Martha Raye

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Martha Raye (August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994) was an American comic actress and singer who appeared in films and later on television.

She has appeared in plays, including Broadway. In 1969, she was honoured by the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.

Early years

Raye's career as a singer and comedic entertainer began in early childhood. Margy Reed was born at St. James Hospital in Butte, Montana; despite her birth certificate naming Reed, several sources in the 1970s and 1980s gave her the surname O'Reed.

Peter F. Reed Jr., an Irish immigrant, was born in Milwaukee and Montana; her mother, Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) Reed, was raised in Milwaukee and Montana. When their daughter was born, her parents were performing in a local vaindeville theatre as Reed and Hooper. Her mother was back on the stage two days later. Martha was the first act to perform in public life when she was three years old. She and her brother Bud later performed together, and the children's act was renamed Margie and Bud after they became so popular that their parents' act was renamed.

Personal life

Raye's personal life was both complicated and tumultuous. She was married seven times.

Raye was a devout Methodist. She went to church, read the Bible daily, and taught Sunday school. "One newspaper says I'm Catholic, and the other says I'm Jewish," she said, as her religious convictions were often misinterpreted. "I suppose it's fitting" because, as a Methodist, I'm supposed to be undetermined some of the time."

In June 1936, she announced her connection with orchestra conductor Johnny Torrence. "They tell me I've already gone Hollywood because I got engaged to Johnny Torrence one day and broke it off the next," she said less than two months later.

She was married to make-up artist Hamilton "Buddy" Westmore from May 30, 1937, to August 7, 1954, before moving to Neal Lang from May 21, 1954, to September 14, 1954; and finally to Mark Harris from September 25, 1991, to October 26, 1994; and to Jonathan Carter from May 25, 1941, to September 17, 1954. Melodye Condos, her fourth husband, Nick Condos, had one child, a daughter, and a nephew, Melodye Condos (born July 26, 1944).

Raye was a conservative thinker, who had affirmed her national interest, limited government, individual rights, and personal responsibility by informing an interviewer in 1984. They reiterated the fact that the United States is the world's largest nation, and we should all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the magnificent legacy they left us.

Raye's last years were marred by sickness. In comparison to losing both legs in 1993 due to poor circulation, she had a history of cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease. While resting in her bed in the hospital-style bed, she and her husband Mark Harris (who, as a result of their turbulent May/December marriage, were forced to relocate to a hotel after their house was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Raye died of pneumonia at the age of 78 on October 19, 1994.

Since being named both an honorary colonel in the US Marines and an honorary lieutenant colonel in the US Army, she was lauded in Arlington National Cemetery. Following her burial, it was instead requested that she be buried in full military glory in the Fort Bragg Main Post cemetery in Spring Lake, North Carolina, home of her her loving and devoted United States Army Special Forces; the Fifth Special Forces Group (Airborne) named Green Beret for her USO service in Vietnam.

Raye has two actors on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard and the other for television at 6547 Hollywood Boulevard.

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Career

Raye, a band vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras, appeared in the early 1930s. In 1934, she made her first film appearance in A Nite, a band short at the Nite Club. In 1936, she was signed by Paramount Pictures as a comic actress and shot her first photograph for Paramount Pictures. Rhythm on the Range was Bing Crosby's first feature film. She made her Broadway debut in the Harry Akst musical Calling All Stars (1934, as Marnie) and later returned to Broadway in starring roles in Yip Harburg's Hold On to Your Hats (1941, as Marnie). Dolly, 1967, and Vincent Youmans' No. No. Nanette (1972, as Pauline) and Dolly, 1976, as Dolly.

She appeared in 39 episodes of Al Jolson's weekly television program, The Lifebuoy Program, as well as Cafe Trocadero from 1936-1939. Raye performed both solos and duets with Jolson, in addition to comedy. She will appear in several of the best comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott, and Costello, as well as Manuel Verdoux (in Keep 'Em Flying), Charlie Chaplin (in Monsieur Verdoux), and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO in 1942, just after the United States landed World War II.

She was known for her large mouth, which was in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. "Now take it from the big mouth: a new Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s" she later described it in a string of television commercials: "So take it from the Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean." Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic strips, and she was often made up so it appeared even larger. She is caricatured when dancing alongside Joe E. Brown, another celebrity known for a big mouth in the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood. 'Moutha Bray', a Warner Bros. cartoon, was depicted as a jazzy singing donkey.

In 1968, she was given the Jean Hersholt Humanity Award in the form of an Oscar. The statuette had been on display at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills for many years after her death. President Bill Clinton gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 for her service to her country.

The citation reads:

She was a television actress at the start of the series. She appeared in the short-lived (28 episodes) The Martha Raye Show (1954-1956), opposite former middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, who played her boyfriend. (Raye was known to say "goombah" in Graziano, Sicilian abbreviation of the Italian word 'compré' ('cumpari' in Southern Italian - friend, comrade)). Nat Hiken, a writer and producer of the Future The Phil Silvers Show creator, was a writer and producer.

Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cesar Romero, and Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb were among the guest stars on the program. She appeared on other television shows in the 1950s, including "What's My Line?"

Following the demise of her television variety show, the breakup of her fifth marriage, and a string of other personal and health issues, she attempted suicide on August 14, 1956. A St. Christopher's medal, a St. Genesius medal, and a Star of David were given to her by the well-wishers. She wore these amulets faithfully after her recovery, but she wasn't Catholic or Jewish. She would honor the nuns at St. Francis Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she had been recovering at the end of each episode of her TV series. "Goodnight, Sisters" was always a sign of respect and admiration.

She made television commercials for Polident denture cleanser later in her career, mainly during the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 1970 film Pufnstuf for Sid and Marty Krofft, she played Boss Witch, the "Queen of all Witchcraft." The result was that she was cast as villainess Benita Bizarre in The Bugaloos (1970), which the Kroffts produced the same year.

She appeared on other websites, especially those that featured older celebrities as guest stars, such as ABC's The Love Boat, and also on variety shows, including the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. Carrie Sharples, Mel's mother on Alice's mother, appeared on Alice from the third to the ninth seasons, with some appearing in two or three seasons a season. She appeared or appeared in a variety of television shows including Murder, She Wrote on CBS and McMillan & Wife, as well as McMillan & Wife on NBC. Agatha was back in the retooled McMillan's six-episode run, replacing Nancy Walker, who had left the series. In the disaster film The Concorde... Airport was her last film appearance. (1979)

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