Big Dreams, Big Mouth
Born into performing, Martha Raye spent her career trying desperately to win the hearts of her audience and prove her own self worth. Even more tragically, she spent her tumultuous personal life trying to do the same with the ones who should have loved her most. In the end, although she made countless people laugh, she only made herself cry—right up to her bitter final moments.
1. She Was Born For The Stage
According to one story, Martha Raye, born Margy Reed, came into the world in 1916 exactly as she went through it. Her mother Maybelle and father Peter were vaudeville entertainers, and Maybelle reportedly gave birth to their daughter backstage at a theatre in Butte, Montana—and then was back to work two days later.
True or not, that little girl was born to entertain.
Studio Publicity, Wikimedia Commons
2. She Had A Brother–Sister Act
As a child, Raye and her brother Bud inherited their parents’ thirst for the spotlight, and they soon starred in their own act, “Reed and Hooper,” after their parents’ names. When audiences flocked to them, the family quickly changed the name to “Bud and Margie” to capitalize on the success.
Despite this early encouragement, another change was coming.
John Springer Collection, Getty Images
3. She Chose A New Name
By the late 1920s, little Margy had developed quite the singing voice to go along with what would become her famously big mouth. In an effort to help her daughter in a showbiz career, her mother went to the phone book to look for a new name for the girl, and came back with “Martha Raye”.
But Raye’s new name didn’t develop into instant success–yet.
Studio Publicity, Wikimedia Commons
4. She Got Discovered
It took half a decade of nightclub jobs and minor Broadway roles, but Raye eventually got her big break. In 1936, she was working in a club doing comic skits when producer and director Norman Taurog walked in and was bowled over. After all, Raye had incredibly expressive features, and she wielded them with comic precision.
Within hours, he was making Raye an offer she couldn’t refuse.
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5. She Was An Overnight Film Star
Taurog was so certain he had a star on his hands, he had her in front of the cameras the very next day, acting in a comic routine on Rhythm on the Range, a film starring no less than Bing Crosby. Raye nailed it, and Paramount Pictures signed her on a contract that devoted to comedic roles.
Little did they know, Raye was already hiding something.
Rhythm On The Range, 1936 - Bing Crosby, Frances Farmer, Martha Raye, Bing Crosby - em Portugues
6. She Had Trouble
Raye took to films like a duck to water, but she had an enormous secret. She had spent her young life so devoted to entertaining that she had almost no formal schooling. According to one report, she was so unfamiliar with reading that she needed to have many parts of her script read out loud to her.
She was vulnerable in other ways as well.
7. She Was Smaller Than She Looked
For all her outsized qualities, Raye was actually only a diminutive 5 foot 3 inches, and despite a booming voice she had a fundamentally self-deprecating quality about her. Sometimes, she used this tone to make people around her laugh, but at other times it seemed to eat at her self confidence.
Sadly, too many people were willing to take advantage of this.
8. She Got A Famous Nickname
Raye was now just 20 years old, an overnight Paramount sensation, and had an enormous smile that was already earning her the lasting nickname “Big Mouth”. Everyone wanted a piece of her—and sadly, the young and naive Raye was all too willing to cut herself up and dole herself out.
She began working almost non-stop to make others money…and her personal life was no better.
De Carvalho Collection, Getty Images
9. Her Passions Ran High
Almost as soon as she signed with Paramount, Raye met and became infatuated with orchestra leader Johnny Torrence. By the summer of 1936, the pair were already engaged after a whirlwind romance—but the real storm was about to hit. Two months later, Raye admitted, “I got engaged to Johnny Torrence one day and broke it off the next”.
This impulsivity of Raye’s would become a tragic pattern, but her star kept on rising.
10. They Parodied Her
Raye’s look and style were so distinctive that she was soon a caricature in Hollywood. In 1937, just a year after her film debut, the Warner Bros cartoon The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos lampooned her as the jazzy donkey “Moutha Bray,” while Disney parodied her in the cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, having her stand with equally big-mouthed actor Joe E Brown.
If only Raye’s romances were as long-lived as her public image.
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937), Good Ol' Car-Tunes
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11. She Jumped Down The Aisle
Just after her breakup with Johnny Torrence, Raye came into contact with make-up artist Hamilton “Buddy” Westmore and, once again, fell head over heels in no time at all. This time, however, was different. Westmore and Raye didn’t just get engaged, they followed through with it and got married in May of 1937.
So when the end came, it was even worse.
