Ray Bolger

{{Infobox person

| name = Ray Bolger

| image = Ray Bolger 1942.jpg

| caption = Bolger in 1942

| birth_name = {{nowrap|Raymond Wallace Bolger}}{{cite web|title=Raymond Wallace/Bolger| work=Family Search| url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F46L-CPJ|url-access=registration}}

| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|01|10|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|01|15|1904|01|10|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery

| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|dancer|singer|vaudevillian}}

| years_active = 1922–1985

| known_for = {{ubl|Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz|Barnaby in Babes in Toyland}}

| spouse = {{Marriage|Gwendolyn Rickard|1929|}}

}}

Raymond Wallace Bolger ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|oʊ|l|dʒ|ər}};[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bolger "Bolger"]. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era.

Bolger was a major Broadway performer in the 1930s and beyond. He is best known for his roles in The Wizard of Oz (1939) as the Scarecrow and in Walt Disney's holiday musical fantasy Babes in Toyland in 1961 as the villainous Barnaby.

Bolger was the host of The Ray Bolger Show on TV from 1953 to 1955, originally titled Where's Raymond?{{cite news| first=Glenn| last=Fowler| title=Ray Bolger, Scarecrow in 'Oz' Dies| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEEDE1F3AF935A25752C0A961948260| work=The New York Times| date=January 16, 1987| access-date=June 5, 2008}}

Early life

Raymond Wallace Bolger was born at 598 Second St., South Boston, Massachusetts, into a Catholic family of Irish descent. He was the son of James Edward Bolger and Anne C. (née Wallace).{{cite web| title=Raymond W Bolger United States Census, 1910 |work=Family Search| url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M22C-B6N|url-access=registration}}{{cite web| title=James E. Bolger Massachusetts Marriages|work=Family Search| url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHF7-R3Z|url-access=registration }} His father, James, was a first-generation American of Irish descent, who was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. Bolger's mother "Annie" was born into a large Irish-American family in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.Van ĪÉLeuven, Holly. Ray Bolger: More than a Scarecrow, Chapter 1, Oxford University Press, 2019, {{ISBN|0-190639059}}, p. 7

Bolger grew up and attended school in the Codman Square section of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.[https://www.dotnews.com/2016/mayor-s-mural-crew-creates-homage-ray-bolger-ofd Mayor’s Mural Crew creates homage to Ray Bolger, OFD]

Career

=Early career=

His entertainment aspirations evolved from the vaudeville shows of his youth. He began his career in a vaudeville tap show, creating the act "Sanford & Bolger" with his dance partner. In 1926, he danced at New York City's legendary Palace Theatre, the premier vaudeville theater in the United States. His limber body and improvisational dance movements won him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Eventually, his career also encompassed film, television, and nightclub work.{{cite web| url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/8/Ray-Bolger.html| title=Ray Bolger Biography| publisher=Film Reference| access-date=September 18, 2012}} In 1932 he was elected to the theater club The Lambs{{cite web| url=http://www.The-Lambs.org| title=About The Lambs| website=The Lambs, Inc.|access-date=March 8, 2018}} and performed on opening night at Radio City Music Hall in December 1932.{{cite magazine |last=Oldfield |first=Barney, Col. |date=April 12, 1978 |title=Ray Bolger Was There At Music Hall's Birth |magazine=Variety |page=2}}

After starring in Richard Rodgers' first stage production of On Your Toes in 1936, in which he played the male lead Junior, as well as the hero of the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue ballet within the musical, Bolger signed his first cinema contract with MGM in 1936, and although The Wizard of Oz was early in his film career, he appeared in other movies of note. His best-known pre-Oz appearance was The Great Ziegfeld (1936), in which he portrayed himself. He also appeared in Sweethearts (1938), the first MGM film in Technicolor, starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. He also appeared in the Eleanor Powell vehicle Rosalie (1937), which also starred Eddy and Frank Morgan.

