Ray Rayner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ray Rayner (b. Ray Rahner on July 23, 1919, Queens, New York –d. January 21, 2004) was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.
His first role on the station was as Sergeant Pettibone, the host of the Dick Tracy show. He joined the cast of Bozo's Circus as country bumpkin clown Oliver O. Oliver and also hosted his own long-running Ray Rayner and His Friends, which featured old cartoons, arts-and-crafts, animals such as Chelveston the Duck (which would occasionally bite, and of whom Rayner was notably wary), and talking dog puppet Cuddly Dudley. He would also simulcast traffic reports from sister-station WGN Radio over stock footage of traffic moving along the Chicago-area Interstates.
In 1968, Rayner also appeared as Ronald McDonald in nationally televised commercials for McDonald's, filmed in San Bernadino, California.
He later moved to KGGM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before retiring from television.
He died of complications from pneumonia in Fort Myers, Florida at the age of 84.
[edit] External links
- Ray Rayner at the Internet Movie Database
- http://www.tvparty.com/lostrayner.html
- http://www.chicagotelevision.com/rayner.htm
- http://wgntv.trb.com/wgntv-news-rayner-obit,0,7937796.story?coll=wgntv-home-1
- http://www.chicagokidstv.com
Categories: 1919 births | 2004 deaths | American television personalities | Children's television | People from Albuquerque, New Mexico | People from Chicago | People from Florida | People from Queens | 1950s American television series | 1960s American television series | 1970s American television series | 1980s American television series
