- Born
- Birth nameRaymond Antonioni
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Ray Anthony (real name Raymond Antonini) was born in Bentleyville, PA, on Jan. 20, 1922. His family moved to Cleveland, where he spent most of his early life. There he studied trumpet with his father. From 1940-1941 he played in Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 and was discharged in 1946. He also played in the Jimmy Dorsey and Al Donahue bands before forming his own band in the Midwest. He was a summer replacement for Perry Como on both CBS and NBC. Anthony recorded for Capitol Records for 19 years and later ran another record company, Wood Records, for nine years. He was once married to actress Mamie Van Doren. His biggest hits were the themes from Dragnet (1951) and Peter Gunn (1958), along with being one of the top big bands of the post-WW2 era.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mike McKinley
- SpouseMamie Van Doren(August 29, 1955 - March 22, 1961) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenPerry Ray Anthony
- He is the last surviving member of Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
- Ray Anthony took decent trumpet chops, Cary Grant-like looks, and a relentless energy for self-promotion and turned them into a long and prosperous series of music business enterprises.
- After Van Doren filed for divorce in 1958, citing "cruelty", they finally divorced in 1961, and Anthony's brief film career ended at about the same time. However, he continued his musical career and had another hit record with the theme from Peter Gunn, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
- His biggest hit came in 1954, when, after bugging Jack Webb for months to get him to release the recording rights, he recorded a cover of the theme to Webb's cop show, Dragnet.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1751 Vine St.
- I can't remember a time when music wasn't a part of my life. Music puts wings on the human soul. Nothing can touch people the way music can, and every day is a new opportunity to create, change, stretch, and reach for new heights doing something that I absolutely love - entertaining people through great music.
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