Former child performer who toured with her vaudevillian parents, self-dubbed 'Martha the Mouth' and 'The Big Mouth' first made a name for herself as a sophisticated jazz song stylist. After enjoying success onstage and in radio, Raye entered features films in 1936, where she gained a second following as a raucous, knockabout singing comedienne. She supplied broad comic relief in a number of Bing Crosby films and often got to sing in her peppy, surprisingly mellifluous voice, most notably in "Double or Nothing" (1937) and the film version of Rodgers and Hart hit, "Boys from Syracuse" (1940). In an offbeat bit of casting, Raye gave her finest film performance as the only wife to survive the murderous intentions of her Bluebeard-like bigamist husband Charlie Chaplin in his black and bleak comedy "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947). In the 1950s Raye, ever the manic, live wire singer and self-mocking entertainer, turned to TV where she hosted and guested on numerous variety programs. She later did occasional stage work as well, notably a turn as one of the replacement stars in the Broadway smash, "Hello, Dolly!". She received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award in 1969 mainly for her long years of volunteer service entertaining US troops in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1991 Raye alleged that the Bette Midler character in the feature "For the Boys" was more than loosely based on her career. Late in life Raye and her seventh husband Mark Harris received unwanted media attention when some made accusations that her deteriorating physical and mental condition made her unable to manage her considerable estate and that Harris was a fortune hunter.
Family
FATHER: Peter Reed. Vaudevillian. Irish immigrant song-dance-comedy trouper billed as Reed and Hooper, "The Girl and the Traveler".
MOTHER: Mabel Hooper. Vaudevillian.
BROTHER: Bud Reed. Born in 1918.
SISTER: Melodye Reed. Born in 1920.
DAUGHTER: Melodye Condos. Musicians' union representative. Born 1945; father Nick Condos; estranged from Raye; in 1991 sued for conservatorship of Raye and for her 25 percent of Raye's income from her Polident commercials (Raye videotaped a will, bequeathing the bulk of her estimated $2.4 million estate to Mark Harris, and leaving $1--as in previous wills--to daughter).
Companion
HUSBAND: Bud Westmore. Makeup artist. Married in 1937; divorced in 1938.
HUSBAND: David Rose. Conductor, composer. Married in 1938; divorced in 1940.
HUSBAND: Neal Lang. Hotelier. Married and divorced in 1941.
HUSBAND: Nick Condos. Dancer. Married on November 11, 1942; divorced on June 17, 1953; died in 1988.
HUSBAND: Ed Begley. Dancer. Married on April 21, 1954; divorced on October 6, 1956; born c. 1924; dancer in the chorus of her TV show; not to be confused with the Oscar-winning character actor.
HUSBAND: Robert O'Shea. Former patrolman, bodyguard, private detective. Married on November 7, 1958; divorced c. 1962; was 28 at time of marriage; O'Shea sued Raye for fraud claiming she had promised him $60,000 to induce him to marry her; marriage was dissolved soon after.
HUSBAND: Mark Steven Harris. Singer, hairdresser, show business promoter. Married on September 25, 1991 in Las Vegas after a three-week courtship, remarried at the Friars Club on December 28, 1991; born c. 1947; took over management of Raye's business affairs after marriage; son of Max Bleefield and Rebecca Glitzer; worked for texile company in NYC; formerly married to Gwenn Susan Husak from 1971 to 1983 with whom he had three daughters.
Milestone
1916: Entered parents' vaudeville act at age three
1919 - 1929: Toured extensively in vaudeville as Bud and Margie with the Benny Davis Revue, the Ben Blue Company and the Will Morrissey Company
1931: Worked as band singer and comedienne with Paul Ash's Orchestra at age 15 (date approximate)
Joined Boris Morros's Orchestra as a band vocalist with whom she played the Paramount Theatre on Broadway
1934: Made NY debut at Loew's State Theater
1934: Made Broadway debut in the revue Lew Brown's "Calling All Stars"
1934: Made film debut in short subjects
1935: Appeared on Broadway in "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book"
1935: Was discovered by Paramount while working as a nightclub singer in Hollywood
1936: Feature film debut opposite Bing Crosby in "Rhythm on the Range"
Toured with the USO during WWII
1947: Played most acclaimed film role in Charles Chaplin's black comedy, "Monsieur Verdoux"
1948: Made London debut in variety show at the Palladium
1950: TV debut in "Anything Goes" on "Musical Comedy Theater
Was alternating host on TV series, "All Star Revue"
Starred on "The Martha Raye Show"
1967: Took over the title role of Dolly Gallagher Levi from Ginger Rogers in the long-running Broadway musical, "Hello, Dolly!"
Toured annually in Vietnam until the American withdrawal in 1974
Played the housekeeper in the NBC TV series, "McMillan", starring Rock Hudson
Was featured as Carrie Sharples on CBS sitcom "Alice"
Became TV spokeswoman for Polident denture products in the 1980s
Began to suffer a series of strokes in the late 1980s
Education
Professional Children's School - New York, New York - attended briefly
Bibliography
"Take It From Big Mouth: The Life of Martha Raye" Jean Madden Pitrone
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