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Ray Bolger




Ray Bolger (Raymond Wallace Bulcao) (January 10, 1904 -    [Ray bolger.jpg]
January 15, 1987) was an American entertainer of stage and
screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM film
The Wizard of Oz.

Ray Bolger was born and grew up in Dorchester, MA, a middle-class
neighborhood. His father was a house-painter, his mother a homemaker. He was
inspired by the vaudeville shows he attended when he was young to become an
entertainer himself. He began his career as a dancer. His limber body and
ability to ad lib movement won him many starring roles on Broadway in the
1930s.

His film career began when he signed a $3,000 a week contract with MGM in
1936. His best-known film prior to The Wizard of Oz was The Great Ziegfield (1936).

Bolger's studio contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose; 
however, he was unhappy when he was cast as Tin Man in Oz. The part had already been
assigned to another lean and limber dancing studio contract player, Buddy
Ebsen. In time the roles were switched. While Bolger was pleased with his
role as the Scarecrow, Ebsen was struck ill by the powdered aluminum make-up
used to complete the Tin Man costume. (The powdered aluminum had been
inhaled and coated Ebsen's lungs, leaving him near death.) Ebsen's illness
paved the way for the role to be filled by Jack Haley.

Bolger's performance in Oz was a tour de force. He displayed the full range
of his physical, comedic, and dramatic talents playing the character
searching for the brain that he's always had. Bolger's sympathy for
Dorothy's plight, his cleverness and bravery in her rescue from the Wicked
Witch of the West and his deep affection for her shone through, endearing
the character -- and Bolger -- in the public mind forever.

Following Oz Bolger moved to RKO Studios. He starred in several more films
and had a sitcom called Where's Raymond? 1953. He also made frequent guest
appearances on television. In 1985 he and Liza Minnelli, the daughter of his
Oz co-star Judy Garland, starred in That's Dancing! -- a film also written
Jack Haley, Jr., the son of Tin Man actor Jack Haley.

Mr. Bolger died in Los Angeles, CA, in 1987 of cancer just five days after
his eighty-third birthday. He was the last of the Oz principal actors to
pass away.

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