Aldo Ray was born in Pennsylvania of Italian parents. He won a starring part in his first film “The Marrying Kind” opposite Judy Holliday directed by George Cukor. In the 1950’s his career was at it’s peak. He appeared with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in “Pat and Mike”, opposite Humphrey Bogart in “We’re No Angels” and Rita Hayworth in “Miss Sadie Thompson”. Sadly his career declined and by the 80’s he was featuring in cheap poorly made films. He died in 1991.
TCM Overview:
Gravel-voiced, thick-set former Navy frogman who was running for constable of Crockett, CA, when he drove his brother to an audition for the film “Saturday’s Hero” (1951) and was hired instead by director David Miller. Early in Ray’s career he starred in romantic leads, as one of the reminiscing lovers in George Cukor’s “The Marrying Kind” (1951) and opposite Rita Hayworth in “Miss Sadie Thompson” (1953). In comic roles, Ray was the none-too-bright boxer in Cukor’s “Pat and Mike” (1952) and an escaped convict in Michael Curtiz’s “We’re No Angels” (1955). By the mid-50s Ray was typecast as a hot-blooded, gung-ho character in action films and as GIs in “Battle Cry” (1955), “Men in War” (1957) and his last major film, “The Green Berets” (1968) with John Wayne.
The above TCM Overview can also be accessed online here.
