The Saturday Evening Post.[8] DeFore was not the original actor to portray George Baxter. In the pilot episode, the role was played by character actor Edward Andrews. DeFore took over the role when the series was green-lighted. The series ran on prime time until 1966 when it was canceled by NBC. DeFore and his co-star Whitney Blake were written out of the series when CBS picked up the series for its final season.[11]

In 1970 Defore appeared as Mayor Evans on the TV western “The Men From Shiloh” in the episode titled "Colonial Mackenzie Verses The West." In that role he played a murderer which was a major shift from the comedy roles he was better known for on sitcoms like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Hazel. Men From Shiloh was a rebranded name for The Virginian.

For his contribution to the television industry, Don DeFore has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6804 Hollywood Blvd.[