12. Her Marriage Was Cruel
Raye was only barely in her 20s at the time, and Westmore—who was two years her junior—was still a teenager, albeit from an established Hollywood makeup family. They were doomed from the start, and it didn’t take them long to find out. They filed for divorce just four months after their wedding, citing “extreme cruelty”.
But Raye didn’t learn her lesson, not by a long shot.
John Springer Collection, Getty Images
13. She Rebounded
Once more, it took almost no time at all for Martha Raye to find another man, and then for her to marry him. In October 1938, just over a year after her divorce, she married the composer David Rose. It was her longest marriage so far, and the pair made it all the way until May of 1941 before splitting up.
Rose evidently had a type; he immediately went on to marry the equally love-starved Judy Garland, before divorcing her soon after. But Raye had a type too.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
14. She Rushed Into Matrimony Again
Raye’s next marriage was to Neal Lange, and it was the most scandalous yet. The pair, evidently together in the midst of her marriage to Rose, married less than a week after her divorce went through. Once again, Raye’s rash decision didn’t work out: they too divorced in February of 1944.
It was her third marriage—and third divorce—in less than a decade. But other members of Raye’s family were causing bigger headaches.
15. Her Own Father Sued Her
In 1938, Raye’s dirty laundry was aired to the world when her father Peter Reed, hoping to capitalize on his daughter’s success, sued her for financial support. As if that weren’t enough, Raye’s parents had divorced, and Reed was now also suing Raye’s stepfather (and manager) Peter Baumann.
Although her father ended up dropping both suits, it revealed just how alone Raye was in the world.
16. She Had Famous Co-Stars
Over the decades, Raye acted alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, supporting the likes of Bob Hope, WC Fields, and Abbott and Costello with her signature zany humor and facial expressions. But in the 1940s, in between her second and third marriages and divorces, Raye found something that mattered more to her than any leading man.
NBC Television, Wikimedia Commons
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17. She Entertained The Troops
In 1942, the United States entered WWII, and Martha Raye entered the longest-lasting relationship of her life. She joined up with the USO, a non-profit that organized entertainment for troops abroad with the help of famous comedians and performers.
Raye was immediately smitten with the work, and it was smitten with her.
Ancestor of John Atherton, Wikimedia Commons
18. She Was Just What They Needed
The USO adored Raye’s work, and her fellow Hollywood volunteers couldn’t help but notice how much joy she brought the men and women in uniform. As Bob Hope once commented about Raye’s soothing effect: "she was Florence Nightingale, Dear Abby, and the only singer who could be heard over the artillery fire”.
But all this came at a great cost.
John Atherton, Wikimedia Commons
19. She Had One Immense Fear
One of Raye’s chief duties while working for the USO was to fly over to where the fighting was and boost morale on the foreign US bases. The trouble was, Raye had a deathly fear of flying, and each time she took these trips she felt she was taking her life in her hands. Even so, she couldn’t shake the conviction that it was her duty to go.
To cope, she came up with a very destructive habit.
20. She Self-Destructed
In a coping mechanism that would only worsen with time, Raye began drinking copiously on these trips, as she felt the only way she could make it through the journey was to be in such a stupor that she couldn’t even remember it when she landed.
It would get her in deep trouble with the airlines in the future, but for now Raye was getting in enough trouble herself.
21. She Got Married A Fourth Time
When Neal Lange and Martha Raye’s marriage ended in February of 1944, she again repeated her old mistakes by jumping right back into matrimony: Just 19 days later, she married Nick Condos. Then again, it wasn’t just an old mistake—at the time of her fourth wedding, Raye was keeping a ruinous development under wraps.
Silver Screen Collection, Getty Images
22. She Had A Surprise
While at the altar with Condos, it seems that Martha Raye was also pregnant with his child. They had a little girl just five months later, in July; Raye named her “Melodye” after her late younger sister. Motherhood was, at long last, something new to Raye’s patterns, and these patterns began to change.
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23. She Stuck It Out
Concerned with raising her girl, Martha Raye’s relationship with Nick Condos was her longest by far, with the pair staying together almost a full decade before divorcing in 1953. If Raye hadn’t completely resolved her tendency to fall quickly in and out of love when it came to Condos, she had at least battled against it.
Her career was going through a transformation, too.
Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography, Getty Images
24. She Was In A Famous Film
In 1947, Raye hit one of the peaks of her professional life. That year, famed comedian Charlie Chaplin cast her as his co-star in Monsieur Verdoux, a dark comedy about a Bluebeard-esque man marrying and then offing wealthy women to get their money. Critics praised Raye’s performance, particularly her ability to hold her own next to Chaplin, and it’s considered one of her best works to this day.
