inchide

Newsletter

Stay tuned with arts. Subscribe to Artline art news send directly to your mailbox by artLine.ro
Artline.ro on FaceBook Artline.ro on Twitter Multimedia
ro | en
Contact
Upload artworks

Jimmy Boyd

1 Comments

photo:
http://www.nndb.com/people/688/000086430/boyd-1-sized.jpg

Biography

For the actor from "The Electric Company", see Jim Boyd (actor).

Jimmy Boyd (born January 9, 1939) is an American singer, musician, and actor.

Jim Boyd was born in an old farmhouse in McComb, Mississippi. In 1941 his father, Leslie Boyd, put his wife, Winnie, and their two sons (Kenneth, 4, and Jimmy, 2), on a train bound for Riverside, California. Having sold everything they owned, and only having enough money for his wife’s ticket and the two boys, Leslie rode the rails. He hitchhiked on freight trains to join his family in California, something he had done growing up through the Depression. Hoboing from Mississippi, Louisiana and as far as West Texas, he picked cotton to help support his own family of 21 brothers and sisters. The family was sent back to Mississippi a year earlier by the Welfare Department for not having any skills to get a good job.

Leslie had been a farmer when a drought hit and there were no more crops, so he picked cotton. He could pick over 500 pounds of cotton a day himself, and was paid 25 cents. Although there was no cotton in California to pick, this time they were determined to stay. Leslie got a menial job cleaning up construction sites.

Leslie and Winnie occasionally took the kids with them to a Country-and-Western dance, held in a barn in Colton, California, a few miles from Riverside. Jimmy's older brother Kenneth, about 9 years old at the time, went up to the bandstand and told the band leader he should hear his little brother sing and play the guitar. Texas Jim Lewis, the band leader, called little Jimmy up to the stage. Jimmy sang and played, and the crowd went wild.

After the dance was over, Texas Jim Lewis and the manager of a local radio station approached Jimmy’s parents and asked if he could come sing every Saturday night, and be a part of the hour-long radio show they planned to broadcast from the dance. They offered to pay Jimmy $50 for every show. $50 was a lot of money for the Boyds, but Jimmy enjoyed performing and would have done it for nothing.

Leslie Boyd had cataracts in both eyes and had to have surgery. Cataract surgery in the 1940s was a serious operation, and it had to be done in Los Angeles. While in LA, they were told about auditions being held for the Al Jarvis Talent Show on KLAC-TV.

Jimmy auditioned for Al Jarvis and was such a hit that they put him on the show that night. Jimmy, to his astonishment, won the talent show, and the next day, Al Jarvis and KLAC were literally deluged in upwards of 20,000 telegrams and telephone calls from viewers.

Al Jarvis had a five-hour talk show every day on KLAC with a few regulars on it, including Betty White, called Make-Believe Ballroom. Jarvis immediately announced Jimmy would be a regular on the show. An appearance on the Frank Sinatra Show on CBS soon followed, then Columbia Records and the song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," which to date has sold over 60 million records, recorded when when he was 12 years and 11 months old.

Between February 1953 and November 1954, Boyd made five appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. Boyd would record several number-one records: teaming up with Frankie Laine on "Tell Me a Story" and with Rosemary Clooney on "Dennis the Menace." Boyd showed he had comedic talents in TV series including Bachelor Father, Date with the Angels, Betty White Show, Broadside, My Three Sons, and others. He also appeared in a number of motion pictures, including 1960's Inherit the Wind with Spencer Tracy.

In 1960 Boyd married actress Yvonne Craig. The marriage ended in divorce in 1962.

In February 1967 he took part in Nancy Sinatra's USO tour of Vietnam.

For his contribution to the recording industry, Jimmy Boyd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Rate This


Comentarii 1 comentarii
Christie Starley

That is not a photograph of the singer-actor Jimmy Boyd but of Irish actor, Stephen Boyd, who starred in the motion picture Ben Hur with Charlton Heston. Please correct the error. Sincerely, Christie Starley: s.a.g., a.f.t.r.a., a.e.a.