= ''The Wizard of Oz'' =

File:The Wizard of Oz Ray Bolger 1939.jpg in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1939 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz]]

Bolger's MGM contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose. However, he was unhappy when he was originally cast as the Tin Woodman in the studio's 1939 feature-film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. The role of the Scarecrow had already been assigned to another dancing, studio-contract player, Buddy Ebsen. In time, the roles were shuffled around. Bolger's face was permanently lined by wearing the Scarecrow's makeup.{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RR9QAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169| title=The Making of The Wizard of Oz| page=169| publisher=Chicago Review Press| date=October 1, 2013| last=Harmetz| first=Aljean| author-link=Aljean Harmetz| isbn=978-1613748350}}

= Post-Oz film career =

Following The Wizard of Oz, Bolger moved to RKO Pictures. In 1941, he was a featured act at the Paramount Theatre in New York, working with the Harry James Band. He would do tap dance routines, sometimes in a mock-challenge dance with the band's pianist, Al Lerner.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Bolger's performance was interrupted by President Roosevelt's announcement of the news of the attack.{{cite book| last=Lerner| first=Al| year=2007| title=Vamp 'Til Ready| publisher=BearManor Media| isbn=978-1593930806}}{{page needed| date=April 2018}} Bolger toured in USO shows in the Pacific Theater during World War II,[https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/ray-bolger/ "Ray Bolger"] masterworksbroadway.com, accessed August 26, 2019[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ray-bolger-mn0000405888/biography "Ray Bolger Bio"] allmusic.com, accessed August 26, 2019 and appeared in the United Artists wartime film Stage Door Canteen (1943).[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/91216/stage-door-canteen#credits Stage Door Canteen] tcm.com, accessed August 26, 2019

In 1946, he returned to MGM for a featured role in The Harvey Girls. Also that year, he recorded a children's album, The Churkendoose, featuring the story of a misfit fowl ("part chicken, turkey, duck, and goose"), which teaches children that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it "all depends on how you look at things".

=Broadway=

File:Ray Bolger 1963.JPG, 1963]]

Bolger's Broadway credits included Life Begins at 8:40 (1934), On Your Toes (1936), By Jupiter (1942), All American (1962) and Where's Charley? (1948), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and in which he introduced "Once in Love with Amy", the song often connected with him. He repeated his stage role in the 1952 film version of the musical.{{IBDB name|32422}}

=Television=

Bolger appeared in his own ABC television sitcom with a variety show theme, Where's Raymond? (1953–1954), renamed the second year as The Ray Bolger Show (1954–55). He continued to star in several films, including Walt Disney's remake of Babes in Toyland (1961) and smaller cameos throughout the 1960s and 1970.

Bolger made frequent guest appearances on television, including the episode "Rich Man, Poor Man" of the short-lived The Jean Arthur Show in 1966. In the 1970s, he had a recurring role as Fred Renfrew, the father of Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) on The Partridge Family, and appeared in Little House on the Prairie as Toby Noe and also guest-starred on other television series, such as Battlestar Galactica, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat. In the late 1970s, Bolger played in a commercial for Safeway Supermarket's "Scotch Buy" brand, in which he popularized the jingle, "Scotch Buy – 'taint fancy, but it shore is good."Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/9RIsDvq2Joo Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190908043549/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIsDvq2Joo&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=Ray Bolger 1978 Safeway Scotch Buy Commercial|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIsDvq2Joo|website=YouTube| date=July 29, 2014 |access-date=May 7, 2018}}{{cbignore}} His last television appearance was on Diff'rent Strokes in 1984, three years before his death.{{cite web |last=Cross |first=Lucy E. |title=About Ray Bolger |url=http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/ray-bolger |access-date=June 12, 2011}}

In 1976 Bolger performed the opening number for the 48th Academy Awards ceremony.

In his later years, he danced in a Dr Pepper television commercial, and in 1985, he and Liza Minnelli, the daughter of his Oz costar Judy Garland, starred in That's Dancing!, a film written by Jack Haley Jr., the son of Jack Haley, who portrayed the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz.

Honors

In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated]}}, palmspringswalkofstars.com; accessed September 26, 2014.

In 2016, the City of Boston commissioned a mural in Ray Bolger's honor in the Codman Square section of the Dorchester neighborhood.

