Ray Bolger

Ray Bolger

Born: January 10, 1904
Died: January 15, 1987
in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Ray Bolger began his career in vaudeville. He was half of a team called "Sanford and Bolger" and also did numerous Broadway shows on his own. He, like Gene Kelly, was a song-and-dance man as well as an actor. He was signed to a contract with MGM in 1936 and his first role was as himself in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). This was soon followed by a role opposite Eleanor Powell in Rosalie (1937). His first dancing and singing role was in Sweethearts (1938), where he did the "wooden shoes" number with red-headed soprano/actress Jeanette MacDonald. This got him noticed by MGM producers and resulted in his being cast in his most famous role, that of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Surprisingly, even though the film was a success, Bolger's contract with MGM ended. He went to RKO to make Four Jacks and a Jill (1942). After this, Bolger went to Broadway, where he received his greatest satisfaction. In 1953 he turned to television and got his own sitcom, Where's Raymond? (1953), later changed to "The Ray Bolger Show". After his series ended, Bolger made frequent guest appearances on TV and had some small roles in movies. In 1985 he co-hosted That's Dancing! (1985) with Liza Minnelli. Bolger died in 1987 at the age of 83. Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the Mausoleum, Crypt F2, Block 35.

Movies for Ray Bolger...

To Oz! The Making of a Classic
Title: To Oz! The Making of a Classic
Character: Self
Released: September 23, 2009
Type: Movie
A look into how L. Frank Baum's classic novel was transformed into one of the most beloved films of all time including archival interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and rare musical outtakes.
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Judy Garland: By Myself
Title: Judy Garland: By Myself
Character: Self - Actor (archive sound)
Released: February 25, 2004
Type: Movie
As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever hear. The sanitized studio version of her life presented a smiling kid with the big voice, who, alongside Mickey Rooney, just wanted to put on a show. But drugs, overwork, even psychological abuse at the hands of the studio is now part of the Garland legend. But despite the number of Garland books and documentaries, one account has always been missing -- Garland herself never managed to write a memoir. She did make several attempts at an autobiography, often recording stories on a tape recorder. Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), finally fills in the blanks - using Judy's personal recordings to tell the story in her own words.
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The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Title: The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Character: 'Hunk' (archive footage)
Released: July 4, 2000
Type: Movie
The movie The Wizard of Oz (1939) with the soundtrack replaced by Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973); several uncanny moments of synchronisation and a generally darker tone than the original film.
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That's Entertainment! III
Title: That's Entertainment! III
Character: (archive footage)
Released: July 1, 1994
Type: Movie
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic
Title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 20, 1990
Type: Movie
Documentary about the making of the 1939 MGM classic film The Wizard of Oz. Includes interviews of cast and crew members, their families and fans of the film.
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That's Dancing!
Title: That's Dancing!
Character: Self - Host
Released: January 18, 1985
Type: Movie
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the movie camera, over the movie musical from the late 20s, 30s, 40s 50s and 60s up to the break dance and the music videos from the 80s.
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The Whimsical World of Oz
Title: The Whimsical World of Oz
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
A promotional piece for the Disney film "Return to Oz", that also traces the history of the Oz books and films.
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Peter and the Magic Egg
Title: Peter and the Magic Egg
Character: Uncle Amos (voice)
Released: February 1, 1983
Type: Movie
A boy named Peter must save Easter. An evil character named Tin Whiskers takes over the town and re-names everything including the streets to have tin in the name. He has several animal friends who help him and Mother Nature even gives him help.
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Annie
Title: Annie
Character: Sound Effects Man at Radio Station (uncredited)
Released: May 21, 1982
Type: Movie
An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.
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The Runner Stumbles
Title: The Runner Stumbles
Character: Monsignor Nicholson
Released: November 16, 1979
Type: Movie
Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Beau Bridges and Tammy Grimes.
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Just You and Me, Kid
Title: Just You and Me, Kid
Character: Tom
Released: July 13, 1979
Type: Movie
George Burns stars as a former vaudevillian who befriends a young runaway, played by 14-year old Brooke Shields, who is being chased by drug dealers.
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The Making of the Wizard of Oz
Title: The Making of the Wizard of Oz
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
The time was 1938. The place, Hollywood. This is the story of one of the 456 films made that year, how it was made, and why it has endured.
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Title: Diff'rent Strokes
Released: November 3, 1978
Type: TV
The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly, for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett.