Raye, however, never let herself stay stagnant.
25. She Was An Early TV Star
Despite her successful film career, Raye was also one of the earliest proponents of television, and in 1954 she began the (for a time) successful Martha Raye Show, hiring the former middleweight boxer Rock Graziano to play her boyfriend.
Suddenly, Raye was a television star—and that wasn’t the only way her life was looking up.
26. She Hit Her Stride
The same year that she began the Martha Raye Show, Raye married for a fifth time, this time to Edward T Begley. As her popular show courted high ratings with guest stars ranging from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Cesar Romero, the now 38-year-old Raye prepared to settle down into the rest of her life.
Which is when it all blew up in her face.
Los Angeles Daily News, Wikimedia Commons
27. It All Fell Apart
In 1956, a series of tragedies hit Raye. For one, her marriage to Begley broke down, leading to yet another divorce after just two years together. To make matters worse, The Martha Raye Show was canceled, and Raye suddenly felt lost and bereft.
She didn’t just take it badly; she nearly ended up destroying her life.
28. Her Bad Habits Got Worse
Raye had continued serving for the USO throughout the Korean War in the early 1950s, leading to more of her dreaded plane flights. On top of that, one of her favorite vacation spots was now Miami, Florida, which also necessitated a flight.
In response to this—not to mention her mounting personal issues—Raye’s drinking had increased tenfold. It led to a mortifying moment.
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29. They Refused Her Service
By now, many airlines, especially those that served the Florida area, were well aware of Martha Raye’s difficult and disorderly reputation on flights. Before long, they even began refusing to sell the comedian airplane tickets, knowing that any flight with her was sure to devolve into chaos.
It was all rock bottom for Raye, and she took drastic action.
John Springer Collection, Getty Images
30. She Tried To Take Her Own Life
On August 14, 1956, the worst happened. Pushed to the brink, Raye tried to take her own life, taking a handful of sleeping pills while in Miami, Florida. Thankfully, she was saved just in time, and spent a period of recovery in St Francis Hospital in Miami.
In fact, it was her recuperation that taught Raye to hope again.
31. Her Fans Supported Her
When the world heard the news about Raye’s hospitalization, they sent her an outpouring of love. Raye especially treasured the St Christopher’s medal, the St Genesius medal, and the Star of David that fans sent to her, and wore them forever after, even though she wasn’t Catholic or Jewish.
She also paid another tribute.
32. She Never Forgot
Raye was so grateful for the nuns who had cared for her at St Francis Hospital after her attempt that she remembered them publicly every chance she could. In the future, whenever she came to the end of the TV show she was on, she would sign off with “Goodnight, Sisters” as a token of her gratitude.
Little by little, Raye was learning to build herself back up again—but she stumbled.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
33. She Tried Marriage One More Time
In the end, Raye likely had too much hope when she married again, for the sixth time, to Robert O’Shea in November 1956, just months after her hospitalization. After nearly four years, the marriage ended with little fanfare in December of 1960—but it did leave a lasting impression. Raye would be single for the next 30 years.
At long last, Raye seemed done with matrimony. But she still had to pay the piper.
Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography, Getty Images
34. She Was A Harsh Mother
While Raye had been focusing on her career and her husbands, her only child Melodye got tragically lost in the shuffle. Raye never had much of a true childhood to speak of, and she never seemed to get the hang of being a mother, even after Melodye became a teenager and then a young adult.
Their relationship could be turbulent—especially when Melodye disobeyed.
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35. She Had A Rift With Her Daughter
Raye was used to running the shots in her professional life, and she expected her daughter to fall in line just like a cameraman would. When Melodye’s father Nick Condos passed, Raye tried to take control and insisted he not be cremated. When Melodye disobeyed, she was so angry that she temporarily cut her daughter off.
But Raye would soon need all the support she could get.
36. She Was Found Unconscious
For some time now, Raye had been suffering from health issues, particularly anemia, and would go on to be plagued with blood pressure and circulation problems. It could turn into a nightmare in a moment. One day in 1962, bystanders discovered her, unconscious, on a beach in Malibu.
Raye didn’t heed the warning sign.
37. She Re-Enlisted
After serving the USO in WWII and then in Korea, in 1966 Martha Raye pushed through her health issues and continued her duties again when she went over to entertain service men and women in the Vietnam conflict. During one trip, however, her care-free routine suddenly turned deadly serious.