Personal life

Bolger was married to Gwendolyn Rickard for more than 57 years. They had no children.{{cite web| first=Gary| last=Adelman| title=Ray Bolger in The Wizard of Oz as the Scarecrow| url=http://www.kansasoz.com/infoscarecrow.htm| work=Kansas Wizard of Oz 'N More| year=2008| access-date=June 5, 2008| archive-date=June 18, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618174859/https://www.kansasoz.com/infoscarecrow.htm| url-status=dead}} He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California.{{cite web| url=http://www.goodshepherdbh.org/a-city-on-a-hill/our-history| publisher=Church of the Good Shepherd| title=Our History| access-date=September 26, 2014}}

Bolger was a lifelong Republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election{{Cite book |last=Critchlow |first=Donald T. |author-link=Donald T. Critchlow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=Ray%20Bolger |title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics |date=October 21, 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107650282}} and Richard Nixon in the 1968 election.{{cite web| url=http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/1968-presidential-racerepublicans/| title="1968 Presidential Race" Republicans| publisher=The Pop History Dig| access-date=March 8, 2018}}

Bolger had 11 nieces and nephews.

Death and legacy

File:Ray & Gwendolyn Bolger's grave.JPG]]

Bolger was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986. His health deteriorated and by the end of that year, he left his Beverly Hills home to live at a nursing home in Los Angeles. He died there on January 15, 1987, five days after his 83rd birthday.

At the time of his death, Bolger was the last surviving main-credited cast member of The Wizard of Oz.{{cite web| url=http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/ray-bolger| title=Ray Bolger| publisher=The Official Masterworks Broadway Site| access-date=March 8, 2018}} He was the only one of Judy Garland's Oz costars who attended her funeral (Bert Lahr pre-deceased her in 1967), joining Harold Arlen, the composer of "Over the Rainbow", and his wife, Anya Taranda. They were reported as among the last remaining guests at the conclusion of the service.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/04/09/specials/garland-funeral.html|title=Judy Garland's Funeral Draws Her Colleagues| last=Van Gelder| first=Lawrence| date=June 28, 1969| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=April 2, 2017}}

Whenever asked whether he had received any residuals from telecasts of The Wizard of Oz, Bolger would reply: "No, just immortality. I'll settle for that."{{cite news| url=http://www.ozclub.org/reference/oztlfrm.htm| title=Return to Oz & 50th Anniversary of MGM Film| first=Jane| last=Albright| publisher=The Oz Reference Library| access-date=June 5, 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419114829/http://www.ozclub.org/reference/oztlfrm.htm| archive-date=April 19, 2008| year=2008}} Bolger's Scarecrow is ranked among the "most beloved movie characters of all time" by AMC and the American Film Institute.{{cite web |title=Greatest Movie Characters |url=https://www.filmsite.org/greatfilmcharacters-s.html |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=filmsite.org |language=en}}{{cite web |title=AFI: 10 Top 10 |url=http://www.afi.com/10top10/moviedetail.aspx?id=7892&thumb=6 |access-date=August 20, 2017 |website=afi.com}}

For his contributions to the film industry, Bolger received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. It is located at 6788 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/ray-bolger |title=Hollywood Walk of Fame - Ray Bolger |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |access-date=November 29, 2017}}

In 2019, the first comprehensive biography of Bolger, More Than a Scarecrow by Holly Van Leuven, was published.{{Cite web |last=Tuttle |first=Kate |date=March 13, 2019 |title=How a high schooler's obsession became a biography - The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2019/03/13/how-high-schooler-obsession-became-biography/K5pndff9Quyycbqpw5rxSK/story.html |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Statham |first=William |title=Review: RAY BOLGER: MORE THAN A SCARECROW by Holly Van Leuven |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwbooks/article/BWW-Review-RAY-BOLGER-MORE-THAN-A-SCARECROW-by-Holly-Van-Leuven-20190507 |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}

Filmography

class="wikitable" \|+Theatrical films ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Ray Bolger
1937	Rosalie	Bill Delroy
1938	The Girl of the Golden West	Happy Moore	(scenes deleted)
1938	Sweethearts	Hans
1939	The Wizard of Oz	Hunk / The Scarecrow
1941	Sunny	Bunny Billings
1942	Four Jacks and a Jill	Nifty Sullivan
1943	Forever and a Day	Sentry	(scenes deleted)
1943	Stage Door Canteen	Ray Bolger
1946	The Harvey Girls	Chris Maule
1949	Look for the Silver Lining	Jack Donahue
1952	Where's Charley?	Charley Wykeham
1952	April in Paris	S. Winthrop Putnam
1961	Babes in Toyland	Barnaby
1966	The Daydreamer	The Pieman
1979	Just You and Me, Kid	Tom
1979	The Runner Stumbles	Monsignor Nicholson
1982	Annie	Sound Effects Man	Uncredited
1985	That's Dancing!	Himself – Host	Documentary film

