
Martha Raye (born Margy Reed), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored in 1969 at the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.
Martha Raye (born Margy Reed), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored in 1969 at the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.
In the early 1930s, Raye was a band vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras. She made her first film appearance in 1934 in a band short titled A Nite in the Nite Club. In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures, and made her first picture for Paramount. Her first feature film was Rhythm on the Range with crooner Bing Crosby. She was a featured cast member in 39 episodes of Al Jolson's weekly CBS radio show, The Lifebuoy Program, also called Cafe Trocadero. In addition to comedy, Martha sang both solos and duets with Jolson. Over the next quarter century, she would appear with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott and Costello (in Keep 'Em Flying), Charlie Chaplin (in Monsieur Verdoux), and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO in 1942, soon after the US entered World War II.
She was known for the size of her mouth, which was large in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. She later referred to this in a series of television commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic parts, and was often made up so it appeared even larger. In the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, she is caricatured while dancing alongside Joe E. Brown, another actor known for a big mouth. In the Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937), she was caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named 'Moutha Bray'.
She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly those which often featured older performers as guest stars, such as ABC's The Love Boat, and also on variety programs, including the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. She appeared from the third to the ninth seasons as Carrie Sharples on Alice, making two or three appearances a season. She made guest appearances or did cameo roles in such series as Murder, She Wrote on CBS and The Andy Williams Show and McMillan & Wife, both on NBC. She appeared again as Agatha for the six-episode run of the retooled McMillan, taking over for Nancy Walker, who had left the series. Her last film appearance was as an incontinent airline passenger in the disaster film The Concorde ... Airport '79.
Later in her career, she made television commercials for Polident denture cleanser, principally during the 1970s and 1980s.
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0713106
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q435236
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Airports
Character:
Release Date:17/09/2025

Sid & Judy
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:26/06/2019

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:02/12/2014

The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:05/04/2005

Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:22/09/2003

Showbiz Goes to War
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:31/12/1982

Pippin
Character:Bertha
Release Date:01/06/1981

The Gossip Columnist
Character:Georgia O'Hanlon
Release Date:21/03/1980

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol
Character:The Ghost of Christmas Past
Release Date:18/12/1979

The Concorde... Airport '79
Character:Loretta
Release Date:17/08/1979

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Character:
Release Date:07/12/1977

Pufnstuf
Character:Boss Witch
Release Date:13/05/1970

The Phynx
Character:Foxy
Release Date:06/03/1970

No Substitute for Victory
Character:Herself
Release Date:01/01/1970

Clown Alley
Character:Washerwoman Clown
Release Date:09/11/1966

Billy Rose's Jumbo
Character:Lulu
Release Date:06/12/1962

The All-Star Christmas Show
Character:Self
Release Date:01/12/1958

Monsieur Verdoux
Character:Annabella Bonheur
Release Date:26/09/1947

Pin Up Girl
Character:Molly McKay
Release Date:25/04/1944

Four Jills in a Jeep
Character:Martha Raye
Release Date:17/03/1944

Show-Business at War
Character:Self
Release Date:21/05/1943

Hellzapoppin'
Character:Betty Johnson
Release Date:25/12/1941

Keep 'Em Flying
Character:Gloria Phelps / Barbara Phelps
Release Date:27/11/1941

Navy Blues
Character:Lilibelle Bolton
Release Date:13/09/1941

The Boys from Syracuse
Character:Luce
Release Date:30/07/1940

The Farmer's Daughter
Character:Patience Bingham
Release Date:29/03/1940

$1,000 a Touchdown
Character:Martha Madison
Release Date:04/10/1939

Never Say Die
Character:Mickey Hawkins
Release Date:08/03/1939

Give Me a Sailor
Character:Letty Larkin
Release Date:19/08/1938

Tropic Holiday
Character:Midge Miller
Release Date:29/06/1938

College Swing
Character:Mabel Grady
Release Date:29/04/1938

The Big Broadcast of 1938
Character:Martha Bellows
Release Date:11/02/1938

Double or Nothing
Character:Liza Lou Lane
Release Date:17/09/1937

Artists & Models
Character:Specialty
Release Date:04/08/1937

Mountain Music
Character:Mary Beamish
Release Date:18/06/1937

Waikiki Wedding
Character:Myrtle Finch
Release Date:23/03/1937

College Holiday
Character:Daisy Schloggenheimer
Release Date:19/12/1936

Hideaway Girl
Character:Helen Flint
Release Date:20/11/1936

The Big Broadcast of 1937
Character:Patsy
Release Date:05/10/1936

Rhythm on the Range
Character:Emma
Release Date:01/07/1936

Alice in Wonderland
Character:Duchess

Murder, She Wrote
Character:Sadie Winthrope

The Love Boat
Character:Irene Austin

The Love Boat
Character:Zelda

Alice
Character:

McMillan & Wife
Character:Agetha

McMillan & Wife
Character:Agatha

The Bugaloos
Character:Benita Bizarre

The Barbara McNair Show
Character:Self

The Dick Cavett Show
Character:Self - Guest

The Carol Burnett Show
Character:Self - Guest

The Hollywood Palace
Character:Self

The Judy Garland Show
Character:Self

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Character:

Burke's Law
Character:Beulah Brothers

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character:Self

The Mike Douglas Show
Character:Self

The Big Party
Character:Self

The Steve Allen Show
Character:Self

The Oscars
Character:Self

This Is Your Life
Character:Self

The Colgate Comedy Hour
Character:Self

The Bob Hope Show
Character:Self

What's My Line?
Character:Self - Mystery Guest