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Title: Battlestar Galactica
Character: Vector
Released: September 17, 1978
Type: TV
When the 12 Colonies of Man are wiped out by a cybernetic race called the Cylons, Commander Adama and the crew of the battlestar Galactica lead a ragtag fleet of human survivors in search of a "mythical planet" called Earth.
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Three on a Date
Title: Three on a Date
Character: Andrew
Released: February 17, 1978
Type: Movie
The adventures and mishaps of four couples, winners on a TV game show, along with their young chaperone, on a Hawaiian holiday.
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Title: The Love Boat
Character: Andy Hopkins
Released: September 24, 1977
Type: TV
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.
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Title: The Love Boat
Character: Horace McDonald
Released: September 24, 1977
Type: TV
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.
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Title: Captains and the Kings
Character: R.J. Squibbs
Released: September 30, 1976
Type: TV
Rags-to-riches tale of an Irish immigrant in late 1800s based on the novel by Taylor Caldwell.
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The Entertainer
Title: The Entertainer
Character: Billy Rice
Released: March 10, 1976
Type: Movie
A vaudeville entertainer approaches middle age still not having attained success or stardom.
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Title: Donny & Marie
Character: Self
Released: January 23, 1976
Type: TV
Donny & Marie is an American variety show which aired on ABC from January 1976 to January 1979. The show stars brother and sister pop duo Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond. Donny had first become popular singing in a music group with his brothers, The Osmonds, and Marie was one of the youngest singers to reach #1 on the Billboard Country Music charts. The siblings were offered a weekly show by ABC-TV President Fred Silverman after he saw the duo co-host a week on The Mike Douglas Show which followed their series of popular remakes of oldies, such as "I'm Leaving It Up To You", "Morning Side Of The Mountain", "Deep Purple" and "Make The World Go Away". Donny and Marie were the youngest entertainers in TV history to host their own variety show. A year later, The Keane Brothers would break this record.
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Title: Baretta
Released: January 17, 1975
Type: TV
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.
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Title: Little House on the Prairie
Released: September 11, 1974
Type: TV
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s.
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That's Entertainment!
Title: That's Entertainment!
Character: (archive footage)
Released: June 21, 1974
Type: Movie
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
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Title: Nanny and the Professor
Released: January 21, 1970
Type: TV
Nanny and the Professor is an American fantasy situation comedy created by AJ Carothers and Thomas L. Miller for 20th Century Fox Television. During pre-production, the proposed title was Nanny Will Do.
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The Daydreamer
Title: The Daydreamer
Character: The Pieman
Released: June 1, 1966
Type: Movie
A young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier. Each time he falls asleep, he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about in fairy tales including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and The Emperor's New Clothes.
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Title: The Hollywood Palace
Character: Self - Host
Released: January 4, 1964
Type: TV
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Originally titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace, it began as a mid-season replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months. It was staged in Hollywood at the former Hollywood Playhouse on Vine Street, which was renamed The Hollywood Palace during the show's duration and is today known as Avalon Hollywood. A little-known starlet named Raquel Welch was cast during the first season as the "Billboard Girl", who placed the names of the acts on a placard.
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Title: The Judy Garland Show
Character: Himself
Released: December 8, 1963
Type: TV
The Judy Garland Show is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963-1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with several television specials featuring the star. Garland, who for years had been reluctant to commit to a weekly series, saw the show as her best chance to pull herself out of severe financial difficulties. Production difficulties beset the series almost from the beginning. The series had three different producers in the course of its 26 episodes and went through a number of other key personnel changes. With the change in producers also came changes to the show's format, which started as comedy/variety but switched to an almost purely concert format. While Garland herself was popular with critics, the initial variety format and her co-star, Jerry Van Dyke, were not. The show competed with Bonanza, then the fourth most popular program on television, and consistently performed poorly in the ratings. Although fans rallied in an attempt to save the show, CBS cancelled it after a single season. TV Guide included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".
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Back Stage Party
Title: Back Stage Party
Character: Self
Released: December 17, 1961
Type: Movie
A tour of the Disney Studio and a party celebrating the completion of Babes in Toyland.
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Back Stage Party
Title: Back Stage Party
Character: Self
Released: December 17, 1961
Type: Movie
Party, enterianment, and Behind the scenes
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Babes in Toyland
Title: Babes in Toyland
Character: Barnaby
Released: December 14, 1961
Type: Movie
All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so he kidnaps Tom, setting off a series of comic chases, searches, and double-crosses! The "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" helps put Barnaby in his place, and ensures a "happily ever after" for Tom and Mary!
