Martha Raye
Martha Raye (born Margy Reed), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored in 1969 at the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops. In the early 1930s, Raye was a band vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras. She made her first film appearance in 1934 in a band short titled A Nite in the Nite Club. In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures, and made her first picture for Paramount. Her first feature film was Rhythm on the Range with crooner Bing Crosby. She was a featured cast member in 39 episodes of Al Jolson's weekly CBS radio show, The Lifebuoy Program, also called Cafe Trocadero. In addition to comedy, Martha sang both solos and duets with Jolson. Over the next quarter century, she would appear with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott and Costello (in Keep 'Em Flying), Charlie Chaplin (in Monsieur Verdoux), and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO in 1942, soon after the US entered World War II. She was known for the size of her mouth, which was large in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. She later referred to this in a series of television commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic parts, and was often made up so it appeared even larger. In the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, she is caricatured while dancing alongside Joe E. Brown, another actor known for a big mouth. In the Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937), she was caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named 'Moutha Bray'. She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly those which often featured older performers as guest stars, such as ABC's The Love Boat, and also on variety programs, including the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. She appeared from the third to the ninth seasons as Carrie Sharples on Alice, making two or three appearances a season. She made guest appearances or did cameo roles in such series as Murder, She Wrote on CBS and The Andy Williams Show and McMillan & Wife, both on NBC. She appeared again as Agatha for the six-episode run of the retooled McMillan, taking over for Nancy Walker, who had left the series. Her last film appearance was as an incontinent airline passenger in the disaster film The Concorde ... Airport '79. Later in her career, she made television commercials for Polident denture cleanser, principally during the 1970s and 1980s.
Known For
Credits
- 2019 · Sid & Judy as Self (archive footage)
- 2014 · Bing Crosby: Rediscovered as Self (archive footage)
- 2014 · And the Oscar Goes To... as Self (archive footage)
- 2005 · The Adventures of Errol Flynn as Self (archive footage)
- 2003 · Chaplin Today: 'Monsieur Verdoux' as Self (archive footage)
- 1985 · Alice in Wonderland as Duchess
- 1984 · Murder, She Wrote as Sadie Winthrope
- 1982 · Showbiz Goes to War as (archive footage)
- 1981 · Pippin as Bertha
- 1980 · The Gossip Columnist as Georgia O'Hanlon
- 1979 · Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol as The Ghost of Christmas Past
- 1979 · The Concorde... Airport '79 as Loretta
- 1977 · 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as
- 1977 · The Love Boat as Irene Austin
- 1977 · The Love Boat as Zelda
- 1976 · Alice as
- 1971 · McMillan and Wife as Agetha
- 1971 · McMillan and Wife as Agatha
- 1970 · The Bugaloos as Benita Bizarre
- 1970 · Pufnstuf as Boss Witch
- 1970 · The Phynx as Foxy
- 1970 · No Substitute for Victory as Herself
- 1969 · The Barbara McNair Show as Self
- 1968 · The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- 1967 · The Carol Burnett Show as Self - Guest
- 1966 · Clown Alley as Washerwoman Clown
- 1964 · The Hollywood Palace as Self - Sketch Actor / Singer
- 1963 · The Judy Garland Show as Self
- 1963 · Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as
- 1963 · Burke's Law as Beulah Brothers
- 1962 · Billy Rose's Jumbo as Lulu
- 1961 · The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- 1959 · The Big Party as Self
- 1956 · The Steve Allen Show as Self
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self
- 1952 · This Is Your Life as Self
- 1950 · The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
- 1950 · The Bob Hope Show as Self
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1947 · Monsieur Verdoux as Annabella Bonheur
- 1944 · Pin Up Girl as Molly McKay
- 1944 · Four Jills in a Jeep as Martha Raye
- 1943 · Show-Business at War as Self
- 1941 · Hellzapoppin' as Betty Johnson
- 1941 · Keep 'Em Flying as Gloria Phelps / Barbara Phelps
- 1941 · Navy Blues as Lilibelle Bolton
- 1940 · The Boys from Syracuse as Luce
- 1940 · The Farmer's Daughter as Patience Bingham
- 1939 · $1,000 a Touchdown as Martha Madison
- 1939 · Never Say Die as Mickey Hawkins
- 1938 · Give Me a Sailor as Letty Larkin
- 1938 · Tropic Holiday as Midge Miller
- 1938 · College Swing as Mabel Grady
- 1938 · The Big Broadcast of 1938 as Martha Bellows
- 1937 · Double or Nothing as Liza Lou Lane
- 1937 · Artists & Models as Specialty
- 1937 · Mountain Music as Mary Beamish
- 1937 · Waikiki Wedding as Myrtle Finch
- 1936 · College Holiday as Daisy Schloggenheimer
- 1936 · Hideaway Girl as Helen Flint
- 1936 · The Big Broadcast of 1937 as Patsy
- 1936 · Rhythm on the Range as Emma