Ray Bolger

Raymond Wallace Bolger was born on January 10, 1904, at 598 Second Street in South Boston, Massachusetts, into a Catholic family of Irish descent. His father, James Edward Bolger, was a first-generation American born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and his mother, Anne Wallace Bolger, came from a large Irish-American family in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Bolger grew up in the Codman Square section of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, where he attended school. In the years following high school, he held a series of jobs in the Boston area, including work at the city's First National Bank, insurance sales, and door-to-door vacuum sales across New England. He studied at O'Brien's Dancing Academy and later served as a manager and instructor at Russakoff's School of Dance.

Bolger's path toward performance grew out of the vaudeville shows he encountered in his youth. He launched his professional career in a vaudeville tap act called Sanford and Bolger, formed with a dance partner. In 1926, he performed at New York City's Palace Theatre, the foremost vaudeville venue in the country, and that same year marked the beginning of his Broadway career, which would span from 1926 to 1969. His fluid, improvisational movement style earned him leading roles on the Broadway stage throughout the 1930s. In 1932, he was elected to the theater club The Lambs and performed on opening night at Radio City Music Hall in December of that year.

Bolger's Broadway credits encompassed a wide range of productions across several decades. He appeared in Life Begins at 8:40 in 1934, followed by the Richard Rodgers musical On Your Toes in 1936, in which he played the male lead Junior and also performed the central role in the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue ballet sequence within the show. He went on to appear in By Jupiter in 1942, Three to Make Ready, and Where's Charley? in 1948, the production for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in 1949. In Where's Charley?, Bolger introduced the song "Once in Love with Amy," which became closely associated with him throughout his career. He reprised the role in the 1952 film adaptation of the musical. Later Broadway work included All American in 1962 and Come Summer in 1969.

Bolger signed his first film contract with MGM in 1936, the same year he starred in On Your Toes on Broadway. His pre-Oz film appearances included The Great Ziegfeld in 1936, in which he portrayed himself, Rosalie in 1937, and Sweethearts in 1938, the first MGM film produced in Technicolor. His most enduring screen role came in MGM's 1939 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, in which he played Hunk and the Scarecrow. He had originally been assigned the role of the Tin Woodman, a part he was unhappy with, and the roles were eventually reshuffled. The Scarecrow's makeup left permanent lines on his face. Following the film, Bolger moved to RKO Pictures. He appeared in the United Artists wartime film Stage Door Canteen in 1943, having toured in USO shows in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and returned to MGM in 1946 for a featured role in The Harvey Girls. In 1961, he played the villainous Barnaby in Walt Disney's Babes in Toyland.

In 1941, Bolger was a featured act at the Paramount Theatre in New York, performing alongside the Harry James Band. That same year, on December 7, his performance was interrupted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Also in 1946, he recorded a children's album titled The Churkendoose, a story about a misfit bird described as part chicken, turkey, duck, and goose.

Bolger hosted his own ABC television program beginning in 1953, originally titled Where's Raymond?, which was renamed The Ray Bolger Show in its second season, running through 1955. He made frequent guest appearances on television throughout subsequent decades, including an episode of The Jean Arthur Show in 1966, and held a recurring role as Fred Renfrew on The Partridge Family in the 1970s. He also appeared on Little House on the Prairie as Toby Noe and guest-starred on Battlestar Galactica, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat. In 1976, he performed the opening number at the 48th Academy Awards ceremony. In 1985, he and Liza Minnelli appeared together in That's Dancing!, a film written by Jack Haley Jr., the son of Jack Haley, who had played the Tin Woodman alongside Bolger in The Wizard of Oz. His final television appearance was on Diff'rent Strokes in 1984.

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. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, located at 6788 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him, and in 2016 the City of Boston commissioned a mural in his honor in the Codman Square section of Dorchester. The first comprehensive biography of Bolger, More Than a Scarecrow by Holly Van Leuven, was published in 2019.

Bolger was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986 and moved from his Beverly Hills home to a nursing facility in Los Angeles as his health declined. He died on January 15, 1987, five days after his 83rd birthday.