Acting
Jan 9, 1904
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Ray Bolger
Acting
Biography
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.
Feature Films (37)
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.
The Wizard of Oz
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.
Just You and Me, Kid
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!
Babes in Toyland
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.
April in Paris
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.
The Harvey Girls
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from its origins 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 music videos from the 80s.
That's Dancing!
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, sideshow barker Florenz Ziegfeld turns the tables on his more-successful neighbor Billings, and also steals his girlfriend. This pattern repeats throughout their lives, as Ziegfeld makes and loses many fortunes putting on ever-bigger, more spectacular shows
The Great Ziegfeld
West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an European kingdom.
Rosalie
The team behind a successful Broadway production tries to stop the married stars from transitioning to Hollywood.
Sweethearts
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.
The Making of the Wizard of Oz
After getting her start in her parents' vaudeville act, Marilyn Miller is taken under the wing of dance sensation Jack Donahue. He senses the girl's enormous talent, and before long she's performing on Broadway. There, she is extremely successful and finds love with songwriter Frank Carter. Yet obstacles remain for the rising star, especially when he proposes marriage just before he's set to be deployed in World War I.
Look for the Silver Lining
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.
Where's Charley?
Television & Series (36)
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.
The Colgate Comedy Hour
When the big woods of Wisconsin becomes a difficult spot for hunting, Charles Ingalls reluctantly decides to move his family, pioneering west. Their life on the farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s is full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Little House on the Prairie
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.
The Love Boat
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.