class="wikitable" \|+Television ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
1953–1955	Where's Raymond?	Raymond 'Ray' Wallace	Lead role (61 episodes)
1956–1957	Washington Square	Host
1958–1959	General Electric Theater	Stan Maylor / Alfred Boggs	2 episodes
1962	The Red Skelton Show	Mayor Threadbare III	Episode: "The Mayor of Central Park"
1962	The Little Sweep	Storyteller	Television film
1963 \|The Judy Garland Show \|guest star \|Garland's weekly tv series
1966	The Jean Arthur Show	Wealthy Man	Episode: "Rich Man, Poor Man"
1970–1972	The Partridge Family	Grandpa Renfrew	Recurring role (3 episodes)
1971	Nanny and the Professor	Uncle Horace	Episode: "South Sea Island Sweetheart"
1976	The Entertainer	Billy Rice	Television film
1976	Captains and the Kings	R.J. Squibbs	Television miniseries (Chapter I)
1977–1979	The Love Boat	Andy Hopkins / Horace McDonald	2 episodes
1978	Baretta		Episode: "Just for Laughs"
1978	Three on a Date	Andrew	Television film
1978–1982	Fantasy Island	Gaylord Nelson / Spencer Randolph	2 episodes
1978–1979	Little House on the Prairie	Toby Noe	2 episodes
1979	Heaven Only Knows	Simon	Television pilot
1979	Battlestar Galactica	Vector	Episode: "Greetings from Earth"
1981	Aloha Paradise	Harry Carr	Episode: "Best of Friends/Success/Nine Karats"
1981	Peter and the Wolf	Narrator	Television film
1983	Peter and the Magic Egg	Uncle Amos	Voice, Television special
1984	Diff'rent Strokes	Clarence Markwell	Episode: "A Haunting We Will Go", (final appearance)

Stage work

class="wikitable" \|+Broadway productions ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Theatre
1926	The Merry World	Performer	Imperial Theatre
1926	A Night in Paris	Performer	44th Street Theatre
1929	Heads Up	Georgie	Alvin Theatre
1931	George White's Scandals of 1931	Performer	Apollo Theatre
1934	Life Begins at 8:40	Performer	Winter Garden Theatre
1936	On Your Toes	Phil Dolan III, Hoofer	Imperial Theatre
1940	Keep Off the Grass	Performer	Broadhurst Theatre
1942	By Jupiter	Sapiens	Shubert Theatre
1946	Three to Make Ready	Performer	Adelphi Theatre
1948	Where's Charley?	Charley Wykeham	St. James Theatre
1951	Where's Charley? (revival)	Charley Wykeham	Broadway Theatre
1962	All-American	Professor Fodorski	Winter Garden Theatre
1969	Come Summer	Phineas Sharp	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

class="wikitable" \|+Additional stage work ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Theatre !! Ref.
1932	Radio City Music Hall Inaugural Program	performer	Radio City Music Hall	{{cite web \|title=Radio City Music Hall Inaugural Program – Broadway Special – Original \|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/radio-city-music-hall-inaugural-program-11551 \|website=Internet Broadway Database \|publisher=The Broadway League \|access-date=4 February 2025}}
1969	Come Summer	Phineas Sharp	O'Keefe Centre	{{cite web \|last1=Goode \|first1=Jeff \|title=Ray Bolger stars in come summer, He shows enormous zest in musical at the O'Keefe \|url=https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/244096/ray-bolger-stars-in-come-summer-he-shows-enormous-zest-in-m \|website=Toronto Public Library Digital Archive \|access-date=4 February 2025 \|date=24 January 1969}}
1969	The Happy Time	performer	Starlight Musicals	{{cite web \|title=The Happy Time \|url=https://www.digitalindy.org/digital/collection/sm/id/1615/ \|website=Indianaplis Public Library Digital Collections \|access-date=4 February 2025 \|date=1969}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0001961}}
{{Tcmdb name}}
[http://wilderworld.podomatic.com/entry/2007-02-06T00_40_05-08_00 Churkendoose album] [http://wilderworld.podomatic.com/enclosure/2007-02-06T00_40_05-08_00.mp3 (mp3)]
"Did these stories Really Happen" by Michelle Bernier. Createspace Pub. 2010; {{ISBN|1-4505-8536-1}}

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Category:20th-century American singers

Category:American male dancers

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male musical theatre actors