Martha Raye

Martha Raye (1916-1994) was an American comic actress in motion pictures and later, on television.

Miss Raye was best known for the size of her mouth, which appeared enormous in proportion to the rest of her face. It relegated her motion picture work to largely supporting comic parts. She became known as "The Big Mouth"; apparently she was often made up in a way which tended to cause it to appear as even larger than it actually already was. For example, she appears in the picture The Big Broadcast of 1938 where Bob Hope first sings what became his theme song, Thanks for the Memories; however, it is not sung to Miss Raye, but rather the female leading actress that she supports. She joined the USO soon after the US entered World War II.

Miss Raye was an early television star when that medium was very young; for a while she had her own program, The Martha Raye Show, in which she was the lead and her awkward boyfriend was portrayed by retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano. In the late 1950s she made a well-publicized suicide attempt which may have been partially related to the breakup of her marriage to conductor-composer David Rose.

In the 1970s she portrayed over-the-top villianess "Witchiepoo" in the children's television program H. R. Pufnstuf. She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly ones which often had older performers as guest stars, such as The Love Boat, and on variety programs. She also appeared in a number of commercials for a denture adhesive product which emphasized its importance to her appearance due to the size of her mouth. In addition to the aforementioned television work, she appeared for two years as Mel Sharples' mother, Carrie, on the sitcom Alice.

Martha Raye was deeply patriotic and, thanks to her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, special consideration was given to bury her in Arlington National Cemetery upon her death.