Martha Raye

Genres:	Comedy • Drama • Musicals & The Arts • Television • Vocals
Descriptive "tags":	swing • big band • vi • the vitamin b12
Decades Active:	1990s • 2000s

Biography

Margaret Teresa Yvonne O’Reed, 27 August 1916, Butte, Montana, USA, d. 19 October 1994, Los Angeles, California, USA. On stage from the age of three with the family act, at 13 Raye sang with a band and in 1936 made her first film, Rhythm On The Range, with Bing Crosby. Through the late 30s she played comic roles in The Big Broadcast Of 1937 (1936, singing ‘Vote For Mr Rhythm’ and ‘Here Comes The Bride’), Waikiki Wedding (1937, with Crosby and Shirley Ross), Double Or Nothing (1937, with Crosby), and The Big Broadcast Of 1938 (1938, singing ‘The Greeks Have No Word For It’ and ‘Sing For Your Supper’). She starred in College Swing, Give Me A Sailor (both 1938) and Never Say Die (1939), all with Bob Hope. In the 40s Raye was in The Boys From Syracuse (1940), the film version of the Broadway hit, with Allan Jones; she also played a dual role in Abbott And Costello’s Keep ’Em Flying, and was in Olsen And...

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