Acting

Ken Darby

Born 1909-05-13 · Hebron, Nebraska, USA

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 from The Wizard of Oz, a film on which Darby had worked. However, the album was a studio cast recording, not a true soundtrack album (although it did feature Judy Garland), and it did not use the film's original arrangements. Darby also performed as part of "The King's Men," a vocal quartet that recorded several songs with Paul Whiteman's orchestra in the mid-1930s and were the featured vocalists on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio program from 1940 through 1953. In the early 1940s, he performed with the King's Men a musical version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" that he wrote called "T'was the Night Before Christmas" which was performed on the Christmas episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly. They also participated on the soundtracks of several MGM films, including The Wizard of Oz and occasional Tom and Jerry cartoons. The King's Men portrayed the Marx Brothers in a musical spoof in the film Honolulu (Darby played one of two 'Grouchos' in the group). He also provided the theme song and the soundtrack for The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, the 1955-61 television series starring Hugh O'Brian, and The Adventures of Jim Bowie starring Scott Forbes. He was a composer and production supervisor for Walt Disney Studios and was the choral and vocal director of the 1946 Disney film classic Song of the South. He was also Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Darby was also the principal composer of the 1956 Elvis Presley hit "Love Me Tender" for the movie of the same name but signed the rights over to his wife, Vera Matson, whose name appears as co-lyricist and co-composer with Presley. The song was adapted from the Civil War-era song "Aura Lee." Presley's composing credit was mandated by his management, to entice him to record the song. Darby was often asked about his decision to credit the song to his wife along with Presley, and his standard response was an acid, "Because she didn't write it either." An avid fan of Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's fictional detective genius, Darby wrote a detailed biography of Wolfe's home titled The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe (1983). Ken Darby died January 24, 1992, in the final stages of production of his last book, Hollywood Holyland: The Filming and Scoring of 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (1992). He was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Acting credits

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

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

6.4

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

Two-Faced Woman

1941

5.9

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

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

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

7.1

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

Margie

1946

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

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

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

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

6.0

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

Stagecoach War

1940

6.5

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

For Me and My Gal

1942

6.1

Casey Jones is one of the best engineers there is and it is his duty to get his cargo to its destination on time via train. He sets off but is set back by a number of unfortunate circumstances such as a rain storm, a cow on the tracks, a mad bomber, and finally, when his train starts falling apart. Worst of all, he is on a collision course with another train coming in the opposite direction. After a terrific crash, the man at the train station assumes the worst when Casey doesn't show up but, to his delight, Casey finally makes it to his destination a total wreck but on time (almost).

The Brave Engineer

1950

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

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

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

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

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.