Ken Darby

Acting

Ken Darby

Born — Died

1909-05-13 — 1992-01-24

Place of birth

Hebron, Nebraska, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

28 titles

Kenneth Lorin Darby (May 13, 1909 – January 24, 1992) was an American composer, vocal arranger, lyricist, and conductor. His film scores were recognized by the awarding of three Academy Awards and one Grammy Award. He provided vocals for the Munchkinland mayor in The Wizard of Oz (1939), who was portrayed in the film by Charlie Becker. Darby is also notable as the author of The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe (1983), a biography of the home of Rex Stout's fictional detective. Ken Darby's choral group, The Ken Darby Singers, sang backup for Bing Crosby on the original 1942 Decca Records studio recording of "White Christmas." In 1940 they also sang on the first album ever made of the songs fro…

Known for

Fun and Fancy Free poster
6.3

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: Bongo about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and Mickey and the Beanstalk, a take on the famous fairy tale.

Fun and Fancy Free

1947

Trick or Treat poster
7.0

When the nephews come to Donald's house in their Halloween costumes he dumps water on them and laughs at his trick. A witch sees this and decides to help the kids. By magic she gives Donald a bad time and the kids finally get their treats.

Trick or Treat

1952

Make Mine Music poster
5.8

In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."

Make Mine Music

1946

Two-Faced Woman poster
6.4

A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.

Two-Faced Woman

1941

Donald's Dilemma poster
6.4

Donald and Daisy are walking when he is hit by a flowerpot. He's convinced he's a famous singer, and he croons divinely, but does not recognize Daisy. He in fact does become famous. Daisy is devastated by her inability to get over him and sees a psychiatrist. He tells her she has to choose between the world having Donald, or her getting him back. She picks herself, and drops another flowerpot, which restores him.

Donald's Dilemma

1947

The Kansan poster
6.0

Wounded while stopping the James gang from robbing the local bank, a cowboy wakes up in the hospital to find that he's been elected town marshal. He soon comes into conflict with the town banker, who controls everything in town and is squeezing the townspeople for every penny he can get out of them.

The Kansan

1943

Film credits

1950s · 4 titles

1940s · 11 titles

Fun and Fancy Free poster
6.3

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: Bongo about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and Mickey and the Beanstalk, a take on the famous fairy tale.

Fun and Fancy Free

1947

Fun and Fancy Free poster
6.3

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: Bongo about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and Mickey and the Beanstalk, a take on the famous fairy tale.

Fun and Fancy Free

1947

Make Mine Music poster
5.8

In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."

Make Mine Music

1946

Two-Faced Woman poster
6.4

A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.

Two-Faced Woman

1941

Donald's Dilemma poster
6.4

Donald and Daisy are walking when he is hit by a flowerpot. He's convinced he's a famous singer, and he croons divinely, but does not recognize Daisy. He in fact does become famous. Daisy is devastated by her inability to get over him and sees a psychiatrist. He tells her she has to choose between the world having Donald, or her getting him back. She picks herself, and drops another flowerpot, which restores him.

Donald's Dilemma

1947

The Kansan poster
6.0

Wounded while stopping the James gang from robbing the local bank, a cowboy wakes up in the hospital to find that he's been elected town marshal. He soon comes into conflict with the town banker, who controls everything in town and is squeezing the townspeople for every penny he can get out of them.

The Kansan

1943

For Me and My Gal poster
6.5

Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.

For Me and My Gal

1942

Margie poster
7.1

A woman reminisces about her teenage years in the 1920s, when she fell in love with her teacher.

Margie

1946

The Martins and the Coys poster
6.7

The Martins and the Coys are two feuding clans. One day, Grandpa Coy gets caught in the Martin henhouse, and a massive battle erupts, leaving only a Martin girl and a Coy boy. Love conquers all for a while, anyhow. Originally released as a segment in Make Mine Music.

The Martins and the Coys

1946

Stagecoach War poster
6.0

Hoppy is busy chasing stagecoach bandits who sing as they rob.

Stagecoach War

1940

The Showdown poster
6.0

European bad guy Baron Bendor leads some local townsmen in a plot to obtain horses through theft. Hoppy and his sidekicks Lucky and Speedy must find and expose the horse thieves.

The Showdown

1940

1930s · 12 titles

Law of the Pampas poster
5.0

Hoppy and Lucky are headed to South America to deliver a heard of cattle. Bay guy Ralph Merritt gets in their way. For a while.

Law of the Pampas

1939

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land poster
5.2

Piggy and Fluffy have adventures on a riverboat and Uncle Tom is chased by skeletons promising to take him to Hallelujah Land.

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land

1931

Going Hollywood poster
5.5

Sylvia is a French teacher at an all-girls school who wants to find love. When she hears Bill Williams on the radio, she decides to go visit and thank him. However, difficult problems lie ahead when Lili gets in the way.

Going Hollywood

1933

The Queen Was in the Parlor poster
6.0

The last Goopy Geer cartoon. The king returns to his castle, and asks where the queen is; she's in the parlor, and won't be seen, according to the title song. He goes to his throne and summons his jester, Goopy Geer. A black knight arrives and threatens one of the young ladies in court; Goopy Geer fights him off, first with an ax, then in armor from kitchen utensils, then butting him with a mounted animal head, which makes the knight's armor fall apart. He pulls it together again and runs away.

The Queen Was in the Parlor

1932

Let's Go Native poster
7.7

The company of a musical comedy gets shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by a "king" from Brooklyn and his coterie of wild native girls.

Let's Go Native

1930

Honolulu poster
6.5

Wanting a break from his overzealous fans, a famous movie star hires a Hawaiian plantation owner to switch places with him for a few weeks.

Honolulu

1939

Broadway Serenade poster
6.6

A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.

Broadway Serenade

1939

Red-Headed Baby poster
5.5

The old toymaker goes to sleep, and his toys immediately come to life and sing "Red-Headed Baby." A red-haired baby doll begins the song. She's soon joined by her sweetheart, a toy soldier named Napoleon. A spider briefly spoils the fun when he descends upon the toys and grabs the doll. It's up to Napoleon to save her.

Red-Headed Baby

1931

Big Man from the North poster
5.4

Bosko is a Mountie in the cold, snowy north. His sergeant demands that he get his man: a peg-legged villain wanted dead or alive.

Big Man from the North

1931

Renegade Trail poster
5.0

Hoppy goes to town to help Marshal Windy with some rustlers and winds up helping the widow Joyce when confidence men try to take her herd. King's Men songs include: "Hi Thar Stranger" and "Lazy Rolls the Rio Grande."

Renegade Trail

1939

Box Car Blues poster
5.7

Bosko and his porcine friend are hobos in a runaway boxcar.

Box Car Blues

1930

The Organ Grinder poster
5.2

A beloved Italian organ grinder plays his music and sings his song through an immigrant-filled ghetto neighborhood, where hard-scrabble kids and well-proportioned matrons get hep to the beat that flows from the organ grinder's calliope. There are lots of spoofs of life on the Lower East Side and lots of monkeyshines as the organ grinder's pet performs "42nd Street" and imitates some Hollywood greats. The monkey takes wing and gets behind the wheel of a car, driving all over the area and wrecking everything.

The Organ Grinder

1933