About Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace Bolger (; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American vaudevillian, eccentric dancer, comedian, actor and singer best known for his performance as the Scarecrow in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. He first became interested in dancing as a teenager and, while working as a bank clerk in Boston, participated in dance contests and attended musical performances. In 1923, after being fired from a later job as an insurance clerk, he formed a short-lived vaudeville act, Sanford and Bolger, with Ralph Sanford. He went on to perform in several revues in the 1920s and early 1930s, as well as Gus Edwards' variety show Ritz Carlton Nights (which ran from 1926 to 1929). As vaudeville declined at the onset of the Great Depression, Bolger moved on to musical theatre and film, playing roles in Life Begins at 8:40 and The Great Ziegfeld before getting the lead in On Your Toes. In late 1938 he was chosen by MGM to play the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz; unhappy with that part, he convinced MGM's executives to let him swap with Buddy Ebsen, who had been slated to play the Scarecrow. As a member of the USO Camp Shows, he entertained soldiers overseas during the Second World War and in 1943 appeared in the wartime film Stage Door Canteen. He starred in his own ABC sitcom The Ray Bolger Show, originally titled Where's Raymond?, from 1953 to 1955. In his later years he made frequent guest appearances in television shows, including The Jean Arthur Show, The Partridge Family, Little House on the Prairie and Diff'rent Strokes. Interviewed in 1940 about his post-high-school years, Bolger reported having worked in Boston for the city's First National Bank, and then trying insurance sales and even door-to-door vacuum selling in New England. His limber body and improvisational dance movements won him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Bolger was a major Broadway performer in the 1930s and beyond.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.