Anthony, Ray, 1922-

Band leader Ray Anthony, born Raymond Antonini, in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, began learning the trumpet at age 5. One of five brothers, he moved with his Italian parents to Cleveland, where he spent his childhood. He caught the attention of the Swing era band leader Glenn Miller, who took him on in 1940-1941 and he even appeared in Miller’s film Sun Valley Serenade. Ray was off to the Navy in 1942 and led a band entertaining the troops until 1946. Returning, he formed his own group, the Ray Anthony Orchestra which became popular in the 1950s with such hits as the “Bunny-Hop,”, the “Hokey-Pokey, and the theme from the “Dragnet” television show. He had joined Capitol Records in 1949 and recorded 49 albums with them. From 1953 to 1954 he was the musical director of “TV’s Top Tunes” and appeared in a total of 15 films, including “Daddy Long legs.” He acted in several films with his second wife, actress Mamie Van Doren, whom he married in 1955; she divorced him in 1959. He continued to be a band leader, as well as a prolific composer and song-writer, and in the early 1980s formed another group: Big Band ‘80s. By 2020 he had recorded his 126th album and was working in various combos in Las Vegas and elsewhere. There is a star for him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.