Burl Ives

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American singer and actor of stage, screen, radio and television. Ives began as an itinerant singer and banjoist, and launched his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942 he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army, and then became a major star of CBS radio. In the 1960s he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". A popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s, Ives's best-known film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1949) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Ives is often remembered for his voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which continues to air annually around Christmas.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Little House on the Prairie

The Merv Griffin Show

Daniel Boone

What's My Line?

Wogan

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Night Gallery

All Movies (50)

• My Music: A Classic Christmas2019 · as Self (archive footage)
• Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage1994 · as Big Daddy (archive footage)
• Thomas Hart Benton1989 · as Himself
• Two Moon Junction1988 · as Sheriff Earl Hawkins
• A Down Home Country Christmas1987 · as Self
• Uphill All the Way1986 · as Sheriff John Catledge
• The Ewok Adventure1984 · as Narrator (voice)
• DTV: Golden Oldies1984 · as Self
• White Dog1982 · as Carruthers
• Earthbound1981 · as Ned Anderson
• Sam Fuller: Writings with a Camera1981 · as Himself
• Just You and Me, Kid1979 · as Max
• The New Adventures of Heidi1978 · as Grandfather
• The Bermuda Depths1978 · as Dr. Paulis
• Baker's Hawk1976 · as Mr. McGraw
• The First Easter Rabbit1976 · as Narrator / Older Stuffy (voice)
• Gifts of an Eagle1975
• Tennessee Williams' South1973
• The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever1970 · as T.M. Trask
• The McMasters1970 · as McMasters
• The Whole World Is Watching1969 · as Walter Nichols
• The Sound of Anger1968 · as Walter Nichols
• Pinocchio1968 · as Geppetto
• The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde1968 · as Narrator (voice)
• Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon1967 · as Phineas T. Barnum
• The Daydreamer1966 · as Father Neptune (voice)
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer1964 · as Sam the Snowman (voice)
• Ensign Pulver1964 · as Captain Morton
• The Brass Bottle1964 · as Fakrash
• Summer Magic1963 · as Osh Popham
• I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly1963
• Mediterranean Holiday1962 · as Narrator (US Version) (voice)
• The Spiral Road1962 · as Dr. Brits Jansen
• Let No Man Write My Epitaph1960 · as Judge Bruce Mallory Sullivan
• Our Man in Havana1960 · as Dr. Hasselbacher
• Day of the Outlaw1959 · as Jack Bruhn
• Wind Across the Everglades1958 · as Cottonmouth
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof1958 · as Harvey 'Big Daddy' Pollitt
• The Big Country1958 · as Rufus Hannassey
• Desire Under the Elms1958 · as Éphraïm Cabot
• Fun in the Big Country1958 · as Self
• The Miracle Worker1957 · as Captain Keller
• The Power and the Prize1956 · as George Salt
• East of Eden1955 · as Sam the Sheriff
• Sierra1950 · as Lonesome
• So Dear to My Heart1948 · as Uncle Hiram Douglas
• Station West1948 · as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
• Green Grass of Wyoming1948 · as Gus
• Smoky1946 · as Willie
• Tall Tales1940 · as Self

All TV Shows (30)

• Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story1989 · as F.W. Woolworth
• Wogan1982 · as Self
• Roots1977 · as Senator Arthur J. Justin
• Captains and the Kings1976 · as Old Syrup
• Little House on the Prairie1974 · as Sam Shelby
• The Bobby Darin Show1973
• Alias Smith and Jones1971
• Night Gallery1970 · as Old Man Doubleday
• The Smothers Brothers Summer Show1970
• The Bold Ones: The Lawyers1969 · as Walter Nicholls
• The Johnny Cash Show1969 · as Self
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour1969 · as Self
• The Name of the Game1968 · as Arthur Jellicoe
• O.K. Crackerby1965
• Daniel Boone1964 · as Prater Beaseley
• The Hollywood Palace1964 · as Self
• The Danny Kaye Show1963 · as Self
• The Merv Griffin Show1962 · as Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962 · as Self
• The Bell Telephone Hour1959 · as Self
• The Bell Telephone Hour1959 · as Self - Host
• Tonight Starring Jack Paar1957 · as Self
• The Dinah Shore Chevy Show1956 · as Self
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre1956 · as Jonathan J. Dwire
• The Wonderful World of Disney1954
• The Oscars1953 · as Self
• General Electric Theater1953 · as King David
• General Electric Theater1953
• What's My Line?1950 · as Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show1948 · as Self