Burl Ives papers

1913-1975

Burl Ives was born in Hunt City Township, Illinois, on June 14, 1909. Growing up in a rural farming family, Ives learned American folk songs from his parents and grandparents. He sang from an early age and learned to accompany himself on the guitar and the banjo. In high school, he earned money as a musician and showed talent as a football player. He entered Eastern Illinois State College, studying to be a football coach, while simultaneously nurturing his singing talent by studying voice and performing over the college radio station. And after three years, he left college to pursue his love of folk music, embarking on a cross-country trip to collect traditional folk songs. This phase of Ives' life inspired his nickname, "The Wayfaring Stranger," a title he used for his radio show, several albums, and his autobiographies.

In 1933 Ives moved to New York City, where he attended both Julliard and New York University, studying acting with Benno Schneider and voice with Ella Toedt. Ives established himself singing at various benefits around the city and acting in upstate New York summer stock productions. He made his Broadway debut in 1938 with a small role in Rodgers and Hart's hit musical, The Boys from Syracuse and had another small role in the short-lived play, Heavenly Express (1940). During World War II, he was in the army for 2 years, during which he appeared on Broadway in Irving Berlin's all-soldier revue, This is the Army (1942). In 1944, Ives had a major role in Walter Kerr's folk music revue, Sing Out, Sweet Land, for which he won a Donaldson Award.

Ives' singing career built steadily throughout the forties, from his network radio debut in June of 1940 to his radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger in 1941, as well as regular nightclub appearances. Ives signed a recording contract with Decca, after they put out the cast album of Sing Out, Sweet Land (1944) and on December 1, 1945, he made his New York concert debut at Town Hall. Ives had a regular network radio show, The Burl Ives Show, from 1946-1948, but also found time to launch another career, making his film debut as a singing cowboy in Smoky (1946), which was followed by other small roles in Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) and Station West (1948). His film breakthrough came in 1949 with the Disney film So Dear to My Heart, which also provided him with a major song hit, "Lavender Blue."

Each facet of Ives' career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. As a New York theatre actor, he had several notable roles in the 1950s, replacing James Barton as the star of Paint Your Wagon and subsequently starring in the national tour in 1952-1953, and then playing Cap'n Andy in the 1954 revival of Show Boat at City Center and culminating in his most famous role as Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). This performance proved Ives' ability as a serious actor and it coincided with more prestigious film roles, including re-creating his performance in the film of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as playing supporting roles in East of Eden (1955) and Desire Under the Elms (1958). Ives won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Big Country (1958). He also worked steadily in television, with appearances on General Electric Theater in 1956 and 1959, Playhouse 90 in 1957, Zane Grey Theater in 1960, and The Bell Telephone Hour (1963-1965). Ives continued to work in television, starring in his own sitcom, OK Crackerby! (1965).

As a recording artist, he produced an impressive catalogue of hits, including "Blue Tail Fly" in 1949, "On Top of Old Smoky" in 1951, "Wild Side of Life" in 1952, "A Little Bitty Tear" in 1962 and "It's Just My Funny Way of Laughing," which won Ives a Grammy Award for Best Country and Western Record the same year. The recording for which Ives is perhaps best remembered today, "A Holly Jolly Christmas," came from the soundtrack of the TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which first aired in 1964.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Ives continued to record music in a wide array of genres, including folk, country and western, religious music, children's albums and even an album of contemporary pop songs, The Times They Are A-Changin' (1968). Ives received Grammy nominations for his children's recordings Chim Chim Cheree, Other Children's Choices (1964), and America Sings (1974). Ives continued to act in film and television, though his career slowed down in the late 1970s and 1980s. His final film appearance was in Two Moon Junction (1988). His last album, The Magic Balladeer, was released in 1993.

In 1945 Ives married Helen Erlich, one of the writers of his radio show. Until their divorce in 1960, Helen Ives was deeply involved in her husband's career. They had one son together, Alexander. Ives married his second wife, Dorothy Koster Paul, in 1971. He retired to Anacortes, Washington, and died there on April 14, 1995.