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Title: The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self
Released: December 11, 1961
Type: TV
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
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Title: The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Character: Self
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.
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Title: The George Gobel Show
Character: Self
Released: October 2, 1954
Type: TV
The George Gobel Show is an American television series hosted George Gobel that aired on NBC from 1954 to 1960.
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A Star Is Born World Premiere
Title: A Star Is Born World Premiere
Character: Self
Released: September 28, 1954
Type: Movie
Live television broadcast of the world premiere. Described by various participants as the biggest world premiere in memory, even bigger than the Academy Awards.
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Title: Where's Raymond?
Released: October 8, 1953
Type: TV
Where's Raymond? is an American sitcom that aired on ABC, starring Ray Bolger. The series aired from October 1953 to April 22, 1955. The series' title was spurred by Bolger's Broadway stage hit Where's Charley?. In the 1954-1955 season, the series was renamed The Ray Bolger Show.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Stan Maylor
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: TV
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Alfred Boggs
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: TV
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
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April in Paris
Title: April in Paris
Character: Sam Winthrop Putnam
Released: December 24, 1952
Type: Movie
A series of misunderstandings leads to a chorus girl traveling to Paris to represent the American theater, where she falls in love with a befuddled bureaucrat.
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Where's Charley?
Title: Where's Charley?
Character: Charley Wykeham
Released: May 20, 1952
Type: Movie
Musical version of the comedy, "Charley's Aunt," by Brandon Thomas. As part of a simple enough ruse, a Cambridge student poses as his aunt but his scheme goes wrong, first when someone falls for the aunt, and then when the real aunt turns up.
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Title: The Colgate Comedy Hour
Character: Self
Released: September 10, 1950
Type: TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
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Title: What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Released: February 2, 1950
Type: TV
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.
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Make Mine Laughs
Title: Make Mine Laughs
Character: (archive footage)
Released: August 3, 1949
Type: Movie
A kind of filmed vaudeville show, using old material from RKO films and some new.
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Look for the Silver Lining
Title: Look for the Silver Lining
Character: Jack Donahue
Released: July 30, 1949
Type: Movie
Musical biography of Marilyn Miller, who overcame heartache to become a Broadway star
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The Harvey Girls
Title: The Harvey Girls
Character: Chris Maule
Released: January 18, 1946
Type: Movie
On a train trip out west to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young women traveling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.
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Stage Door Canteen
Title: Stage Door Canteen
Character: Ray Bolger
Released: June 24, 1943
Type: Movie
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance
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Four Jacks and a Jill
Title: Four Jacks and a Jill
Character: Nifty Sullivan, a Jack
Released: January 23, 1942
Type: Movie
Karanina "Nina" Novak, is befriended by Nifty, the leader of a four-piece orchestra, and in return, secures an engagement for them at the Little Aregal Cafe, with herself as the vocalist, by pretending she once knew the King or Aregal back in the old country. Steve shows up pretending to be the King of Aregal, and complicates the growing romance between Nina and Nifty. When Steve runs off with Opa, the real King of Aregal (also Steve) appears and complicates things again.
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Sunny
Title: Sunny
Character: Bunny Billings
Released: May 30, 1941
Type: Movie
Sunny is a 1941 film American film directed by Herbert Wilcox. It was adapted by Sig Herzig from the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical play Sunny. It stars Anna Neagle, Ray Bolger, John Carroll, Edward Everett Horton, Grace Hartman, Paul Hartman, Frieda Inescort, and Helen Westley.
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The Wizard of Oz
Title: The Wizard of Oz
Character: Hunk / Scarecrow
Released: August 15, 1939
Type: Movie
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.
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Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power
Title: Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: December 31, 1938
Type: Movie
This short begins at Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam). The electricity generated here by the Colorado River is sent to Hollywood, where movie studios need it to make movies. After a tour of the MGM studios' power plants, we see short advertisements for upcoming MGM releases.
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Sweethearts
Title: Sweethearts
Character: Hans
Released: December 30, 1938
Type: Movie
Bickering husband-and-wife stage stars are manipulated into a break-up for publicity purposes.
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Rosalie
Title: Rosalie
Character: Bill Delroy
Released: December 24, 1937
Type: Movie
West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an European kingdom.
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The Great Ziegfeld
Title: The Great Ziegfeld
Character: Ray Bolger
Released: April 8, 1936
Type: Movie
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.