Ray Goulding

Ray Goulding

Goulding at left with Bob Elliott on Monitor in 1960
Born (1922-03-20)March 20, 1922
Lowell, Massachusetts
Died March 24, 1990(1990-03-24) (aged 68)
Manhasset, New York
Cause of death Renal failure

Raymond Walter "Ray" Goulding (March 20, 1922 – March 24, 1990) was an American comedian, who, together with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the fourth of five children of Thomas Goulding, an overseer in a textile mill, and his wife Mary. Upon graduation from high school at age 17, Ray Goulding was hired as a $15-a-week announcer on local station WLLH,[1] using the name 'Dennis Howard' to avoid confusion with his older brother Phil, an announcer in Boston radio at the time.[2] A year later Ray was hired by Boston radio station WEEI under his own name.[3]

His career was interrupted in 1942 by World War II. After graduating from US Army OCS he was posted to Fort Knox, KY as an instructor,[4] attaining the rank of captain. While stationed there he met his wife, then-Lt. Mary Elizabeth Leader, likewise attached to the base as a dietitian. They married in 1945 and would eventually have four sons and two daughters.

Bob and Ray

Upon his discharge in 1946, Goulding was hired on at Boston station WHDH, where he served as newsreader for the morning program hosted by Bob Elliott. The two men soon discovered an extraordinary comedic rapport and found themselves in-demand as a team. Standing six-foot-two, heavyset and possessing a distinctive baritone voice, Goulding made an effective contrast to his partner both physically and vocally, usually taking on similarly outsize roles in their skits.[5] His dead-on impersonation of Senator Joseph McCarthy inspired a pointed series of Bob & Ray sketches at the height of the Army-McCarthy hearings. He also played all the female roles (using falsetto), most notably cooking expert Mary Margaret McGoon. In 1949, Goulding as Mary recorded a novelty cover of "I'd Like to Be a Cow in Switzerland", which became a local hit.

National Prominence and Television Pioneer

In 1951, Elliott and Goulding were hired by NBC Radio, supporting the nationally broadcast "Monitor" program, beginning a four decade long association with the network.[6] Also in 1951, they began a short-lived but influential television series "Bob and Ray", which featured Audrey Meadows and Cloris Leachman. In 1956, he won a Peabody Award for broadcast excellence along with Elliot.[7]

Personal

Away from the studio, his hobbies included photography and sport shooting. He was a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan. Ray Goulding died of kidney failure at his home in Manhasset on New York's Long Island in 1990 at the age of 68.[8]

References

  1. ↑ New York Voices: 14 Portraits by Balliett, Whitney pg53
  2. ↑ The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1986-1990
  3. ↑ Saturday Evening Post 25 December 1954 p21
  4. ↑ New York Voices: 14 Portraits pg54
  5. ↑ New York Voices: 14 Portraits pg47
  6. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-st-ca-bob-ray-classic-hollywood-20140601-story.html, accessdate=22 November 2106
  7. ↑ http://www.npr.org/2016/02/04/465522025/bob-elliott-of-comedy-team-bob-and-ray-dies-at-92, accessdate=22 November 2016
  8. ↑ New York Times obituary Mar 26th 1990
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