Martha Raye
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 Acting
Most Rating 8.267
Birthday 1916-08-27
Place of Birth Butte, Montana, USA
Also Known As The Big Mouth, The Female Bob Hope, Margaret Teresa Yvonne “Margy” Reed, Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed, Margy Reed,
Monsieur Verdoux
1947

Monsieur Verdoux

Billy Rose's Jumbo
1962

Billy Rose's Jumbo

The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938

The Big Broadcast of 1938

Pippin
1981

Pippin

Pin Up Girl
1944

Pin Up Girl

Hellzapoppin'
1941

Hellzapoppin'

Rhythm on the Range
1936

Rhythm on the Range

Double or Nothing
1937

Double or Nothing

Waikiki Wedding
1937

Waikiki Wedding

Four Jills in a Jeep
1944

Four Jills in a Jeep

The Adventures of Errol Flynn
2005

The Adventures of Errol Flynn

Never Say Die
1939

Never Say Die

College Swing
1938

College Swing

No Substitute for Victory
1970

No Substitute for Victory

Give Me a Sailor
1938

Give Me a Sailor

Navy Blues
1941

Navy Blues

The Big Broadcast of 1937
1936

The Big Broadcast of 1937

Tropic Holiday
1938

Tropic Holiday

College Holiday
1936

College Holiday

The Concorde... Airport '79
1979

The Concorde... Airport '79

$1,000 a Touchdown
1939

$1,000 a Touchdown

The Farmer's Daughter
1940

The Farmer's Daughter

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol
1979

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol

Artists & Models
1937

Artists & Models

Keep 'Em Flying
1941

Keep 'Em Flying

The Boys from Syracuse
1940

The Boys from Syracuse

Pufnstuf
1970

Pufnstuf

Show-Business at War
1943

Show-Business at War

The Gossip Columnist
1980

The Gossip Columnist

Hideaway Girl
1936

Hideaway Girl

And the Oscar Goes To...
2014

And the Oscar Goes To...

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
2014

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
1977

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Sid & Judy
2019

Sid & Judy

Mountain Music
1937

Mountain Music

The Phynx
1970

The Phynx

Clown Alley
1966

Clown Alley

Showbiz Goes to War
1982

Showbiz Goes to War

Chaplin Today: 'Monsieur Verdoux'
2003

Chaplin Today: 'Monsieur Verdoux'