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Burl Ives (1909 - 95)
Burl Ives was one out of six children, born of Scotch-Irish
parents on a farm in Jasper County, Illinois. Growing
up his two loves were music and football. He enrolled
in Eastern Illinois State Teacher's College in 1927
intending to become a football coach, but in 1930
he dropped out and then spent the next few years
roaming the country, working odd jobs and as a street
singer. In 1940, Burl Ives got a job with CBS radio
popularizing the many folk songs he learned on his
wanderings.
Burl Ives made his mark playing the character,
'Big Daddy', in his 1938 Broadway debut in Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof , a role that he played again
in the 1958 film version. He began his movie career
(spanning four decades in over 30 pictures)as a
singing cowboy in the 1946 film, Smokey.
Besides winning an Oscar for his supporting role
in The Big Country, he has also recorded
30 albums for Decca and another dozen for Columbia,
having many hits on both the popular and country
charts. At the age of 80, Burl Ives retired from
show business but kept singing for charity benefits
up until his death in 1995.
Burl Ives' other films include:
SMOKY
EAST OF EDEN
DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS
CAT
ON A HOT TIN ROOF
OUR MAN IN HAVANA
THE BRASS BOTTLE
ROCKET TO THE MOON
BAKER'S HAWK
JUST YOU AND ME, KID
UPHILL ALL THE WAY
His television credits include:
O.K. CRACKERBY (65)
THE BOLD ONES (69)
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1962 christmas special)
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