30 Facts About Cliff Edwards

Cliff Edwards enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes.

Cliff Edwards had a number one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929.

Cliff Edwards did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and he is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio and Fun and Fancy Free, and Dandy Crow in Walt Disney's Dumbo.

Cliff Edwards left school at age 14 and soon moved to St Louis, Missouri, and Saint Charles, Missouri, where he entertained as a singer in saloons.

Cliff Edwards was nicknamed "Ukulele Ike" by a club owner who could never remember his name.

Cliff Edwards got his first break in 1918 at the Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, where he performed a song called "Ja-Da", written by the club's pianist, Bob Carleton.

Cliff Edwards became one of the most popular singers of the 1920s, appearing in several Broadway shows.

In 1924, Cliff Edwards performed as the headliner at the Palace, the pinnacle of his vaudeville success.

Cliff Edwards always played American Martin ukuleles, favoring the small soprano model in his early career.

Cliff Edwards continued to record until shortly before his death in 1971.

Cliff Edwards reprised many of his 1920s hits; his failing health was however evident in the recordings.

In 1929, Cliff Edwards was playing at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles where he caught the attention of movie producer-director Irving Thalberg.

Cliff Edwards appeared in a total of 33 films for MGM through 1933.

Cliff Edwards had a friendly working relationship with MGM's comedy star Buster Keaton, who featured Cliff Edwards in three of his films.

One of these casual jam sessions was captured on film, in Doughboys, in which Keaton and Cliff Edwards scat-sing their way through "You Never Did That Before".

Cliff Edwards was an occasional supporting player in feature films and short subjects at Warner Bros.

Cliff Edwards played a wisecracking sidekick to western star George O'Brien, and he filled in for Allen Jenkins as "Goldie" opposite Tom Conway in The Falcon Strikes Back.

Cliff Edwards appeared in the darkly sardonic western comedy The Bad Man of Brimstone, and he played the character "Endicott" in the screwball comedy film His Girl Friday.

Cliff Edwards voiced the head crow in Disney's Dumbo and sang "When I See an Elephant Fly".

In 1932, Cliff Edwards had his first national radio show on CBS Radio.

Cliff Edwards was careless with the money he made in the 1920s, always trying to sustain his expensive habits and lifestyle.

Cliff Edwards continued working during the Great Depression, but never again enjoyed his former prosperity.

Cliff Edwards married his first wife Gertrude Ryrholm in 1917, but they divorced four years later.

Cliff Edwards married Irene Wylie in 1923; they divorced in 1931.

Cliff Edwards was sometimes taken to lunch by animators whom he befriended and told stories of his days in vaudeville.

Cliff Edwards died on July 17,1971 at the age of 76 from a cardiac arrest brought on by arteriosclerosis.

At the time of his death, Cliff Edwards was a penniless charity patient at the Virgil Convalescent Hospital in Hollywood, California.

Cliff Edwards's body was unclaimed and was donated to the University of California, Los Angeles medical school.

In 2002, Cliff Edwards' 1940 recording on Victor, Victor 26477, "When You Wish Upon a Star", was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2000, Cliff Edwards was awarded as a Disney Legend for voice-acting.