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Ray Bolger ( January 10, 1904 - January 15, 1987) was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz.
Ray Bolger was born and grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, a middle-class neighborhood. His father was a house-painter, his mother a homemaker. He was inspired by the vaudeville shows he attended when he was young to become an entertainer himself. He began his career as a dancer. His limber body and ability to ad lib movement won him many starring roles on Broadway in the 1930s.
His film career began when he signed a $3,000 a week contract with MGM in 1936. His best-known film prior to The Wizard of Oz was The Great Ziegfeld ( 1936).
Bolger's studio contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose; however, he was unhappy when he was cast as Tin Man in Oz. The part had already been assigned to another lean and limber dancing studio contract player, Buddy Ebsen. In time the roles were switched. While Bolger was pleased with his role as the Scarecrow, Ebsen was struck ill by the powdered aluminum make-up used to complete the Tin Man costume. (The powdered aluminum had been inhaled and coated Ebsen's lungs, leaving him near death.) Ebsen's illness paved the way for the role to be filled by Jack Haley.
Bolger's performance in Oz was a tour de force. He displayed the full range of his physical, comedic, and dramatic talents playing the character searching for the brain that he's always had. Bolger's sympathy for Dorothy 's plight, his cleverness and bravery in her rescue from the Wicked Witch of the West and his deep affection for her shone through, endearing the character -- and Bolger -- in the public mind forever.
Following Oz, Bolger moved to RKORKO Radio-Keith-Orpheum Pictures is an American film company. The company was formed in 1929 from the merger of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) theater company, Joe Kennedy's Film Booking Office (FBO), Pathe, and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).. He starred in several more films and had a sitcom called Where's Raymond? 19531953 is a common year starting on Thursday (click on link for the calendar). Events January events January 7 President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. January 13 Marshal Josip Broz Tito chosen President of Yugosl. He also made frequent guest appearances on televisionSee TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television p. In 19851985 is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January events January 1 Creation of the Internet's Domain Name System. January 17 British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous red telephone boxes. January 23 A debate in the House of Lor he and Liza MinnelliLiza Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She was born Liza May Minnelli in Los Angeles, California, as the daughter of actress and singer Judy Garland and her second husband, film director Vincente Minnelli. Liza Minnelli's f, the daughter of his Oz co-star Judy GarlandJudy Garland ( June 10, 1922 June 22, 1969) was a American film actress who is considered one of the greatest singing stars of Hollywood's Golden Era of musical film. Child star Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, she was born into a famil, starred in That's Dancing! -- a film also written Jack Haley, Jr. , the son of Tin Man actor Jack Haley.
Mr. Bolger died in Los Angeles, CA, in 1987 of cancer just five days after his eighty-third birthday and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. By the time of his death he was the last surviving member of the main Oz cast.
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