Follow TV Tropes

Following

Creator / Burl Ives

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burl_ives.jpg

"When you've set goals and dreams, you don't feel old."

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American actor and musician.

Born and raised in southern Illinois, he dropped out of college and began his career as an itinerant folk singer and guitarist during The Great Depression. In the 1940s he hosted his own radio show called The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. After serving in the Army during World War II, he recorded a number of hit songs for the Decca Records label, successfully crossing over to country music in the '50s and '60s. To avoid getting blacklisted for alleged Communist ties in 1952, he agreed to cooperate with the HUAC. While doing so saved his career, his testimony still led to a bitter rift between Ives and such folk contemporaries as Pete Seeger (though the two men eventually reconciled, performing together at a 1993 benefit in New York).

Ives was also a popular actor, starting on Broadway in the late '30s before moving to film in the '40s. His film roles included Uncle Hiram in So Dear to My Heart, "Big Daddy" Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country, the latter performance earning him both Academy Award and Golden Globe wins for Best Supporting Actor. He continued to appear in movies and on television into the '80s.

Ives is often associated with the Christmas season, as he was the voice actor for Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 animated television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives also contributed to the special's soundtrack, including the title song and "A Holly Jolly Christmas", both of which continue to appear annually on the Billboard holiday charts to this day.


Acting roles with pages on TV Tropes:

    open/close all folders 

    Film roles 

    Television roles 


Top