Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army and became a major star of CBS Radio.

In the 1960s, Ives successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". He was also a popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s. Ives's film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which Ives won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the film noir Day of the Outlaw (1959).