38. She Was A Class Act
In the middle of a show Raye was performing for two Air Force platoons, the men got called up for an urgent mission. Raye’s reaction was classic. Steadfast in her devotion in a way she never was with her many husbands, Raye simply held the show until they had come back.
This wasn’t the only way she went above and beyond.
39. She Did Her Duty And More
Not content to merely entertain, there are reports that Raye would also roll her sleeves up during these USO jaunts and act as a nurse for the injured or just anyone need of care. She did all this without any expectation of reward—but America would soon recognize her anyway.
40. She Was Honored
Thanks to her work in the USO, America began recognizing Martha Raye for more than just her contributions to film. The US Marines named her an honorary colonel, the US Army named her an honorary lieutenant colonel, and the Fifth Special Forces Group (Airborne) made her an honorary Green Beret, particularly for her work in Vietnam.
These honorary accolades even led to some especially unique access.
Coleridge, Michael, Wikimedia Commons
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41. She Saw A Top-Secret Site
As a part of her induction into becoming a Green Beret, the special forces let Raye in on a secret. They let her visit the highly confidential surveillance spot of Leghorn in Laos while she was abroad providing support for the Vietnam war.
It was an extraordinary honor, but then again Martha Raye was anything but ordinary.
Basile Morin, Wikimedia Commons
42. She Reinvented Herself
Raye spent the 1970s and 1980s constantly working to keep her relevance. She frequently guest starred on classic shows like The Love Boat and Murder She Wrote, and was even canny enough to turn her “Big Mouth” image into becoming a spokesperson for Polident, complete with her own slogan: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!"
But in the end, work couldn’t save Raye from herself.
43. She Met A Much Younger Man
With six marriages under her belt in the span of just two decades, Martha Raye’s younger days in Hollywood were full of more drama than a blockbuster. But it was her later life that went from scandalous to utterly twisted. In 1991, at the age of 75, Raye met Mark Harris and, for the first time in over 30 years, decided to go back to the altar—for the seventh time.
It may have been the biggest mistake of her life.
44. Her Friends Were Concerned
From the beginning, everything about Mark Harris was alarming to both the press and Raye’s long-time friends. At 42 years old, Harris was 33 years Raye’s junior, and he primarily served as her manager and press liaison—positions that could easily serve his own self interest. Besides all that, Raye hadn’t known him a month before they tied the knot.
Then, in December of 1991, it turned truly suspicious.
45. She Accused Bette Midler Of Theft
The trouble all started after Raye went to see Bette Midler and James Caan’s new film For the Boys, and began “crying and heaving” in the theatre—not because she loved the movie, which is about two actors entertaining US troops, but because she believed that Midler had cold-heartedly stolen from her life story and her long commitment to the USO.
Before long, Mark Harris announced their intention to sue. It didn’t go as planned.
For The Boys (1991) Theatrical Trailer [4K] [FTD-1379], FT Depot
46. She Had A Brutal Legal Battle
Urged on by Harris, Raye ended up in court with Midler, where the judge combed through all the evidence the newlyweds presented. It wasn’t enough. Although there was some indication that Raye’s biography was a partial inspiration for Midler’s character, nothing stuck, and the judge dismissed the case after a long wrangle.
Raye’s reputation in Hollywood was now damaged, but by then few could stay angry. Instead, they could only pity her.
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47. Her Health Failed Her
Just before meeting and marrying Mark Harris, Raye’s health took another nosedive. Around 1991, she suffered a series of strokes that left her wheelchair-bound and largely unable to get around by herself, which may have been part of the reason she wanted to have the younger man by her side.
Tragically, the worst was yet to come.
48. She Lost Part Of Herself
In 1993, Raye’s persistent circulation issues came back with a vengeance, and took almost everything from her. After developing gangrene in her foot, she had to have part of her leg amputated—some sources report it was a toe, others report it was her left leg up to her knee, while still others report that by the end, she had lost both legs.
Whatever the truth everyone could see the end was near.
49. She Gave Up The Fight
On October 19, 1994, Martha Raye’s frail and failing body perished from pneumonia at the age of 78. She left behind a sterling professional resume and a complex personal legacy—though she was still married to Mark Harris at the very end.
In the wake of her passing, her beloved US army gave her one final, heartbreaking tribute.
50. The US Paid Tribute
Through all her tumultuous relationships and personal pitfalls, Martha Raye had remained loyal to the USO. After her passing, they returned the favor by burying her with full military honors at the Fort Bragg Main Post cemetery. It’s like Raye would consider this her greatest achievement of all.
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