Biography
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.
Filmography
all 64
Movies 41
self 23
TV Shows 23
Sid & Judy (2019)
Bing Crosby: Rediscovered (2014)
And the Oscar Goes To... (2014)
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
Chaplin Today: 'Monsieur Verdoux' (2003)
Murder, She Wrote (1984)
Showbiz Goes to War (1982)
Pippin (1981)
The Gossip Columnist (1980)
Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979)
The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979)
'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977)
The Love Boat (1977)
Alice (1976)
McMillan and Wife (1971)
The Bugaloos (1970)
Pufnstuf (1970)
The Phynx (1970)
No Substitute for Victory (1970)
The Barbara McNair Show (1969)
The Dick Cavett Show (1968)
The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
Clown Alley (1966)
The Hollywood Palace (1964)
The Judy Garland Show (1963)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963)
Burke's Law (1963)
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show (1962)
The Mike Douglas Show (1961)
The Big Party (1959)
The Steve Allen Show (1956)
The Oscars (1953)
This Is Your Life (1952)
Four Star Revue (1950)
Musical Comedy Time (1950)
The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950)
The Bob Hope Show (1950)
What's My Line? (1950)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Hot Footlights (1945)
Pin Up Girl (1944)
Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
Show-Business at War (1943)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Keep 'Em Flying (1941)
Navy Blues (1941)
The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
The Farmer's Daughter (1940)
$1,000 a Touchdown (1939)
Never Say Die (1939)
Give Me a Sailor (1938)
Tropic Holiday (1938)
College Swing (1938)
The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
Double or Nothing (1937)
Artists & Models (1937)
Mountain Music (1937)
Waikiki Wedding (1937)
College Holiday (1936)
Hideaway Girl (1936)
The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936)
Rhythm on the Range (1936)
The Milton Berle Show: Vol. 2
Ratings
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Information
Known ForActing
GenderFemale
Birthday1916-08-27
Deathday1994-10-19 (78 years old)
Birth PlaceButte, United States of America
RelationshipsDavid Rose (1938-10-08 - 1941-05-19), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/d724be0eee8c3fd0799007dc0b61892a (1956-11-07 - 1960-12-01), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/b955970ae7a230011fd0117363923b16 (1991-09-25 - 1994-10-19), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/50685f148c8630443da01ccb2581ee31 (1941-05-25 - 1944-02-03), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/085710fa12bb451fd9938e7dccca0948 (1954-04-21 - 1956-10-06), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/7d79a455b638701874a80f291ddfb621 (1944-02-22 - 1953-06-17), Bud Westmore (1937-05-30 - 1937-09-01)
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsThe Big Mouth, The Female Bob Hope, Margaret Teresa Yvonne “Margy” Reed, Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed, Margy Reed
Awardsstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
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