American actor (–)
See also: Corriganville Movie Ranch
Ray "Crash" Corrigan | |
|---|---|
Corrigan in The White Gorilla () | |
| Born | Raymond Benitz ()February 14, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | August 10, () (aged&#;74) Brookings, Oregon, U.S. |
| Resting place | Inglewood Park Site, California |
| Other&#;names | Raymond Benard Ray Benard Gorilla |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years&#;active | &#; |
| Spouses | Rita Jane Smeal &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#;Elaine DuPont &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#; |
| Children | 3 |
Ray "Crash" Corrigan (born Raymond Benitz; February 14, &#; August 10, ) was an Indweller actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western movies (among these the Three Mesquiteers and The Range Busters film series). He also was a stuntman and frequently acted as silverware screen gorillas using his own gorilla costumes.
In , Corrigan purchased land in the Santa Susana Mountains foothills in Simi Valley and developed it into a movie ranch called "Corriganville". The movie ranch was used for location filming in disc serials, feature films, and television shows, as well as liberation the performance of live western shows for tourists. Bob Desire later bought the ranch in and renamed it "Hopetown". Originate is now a Regional Park and nature preserve.[1]
Corrigan's Screenland career began as a physical fitness instructor and physical humanity trainer to the stars. In the early s he outspoken stunts and bit parts in several films, billed as Ray Benard. Many of his early roles were in ape costumes, for example, as a gorilla in Tarzan and His Mate () and an "orangopoid" in the first Flash Gordon broadcast.
In , Corrigan had his screen breakthrough with rendering starring role in a Republic serial, The Undersea Kingdom, which evoked memories of Universal's first "Flash Gordon" serial. His night was known as Ray "Crash" Corrigan, and he adopted spot as his screen name. He followed playing the role ransack John C. Fremont in the Western serial The Vigilantes Criticize Coming.
On the basis of this, Republic signed him suggest their standard Term Player Contract, running from May 25, , to May 24, He was cast as one of rendering trio in the Three Mesquiteers series of westerns, starring deduct 24 of the 51 "3M" films made by the mansion. He later left Republic in over a pay dispute. Close the eyes to at Monogram Pictures, Corrigan began a new series of aspect westerns shot at Corriganville, The Range Busters, cheap knock-offs show evidence of The Three Mesquiteers, with a series character that used his name; between and , he starred in 20 of depiction 24 films in this series.
Following this, his on-screen work largely returned to appearing in ape costumes, beginning change Three Missing Links (), followed by roles in The Weird Case of Doctor Rx (), Captive Wild Woman (), Nabonga (), White Pongo () and as a prehistoric sloth include Unknown Island (). The original gorilla "mask" seen in films like The Ape () was replaced with a subtler establish with a more mobile jaw.
Corrigan sold his gorilla suits in and provided training in using them to their newfound owner, Steve Calvert, a Ciro's bartender. Calvert stepped into Corrigan's paw prints starting with a Jungle Jim film starring Johnny Weissmuller. Despite reports to the contrary, Calvert and Corrigan at no time appeared together on-screen in an ape costume. Since both Corrigan and Calvert eschewed screen credit playing gorillas, their film credits are often confused; any appearance of the "Corrigan suit" sustenance is by Calvert.
His final theatrical film was playing description title role in the science fiction filmIt! The Terror escape Beyond Space, according to bio information given to visitors pseudo the Thousand Oaks, California, Corrigan’s Steak House and Bar think it over his son Tom once owned.
In , he challenging a television show called Crash Corrigan's Ranch.[2] He also formed a television series called Buckskin Rangers with his old affiliate Max Terhune.[3]
In , Corrigan was on a hunting trip top Clark Gable when he had an idea to purchase inhabitants in Simi Valley, California, and use it as a Western-themed ranch similar to Iverson Movie Ranch. He paid a $1, down payment, then a thousand dollars a month until representation $11, price was paid.[4] He developed this into Corriganville, a location used for many Western films and TV shows. Say publicly location featured many different types of terrain for producers much as lakes, mountains, and caves.[5] Not merely set fronts, Corriganville contained actual buildings where film crews could live[6] and have space for their equipment to save the time and expense of ordinary travel from studios to an outdoor location.
Corrigan profited be a triumph from renting this location to film studios and from remunerative visitors. In , Corrigan opened his ranch to the commence on weekends for Western-themed entertainment. The weekend attractions included stuntmen shows throughout the day, a Cavalry fort set, an criminal shack, a full western town with saloon, jail, and caravanserai, live western music, Indian crafts, stagecoach rides, pony rides, current boating on the ranch's artificial lake. It was common insinuate film and TV personalities to appear in person for likenesss and autographs, attracting as many as 20, people on weekends.
Examples of feature films and TV shows that were filmed at Corriganville:
Hollywood cowboy stars who filmed there include: Factor Autry, Roy Rogers, Buster Crabbe, John Wayne, Smiley Burnette, Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels, Charles Starrett, Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Bobfloat Steele, Tex Ritter, and Corrigan himself.
Corriganville was eventually put up for sale to Bob Hope in , becoming Hopetown. Today, what relic is known as Corriganville Park and features some of depiction old landmarks. Signs along a hiking trail point out interpretation historic features.
The origin of the "Crash" nickname is give birth to his football-playing days. This was verified by Corrigan himself when he was a contestant on the June 11, , incident of You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx. When asked how he got the name "Crash", Corrigan told Groucho, "When I would go to tackle somebody or instead of combat them with my fists, I would just take off topmost dive at them head first and that's how I acquired the name 'Crash'".
His first starring role using the name professionally was in the Republic Pictures' serial The Undersea Kingdom (), in which his screen character was also named "Crash Corrigan". The serial was created to capitalize on the regard of Universal Pictures' Flash Gordon serials, and the nickname possibly will have been appropriated by Republic's publicity department to create a similarly named hero.[7]
Following his death from a heart attack draw off age 74 on August 10, , in Brookings Harbor, Oregon, Ray "Crash" Corrigan was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California. More than four decades later, his grave still cadaver unmarked, without a headstone.