0 2011 reply
0
Scrie comentariu
Introdu mai jos textul de aici
Scrie in casuta de mai sus codul de verificare
Alte articole din:
Actors
Lee Van
Lee Van

Biography Lee Van Cleef (January 9, 1925 - December 16, 1989) was a movie actor, who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes made him an ideal "bad ...

Andre The Giant
Andre The Giant

Biography Born to French parents of Bulgarian and Polish descent in a small farm near Ussy-sur-Marne, he left home in his adolescence to become a pro wrestler. He was billed at a height of 7 ft 4 in ...

Benicio Del Toro
Benicio Del Toro

photo: http://www.foxnews.com/images/300888/0_61_Benicio_del_Toro.jpg Biography Benicio attended Academia del Perpetuo Socorro (The Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help), a Roman Catholic school ...

Pedro de Cordoba
Pedro de Cordoba

photo: http://content9.flixster.com/photo/12/68/65/12686531_gal.jpg Biography Pedro de Cordoba (September 28, 1881 - September 16, 1950), was an American Actor. Pedro de Cordoba, who appeared in ...

Kevin Zegers
Kevin Zegers

photo: http://igossip.com Biography Early life Kevin started acting at the age of 6. He has been in over 30 commercials, also did some modeling in London. Zegers was born in St. Marys, Ontario ...

Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson

Biography Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois. He was later adopted and acquired the name Roy Fitzgerald. He served in the United States Navy during World War II as an ...

Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal

Foto: 1 Biography The popularity of Steven Seagal is a complicated subject; people are generally very partial in their opinion. His fans have called him "The Great One", and consider him ...

Charles Durning
Charles Durning

photo: http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/arts/photos/2007/09/24/durning-cp-1280576.jpg Biography Charles Durning (born February 28, 1923 in Highland Falls, New York) is an American actor of stage and ...

Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna

photo: http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Joe+Mantegna+Headlines+Shane+Inspiration+Gala+3VOBoh1T1lnl.jpg Biography Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Jr. (born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Born ...

Bill Mumy
Bill Mumy

Biography Charles William Mumy Jr. (MOO-mee) (born February 1, 1954 in San Gabriel, California) is an American musician, actor and a figure in the science fiction community. He began his professional ...

Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart

photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eg4RyNmPMYM/TDsDDLz68fI/AAAAAAAAI-I/yHyIlhtsLbk/s400/patrick-stewart.jpg Biography His first appearance on stage was at a local outdoor history pageant as Tom of ...

Francesco Cura
Francesco Cura

Biography His parents are Arturo Cura' and Ornella Cardinali. Ornella moved from Bologna to the mountains near Parma (Bedonia) in 1973 when she married Arturo. Francesco has one older sister, ...

Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy

Biography Military career Desperately needing money, Murphy tried to join the military in order to earn enough to help support his family. Murphy had tried to enlist in the Army in his native Texas ...

Jack Lord
Jack Lord

Biography Jack Lord in a scene from Hawaii Five-O. John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name Jack Lord, made his career as a screen and ...

Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise

Foto: 1 Biography To Tom Cruise was born to Thomas Cruise Mapother III and Mary Lee Pfeiffer in Syracuse, New York.[2] His paternal ancestry is Welsh: his great-great-grandfather Dylan Henry ...

Newsletter

Stay tuned with arts. Subscribe to Artline art news send directly to your mailbox by artLine.ro

Recommended News

Bruce Springsteen Facts Bruce Springsteen Facts
1. In the official video for Glory Days you can see both Bruce's first wife, Julianne Phillips, and his second and current wife, Patti Scialfa. 2. During decades of touring The Boss has ...
Other recommandations:
Five Facts About Pierre-Auguste Renoir World Wide Facts Five Facts About David Duchovny Five Facts About Prague + Read More

Facebook

Be our friend on Facebook and keep in touch with art world wherever you are.

art-Travel

Five Facts About Leipzig Five Facts About Leipzig 1. Leipzig made media history in 1650, when it was the city where the very first newspaper was published. The work of Timotheus Ritzsch, a printer and book merchant who wanted to present the news of the day, Einkommende Zeitungen was published four days a ... Alte destinatii: Did You Know? Facts About Switzerland Five Interesting Facts About Beijing The Neamt Citadel The Warley Museum. Maybe the Smallest One Strange Laws From All Around the World + Places to go