Ray Bolger

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Raymond Wallace Bolger (January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American film and television actor, vaudevillian, singer, dancer (particularly of tap) and stage performer (particularly musical theatre) who started in the silent film era.

He was a major Broadway performer in the 1930s and beyond (see below).

He is best known for his role as the Scarecrow and his Kansas counterpart farm worker "Hunk" in MGM's classic The Wizard of Oz (1939) and the villainous Barnaby in Walt Disney's musical fantasy Babes in Toyland.

He was also the host of his eponymous television show, The Ray Bolger Show.

Early life

Bolger was born at 598 Second St., South Boston, Massachusetts, into a Catholic family of Irish descent, the son of James Edward Bolger and Anne C. née Wallace. His father James was first-generation Irish, and was born in Fall River, Massachusetts; his mother "Annie" who had a large Irish family, was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He grew up and attended school in the Codman Square section of Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. After graduating from high school, he worked for a peanut company, as a bank messenger, and for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, before finding his way to vaudeville by gaining a role on Broadway in The Passing Show of 1926.

Personal life

Bolger was married to Gwendolyn Rickard for more than 57 years. They had no children. He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California.

Bolger was a lifelong Republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election and Richard Nixon in the 1968 election.

Bolger's great-nephew is actor John Bolger and Boston Conner of the Pat McAfee show.

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Career

His entertainment ambitions emerged from his youth's vaindeville shows. He began his career as a vaudeville tap performer, co-creating the group "Sanford & Bolger" with his dance partner. He performed at the legendary Palace Theatre in New York City in 1926, the country's finest vaudeville theatre. His limber body and improvisational dance movements earned him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. His career progress eventually extended to film, television, and nightclub management. In 1932, he was elected to The Lambs, a theater group, and appeared on the first night of Radio City Music Hall.

Bolger's first cinematic role with MGM came in 1936, and although The Wizard of Oz was early in his film career, he appeared in other films of note. The Great Ziegfeld (1936), in which he portrayed himself, was his best known pre-Oz appearance. He appeared in Sweethearts (1938), the first MGM film in Technicolor starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. He appeared in Eleanor Powell's Rosalie (1937), which also starred Eddy and Frank Morgan.

Bolger's MGM deal stated that he would appear in whatever manner the studio chooses. However, he was dissatisfied when he first appeared as the Tin Woodman in the studio's 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz. Buddy Ebsen, a fellow dancing and studio-contract employee, had already been given the Scarecrow job. The roles were shuffled around in time. Bolger's face was permanently lined after wearing the Scarecrow's make-up.

Bolger moved to RKO Pictures after seeing The Wizard of Oz. He appeared at the Paramount Theatre in New York in 1941 and was a featured act with the Harry James Band. He would perform tap dance routines, occasionally in a mock-challenge dance with the band's pianist, Al Lerner. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and Bolger's appearance was interrupted by President Roosevelt's announcement of the attack. Bolger appeared in USO shows during World War II in the Pacific Theater, and he appeared in the United Artists wartime film Stage Door Canteen (1943).

In 1946, he returned to MGM for a leading role in The Harvey Girls. He released The Churkendoose, a children's album that also includes the tale of a misfit fowl ("part chicken, turkey, duck, and goose"), which teaches children that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that it "all depends on how you look at it."

Life Begins (1934), On Your Toes (1936), Bolger's Broadway debuts (1941), By Jupiter (1942), Where's Charley (1962) and Where's Charley? (1948): The actor received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and in which he performed "Once in Love with Amy," the song often associated with him. In the 1952 film version of the musical, he reprised his stage appearance.

Where's Raymond? Bolger appeared in his own ABC television sitcom with a variety show theme. The Ray Bolger Show (1954–55), which was held in the second year, was renamed for the second year (1954-1954). He continued to appear in many films, including Walt Disney's remake of Babes in Toyland (1961) and smaller cameos during the 1960s and 1970s.

Bolger made frequent guest appearances on television, including the 1966 episode "Rich Man, Poor Man" of the short-lived The Jean Arthur Show. Fred Renfrew, the father of Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), appeared on The Partridge Family in the 1970s, and he appeared on several television shows, including Battlestar Galactica, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat. Bolger appeared in a commercial for Safeway Supermarket's "Scotch Buy" brand, in which he popularized the phrase, "Scotch Buy" (taint fancy), but it shore is good." In 1984, three years before his death, his last television appearance was on Diff'rent Strokes.

In his later years, he appeared in a Dr Pepper television commercial, and Liza Minnelli, the niece of his Oz costar Judy Garland, starred in That's Dancing!, a film directed by Jack Haley, Jr., who portrayed the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz, appeared in That's Dancing!

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