Editing Ray Bolger (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
His entertainment aspirations evolved from the [[vaudeville]] shows of his youth. He began his career in a vaudeville tap show, creating the act "Sanford & Bolger" with his dance partner. In 1926, he danced at New York City's legendary [[Palace Theatre (Broadway)|Palace Theatre]], the premier vaudeville theater in the United States. His limber body and improvisational dance movements won him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Eventually, his career also encompassed film, television, and nightclub work.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/8/Ray-Bolger.html| title=Ray Bolger Biography| publisher=Film Reference| access-date=September 18, 2012}}</ref> In 1932 he was elected to the theater club [[The Lambs]]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.The-Lambs.org| title=About The Lambs| website=The Lambs, Inc.|access-date=March 8, 2018}}</ref> and performed on opening night at [[Radio City Music Hall]] in December 1932.<ref name="varobit">{{cite magazine |last=Oldfield |first=Barney, Col. |date=April 12, 1978 |title=Ray Bolger Was There At Music Hall's Birth |magazine=[[Variety (Magazine)|Variety]] |page=2}}</ref>

After starring in [[Richard Rodgers]]' first stage production of ''[[On Your Toes]]'' in 1936, in which he played the male lead Junior, as well as the hero of the ''[[Slaughter on Tenth Avenue]]'' ballet within the musical, Bolger signed his first cinema contract with [[MGM]] in 1936, and although ''The Wizard of Oz'' was early in his film career, he appeared in other movies of note. His best-known pre-Oz appearance was ''[[The Great Ziegfeld]]'' (1936), in which he portrayed himself. He also appeared in ''[[Sweethearts (1938 film)|Sweethearts]]'' (1938), the first MGM film in [[Technicolor]], starring [[Nelson Eddy]] and [[Jeanette MacDonald]]. He also appeared in the [[Eleanor Powell]] vehicle ''[[Rosalie (1937 film)|Rosalie]]'' (1937), which also starred Eddy and Frank Morgan.

=== ''The Wizard of Oz'' ===
[[File:The Wizard of Oz Ray Bolger 1939.jpg|right|thumb|273x273px|Bolger as the [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]] in [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]'s 1939 adaptation of ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'']]
Bolger's MGM contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose. However, he was unhappy when he was originally cast as the [[Tin Woodman]] in the studio's 1939 feature-film adaptation of ''The Wizard of Oz''. The role of the [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]] had already been assigned to another dancing, studio-contract player, [[Buddy Ebsen]]. In time, the roles were shuffled around. Bolger's face was permanently lined by wearing the Scarecrow's makeup.<ref name="Making">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RR9QAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169| title=The Making of The Wizard of Oz| page=169| publisher=Chicago Review Press| date=October 1, 2013| last=Harmetz| first=Aljean| author-link=Aljean Harmetz| isbn=978-1613748350}}</ref>

=== Post-Oz film career ===
Following ''The Wizard of Oz'', Bolger moved to [[RKO Pictures]]. In 1941, he was a featured act at the [[Paramount Theatre (Manhattan)|Paramount Theatre]] in New York, working with the [[Harry James Band]]. He would do [[tap dance]] routines, sometimes in a mock-challenge dance with the band's pianist, [[Al Lerner (composer)|Al Lerner]]. 

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]] and Bolger's performance was interrupted by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]]'s announcement of the news of the attack.<ref>{{cite book| last=Lerner| first=Al| year=2007| title=Vamp 'Til Ready| publisher=BearManor Media| isbn=978-1593930806}}{{page needed| date=April 2018}}</ref> Bolger toured in [[USO]] shows in the Pacific Theater during [[World War II]],<ref>[https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/ray-bolger/ "Ray Bolger"] masterworksbroadway.com, accessed August 26, 2019</ref><ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ray-bolger-mn0000405888/biography "Ray Bolger Bio"] allmusic.com, accessed August 26, 2019</ref> and appeared in the [[United Artists]] wartime film ''[[Stage Door Canteen (film)|Stage Door Canteen]]'' (1943).<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/91216/stage-door-canteen#credits ''Stage Door Canteen''] tcm.com, accessed August 26, 2019</ref>

In 1946, he returned to MGM for a featured role in ''[[The Harvey Girls]]''. Also that year, he recorded a children's album, ''[[The Churkendoose]]'', featuring the story of a misfit fowl ("part chicken, turkey, duck, and goose"), which teaches children that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it "all depends on how you look at things".

===Broadway===
[[File:Ray Bolger 1963.JPG|thumb|upright|Bolger in a publicity photo for ''[[The Bell Telephone Hour]]'', 1963]]
Bolger's Broadway credits included ''[[Life Begins at 8:40]]'' (1934), ''[[On Your Toes]]'' (1936), ''[[By Jupiter]]'' (1942), ''[[All American (musical)|All American]]'' (1962) and ''[[Where's Charley?]]'' (1948), for which he won the [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical]] and in which he introduced "Once in Love with Amy", the song often connected with him. He repeated his stage role in the [[Where's Charley? (film)|1952 film version]] of the musical.<ref>{{IBDB name|32422}}</ref>

===Television===
Bolger appeared in his own [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television sitcom with a variety show theme, ''[[Where's Raymond?]]'' (1953–1954), renamed the second year as ''The Ray Bolger Show'' (1954–55). He continued to star in several films, including Walt Disney's remake of ''Babes in Toyland'' (1961) and smaller cameos throughout the 1960s and 1970.

Bolger made frequent guest appearances on television, including the episode "Rich Man, Poor Man" of the short-lived ''[[The Jean Arthur Show]]'' in 1966. In the 1970s, he had a recurring role as Fred Renfrew, the father of Shirley Partridge ([[Shirley Jones]]) on ''[[The Partridge Family]]'', and appeared in ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'' as Toby Noe and also guest-starred on other television series, such as ''[[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', ''[[Fantasy Island]]'', and ''[[The Love Boat]]''. In the late 1970s, Bolger played in a commercial for Safeway Supermarket's "Scotch Buy" brand, in which he popularized the jingle, "Scotch Buy – 'taint fancy, but it shore is good."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/9RIsDvq2Joo Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190908043549/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIsDvq2Joo&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=Ray Bolger 1978 Safeway Scotch Buy Commercial|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIsDvq2Joo|website=YouTube| date=July 29, 2014 |access-date=May 7, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> His last television appearance was on ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' in 1984, three years before his death.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cross |first=Lucy E. |title=About Ray Bolger |url=http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/ray-bolger |access-date=June 12, 2011}}</ref>

In 1976 Bolger performed the opening number for the [[48th Academy Awards]] ceremony.

In his later years, he danced in a [[Dr Pepper]] television commercial, and in 1985, he and [[Liza Minnelli]], the daughter of his ''Oz'' costar [[Judy Garland]], starred in ''[[That's Dancing!]]'', a film written by [[Jack Haley Jr.]], the son of [[Jack Haley]], who portrayed the Tin Woodman in ''The Wizard of Oz''.