1. Ray Rayner was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.
15 Facts About Ray Rayner
1. 2.
Ray Rayner attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
3.
Ray Rayner enlisted in the Army Air Forces, serving as the navigator of a B-17 during World War II, when he was shot down over France on April 3,1943.
4.
Ray Rayner was interviewed in a documentary titled "Stalag Luft III", produced by RDR Productions of Glenview, Illinois.
5.
Ray Rayner got a noontime program called The Ray Rayner Show in 1953, he and his co-host Mina Kolb hosted a somewhat free-form show that featured music, comedy skits, dance and pantomime.
6.
Ray Rayner joined the cast of Bozo's Circus as country bumpkin clown Oliver O Oliver.
7.
Ray Rayner held an annual jellybean contest where viewers were to submit guesses of the quantity in a large jar displayed for a period of time on the show.
8.
Ray Rayner received an M A in Humanities from the University of Chicago in 1970, writing his thesis about children's television's first goal being to entertain.
9.
Ray Rayner was a member of the Silver Circle of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received many local Emmys for his television work.
10.
Ray Rayner moved to KGGM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1981, before retiring from television in 1989.
11.
Ray Rayner cited the harsh Chicago winters as the motivating factor.
12.
Ray Rayner returned to Chicago for the 25th and 30th anniversary shows for Bozo's Circus.
13.
Ray Rayner did a week-long stint filling in at weather and other duties at Chicago's Fox Thing in the Morning on WFLD in May 1995.
14.
Ray Rayner died on 21 January 2004, of complications from pneumonia in Fort Myers, Florida, at the age of 84.
15.
Ray Rayner is survived by his second wife, Marie, a daughter and a son, and four grandchildren.