Martha Raye, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Martha Raye
Acting

Martha Raye
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1916-08-27,Butte, Montana, USA
Gender
Female
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

Monsieur Verdoux

7.683

Monsieur Verdoux
1947-08-27

Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux

5.8

Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux
2003-09-22

Billy Rose's Jumbo

6.048

Billy Rose's Jumbo
1962-12-06

The Big Broadcast of 1938

6.4

The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938-02-11

7.455

Pippin
1981-06-01

6.289

Pin Up Girl
1944-04-25

3.7

The Phynx
1970-03-06

10

Clown Alley
1966-11-09

7.245

Hellzapoppin'
1941-12-25

Showbiz Goes to War

10

Showbiz Goes to War
1982-12-31

Rhythm on the Range

5.5

Rhythm on the Range
1936-07-01

Waikiki Wedding

5.857

Waikiki Wedding
1937-03-23

Double or Nothing

6.714

Double or Nothing
1937-09-17

Four Jills in a Jeep

6.8

Four Jills in a Jeep
1944-03-17

The Adventures of Errol Flynn

7.667

The Adventures of Errol Flynn
2005-04-05

7.286

Never Say Die
1939-03-08

6.75

College Swing
1938-04-29

Give Me a Sailor

6.143

Give Me a Sailor
1938-08-19

No Substitute for Victory

5

No Substitute for Victory
1970-01-01

4.75

Navy Blues
1941-09-13

The Big Broadcast of 1937

6.167

The Big Broadcast of 1937
1936-10-05

6.167

Tropic Holiday
1938-06-29

College Holiday

6.125

College Holiday
1936-12-19

The Concorde... Airport '79

4.7

The Concorde... Airport '79
1979-08-17

$1,000 a Touchdown

3.667

$1,000 a Touchdown
1939-10-04

The Farmer's Daughter

5.333

The Farmer's Daughter
1940-03-29

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol

7

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol
1979-12-18

Artists & Models

6.3

Artists & Models
1937-08-04

Keep 'Em Flying

6.091

Keep 'Em Flying
1941-11-27

The Boys from Syracuse

6.429

The Boys from Syracuse
1940-07-30

6.25

Pufnstuf
1970-05-13

Show-Business at War

7

Show-Business at War
1943-05-21

The Gossip Columnist

7.333

The Gossip Columnist
1980-03-21

7

Hideaway Girl
1936-11-20

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered

7

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
2014-12-02

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

0

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
1977-12-07

7.4

Sid & Judy
2019-06-26

6

Mountain Music
1937-06-18

0

Airports
2025-09-17

The All-Star Christmas Show

6

The All-Star Christmas Show
1958-12-01

Bob Hope's World of Comedy

0

Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976-10-29

Amara:The Statue

0

Amara:The Statue
2026-05-08

A Christmas Child

0

A Christmas Child

The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood

0

The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood

0

The 13th Year

Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3)

0

Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3)

Ruby Gale & The Diamond Thief

0

Ruby Gale & The Diamond Thief

7.1

Alice
1976-08-31

6.25

Burke's Law
1963-09-20

The Colgate Comedy Hour

6.9

The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950-09-10

6.5

The Bugaloos
1970-09-12

The Hollywood Palace

5

The Hollywood Palace
1964-01-04

The Steve Allen Show

6.167

The Steve Allen Show
1956-06-24

The Barbara McNair Show

0

The Barbara McNair Show
1969-09-13

7

The Oscars
1953-03-19

Alice in Wonderland

6.865

Alice in Wonderland
1985-12-09

McMillan & Wife

6.96

McMillan & Wife
1971-09-29

The Judy Garland Show

8.2

The Judy Garland Show
1963-12-08

This Is Your Life

6.5

This Is Your Life
1952-10-01

The Mike Douglas Show

5.8

The Mike Douglas Show
1961-12-11

The Bob Hope Show

7

The Bob Hope Show
1950-04-09

0

The Big Party
1959-10-08

The Carol Burnett Show

7.713

The Carol Burnett Show
1967-09-11

6.3

The Love Boat
1977-09-24

6.3

The Love Boat
1977-09-24

The Dick Cavett Show

6.818

The Dick Cavett Show
1968-06-06

What's My Line?

7.034

What's My Line?
1950-02-02

McMillan & Wife

6.96

McMillan & Wife
1971-09-29

Murder, She Wrote

7.534

Murder, She Wrote
1984-09-30

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

7.533

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962-10-01

7.1

Alice
1976-08-31

0

Star Struck
2026-05-28

The Red Skelton Show

7.421

The Red Skelton Show
1951-09-30