Topic: Ray Bolger

Ray Bolger (January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987), born Raymond Wallace Bulcao, was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hunk in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.

Bolger spent his early life in a predominantly Irish neighborhood in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His father, James Edward Bulcao, was a Portuguese-American house-painter, and his mother, Anne Wallace, an Irish-American, was a homemaker. Both parents were Roman Catholics. Bolger 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. Eventually, his career would also encompass film, television and nightclub work.

Bolger's film career began when he signed a contract with MGM in 1936. His best-known film appearance prior to The Wizard of Oz was The Great Ziegfeld (1936), in which he portrayed himself. But he also appeared in Sweethearts, (1938) the first MGM film in Technicolor, starring Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, and Bolger's future Oz co-star, Frank Morgan, as well as the 1937 Eleanor Powell vehicle Rosalie, which also starred Eddy and Morgan.