Spoiler : Ives, Burl (birth name was Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives) Born in Hunt Township, Illinois 6/14/1909; died 4/14/1995 of mouth cancer and congestive heart failure in Anacortes, Washington. Married and divorced to radio writer and actress Helen Payne (1945-?); Dorothy Koster (1971-1995 his death). Carl Sanburg called him "the mightiest ballad singer of any century." Nicknamed "The Wayfaring Stranger." Singer at age four, by age eight played the guitar and banjo. Later Ives traveled the country collecting/singing American Folk songs which numbered close to 500 when he finished. Screen debut in Smoky (1945). Academy Award for The Big Country (1958).

Spoiler : I love his singing to this day!

Spoiler : Love this versatile actor and singer. My favorite roll of his was Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof!

Spoiler : He's magnificent. Love his singing the best.

Spoiler : Burl Ives was great in everything he was in. Was terrific in Big Country. One of a kind talent.

Spoiler : Always a good performance from Burl Ives.! He also gave a brilliant performance in Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" playing the ruthless husband of Sophia Loren.

Spoiler : Happy birthday to Burl Ives, born on June 14, 1909.

Spoiler : He was 46 years old, playing Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," whose action takes place on Big Daddy's 65th birthday.

Spoiler : He will always be Sam the Snowman to me. “Silver and gold... silver and gold”.

Spoiler : On staff with CBS-Radio (1940-1942). Host and star of The Burl Ives Show (Back Where I Came From, God's Country, The Burl Ives Coffee Club) on the CBS, NBC, Mutual and ABC Radio Networks (1940-1949).

Spoiler : Guest star on Action Autographs for ABC-TV (1949-1950); High-Low for NBC-TV (1957). O.K. Crackerby! on the ABC-TV series (1965-1966). Walter Nichols on The Lawyers for NBC-TV (1969- 1972). Justin on the ABC-TV miniseries, Roots (1977-1978).

Spoiler : When I was a kid my Dad used to play Burl's album of Aussie folk songs. One of the songs was about getting a haircut...my Dad would play that while my brother and I got our ears lowered. The song went something like:"There goes the hair boys, clip, clip, clip........

Spoiler : Super actor, Brilliant singer & actor !

Spoiler : What a voice, Burl was also a great folk singer

Spoiler : Happy birthday to Burl Ives, born on June 14, 1909.

Spoiler : A folk singer and a really fine dramatic actor.

Spoiler : I'm now 83, and fondly remember Burl Ives! His guitar playing was simple-- never got skilled at it--but he had a wonderful singing voice and since he was an actor, he was a great storyteller. My family never could afford a record player and certainly couldn't pay for 78 records, but Ol' Burl was on the radio--hurrah! I wouldn't have missed his--or Pete Seeger's/Woody Guthrie's Weavers--radio broadcasts in the late 40s, early 50s. Developed a permanent love of authentic Old Time music, which led me to bluegrass, ancient music, world music, early polyphony and cool jazz (along with 20th, now 21st, century concert music) and still have a huge collection of all of these on LPs, CDs & computer. Whenever my parents could afford lessons, I was trained in piano on an old Story & Clark spinet, taught myself guitar, mountain dulcimer, zither, flatback mandolin, balalaika, bongos, other ethnic drums and percussion, kalimba, and two exotic 2-string rebecs, one Turkish, the other Indonesian. I built some of these myself, including ancient Egyptian and Anglo-Saxon harps and a medium-size neo-Irish harp in 1973 which I still can play. From 1957 I played & sang in coffeehouses for tips and later in several costumed groups (Medieval, Early American, etc., have conducted three Unitarian Universalist church choirs professionally and other choirs ad hoc. Had to give up guitar and some of other instruments when I developed osteoarthritis in my hands about 20 years ago, but I have piano, drums, harp and dulcimer, plus old tapes to listen to and my written compositions, a few of which have been performed. So--my life was enriched in an enormous way by Burl Ives, and wish I'd had the chance to meet him. If there's a heaven--Burl was probably no saint but my Universalist religious faith says he should be there--one of my first acts will be to give Burl a big kiss. I'll be shyer with Pete Seeger. I lived briefly with his family, who were all fantastic, and Pete was probably the only genuine saint I ever met!