{{Short description|American musician (1901–1986)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Rudy Vallée | image = Rudyvallee.jpg | caption = Vallée {{circa}} late 1920s | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Hubert Prior Vallée | birth_date = {{birth date|1901|7|28}} | birth_place = Island Pond, Vermont, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1986|7|3|1901|7|28}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | genre = Traditional pop | occupation = {{hlist|Singer|musician|actor|radio host}} | instrument = Vocals, saxophone, clarinet | years_active = 1924–1984 | label = Harmony, RCA Victor, Bluebird, Columbia, Hit of the Week, Melotone, Viva | website = }}
'''Hubert Prior Vallée''' (July 28, 1901<ref name="LarkinGE"/> – July 3, 1986),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://themusicsover.com/2010/07/03/rudy-vallee/|title=» Died On This Date (July 3, 1986) Rudy Vallee / Jazz Singer & Bandleader |website=Themusicsover.com|date=July 3, 2010 |access-date=October 16, 2021}}</ref> known professionally as '''Rudy Vallée''', was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type.
== Early life == Hubert Prior Vallée was born in Island Pond, Vermont, United States, on July 28, 1901,<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2571}}</ref> the son of Catherine Lynch and Charles Alphonse Vallée. His maternal grandparents were English and Irish, while his paternal grandparents were French-Canadians from Quebec. Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine. On March 29, 1917, he enlisted to fight in World War I, but was discharged when U.S. Navy authorities discovered he was only 15 years old. He had enlisted in Portland, Maine, under the false birth date of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island, on May 17, 1917, after 41 days of active service.{{Citation needed |date=December 2022}}
== Career == === Music === thumb|upright|Rudy Vallée, c. 1929 After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands around New England as a teenager. From 1924 to 1925, he played with the Savoy Havana Band at the Savoy Hotel in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist.<ref>Rust, Brian, "The Savoy Havana at the Savoy Hotel, London", sleeve notes to disc 2 of World Record Club LP set SH165/6, issued 1971</ref> He returned to the United States, briefly attending the University of Maine. He received a degree in philosophy from Yale University, where he played in the Yale Collegians with Peter Arno, who became a cartoonist for ''The New Yorker'' magazine.<ref>"Cartoonist Peter Arno of the New Yorker Dies". ''The Milwaukee Journal''. February 23, 1968. Part 1, p. 20.</ref>
After graduation, he formed Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees, having named himself after saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v12p068y1989.pdf|title=How Rudy Wiedoeft's Saxophobia Launched the Saxual Revolution|website=Garfield.library.upenn.edu|access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> With this band (formed in 1928),<ref>''Walker'' p. 167</ref> which included two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo, and drums, he started singing. He had a thin, wavering tenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than jazz songs. But his singing, suave manner, and boyish good looks attracted attention, especially from young women.<ref name="Crooners">{{cite web|url=http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/roots_of_rock/support/crooner/EarlyCroonersIntro2.htm|title=The Coming of the Crooners|author=Whitcomb, Ian|publisher=Sam Houston University|access-date=June 24, 2010}}</ref> Vallée was given a recording contract, and in 1928 he started performing on the radio, first at New York station WABC, leading his Yale Collegians Orchestra,<ref>"Tonight's Features from Nearby Stations," ''Bridgewater NJ Courier-News'', March 3, 1928, p. 4,</ref> and then on WEAF and the NBC Red Network beginning in February 1929.<ref>"Tomorrow's Radio Programs," ''St. Cloud MN Times'', February 26, 1929, p. 5.</ref>
thumb|left|Vallée megaphone crafted in between shows at the New York Palace in May 1929
He became one of the first crooners.<ref name="Crooners" /> Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio; the microphones, in this case, promoted direct access to "a vulnerable and sensuous interior," or in other words, "a conjured intimacy".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=400}}</ref> Vallée's trombone-like vocal phrasing on "Deep Night" would inspire Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}
Vallée was one of the first celebrity pop stars.<ref name="Crooners" /> Flappers pursued him wherever he went.<ref name="Crooners" /> His live appearances were usually sold out. Contrary to popular belief, he did not have screaming girls at his appearances. However, his voice still failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through a megaphone. A caricature of him singing this way was depicted in the Betty Boop cartoon ''Poor Cinderella'' (1934).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/Betty_Boop_Poor_Cinderella_1934|title=Betty Boop: Poor Cinderella|date=September 29, 1934|website=Archive.org}}</ref> Another caricature is in ''Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee,'' which parodies him, Bing Crosby, and Russ Columbo.
In the words of a magazine writer in 1929, <blockquote> At the microphone he is truly a romantic figure. Faultlessly attired in evening dress, he pours softly into the radio's delicate ear a stream of mellifluous melody. He appears to be coaxing, pleading and at the same time adoring the invisible one to whom his song is attuned.<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=What is the Secret of Rudy Vallee's Success? |url=https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n11/mode/2up |journal=Radio Revue |location=New York |date=December 1929 |access-date=November 7, 2015 }}</ref> </blockquote>
Vallée had his share of detractors as well as fans when his popularity was at its height. ''Radio Revue,'' a radio fan magazine, held a contest in which people wrote letters explaining his success. The winning letter, written by a man who disliked Vallée's music, said, "Rudy Vallee is reaping the harvest of a seed that is seldom sown this day and age: LOVE. The good-looking little son-of-a-gun really and honestly LOVES his audience and his art. He LOVES to please listeners—LOVES it more than he does his name in the big lights, his mug in the papers. He loved all those unseen women as passionately as a voice can love, long before they began to purr and to caress him with two-cent stamps."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hansen |first=Martin |date=January 1930 |title=Mere Man Wins First Prize in Rudy Vallee Contest |url=https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n85/mode/2up |journal=Radio Revue |location=New York |access-date=November 7, 2015 }}</ref>
Vallée made his first records in 1928 for Columbia's low-priced labels Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Diva. He signed to RCA Victor in February 1929 and remained with the company through 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with executives over song selections. He then recorded for the short-lived Hit of the Week label which sold rather poor quality records laminated onto a cardboard base. In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and remained with the label through 1933. Vallée returned to RCA Victor in June 1933; his records were initially issued on Victor's low-priced Bluebird label until November 1933, when he was back on the standard Victor label. He remained with RCA Victor until signing with ARC in 1936. ARC issued his records on the Perfect, Melotone, Conqueror and Romeo labels until 1937, when he again returned to RCA Victor.
With his group the Connecticut Yankees, Vallée's best-known recordings include "The Stein Song" (a.k.a. University of Maine school song) in 1929<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/rudy-vallee/the-maine-stein-song|title=The Maine Stein Song by Rudy Vallée - Songfacts|website=Songfacts.com}}</ref> and "Vieni, Vieni" in the latter 1930s.
His last hit record was a reissue of "As Time Goes By", popularized in the 1942 film ''Casablanca''. Due to the 1942-44 AFM recording ban, RCA Victor reissued the version he had recorded in 1931.<ref name=pc1a>{{Pop Chronicles 40s|1|A}}</ref> During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a Chief Petty Officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant and led the 40 piece band to great success. In 1944, he was placed on the inactive list and returned to radio.<ref>[http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/rudyvallee.asp USCG: Frequently Asked Questions]. Uscg.mil. Retrieved on 2012-01-30.</ref>
According to George P. Oslin, Vallée on July 28, 1933, was the recipient of the first singing telegram. A fan telegraphed birthday greetings, and Oslin had the operator sing "Happy Birthday to You".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/business/the-singing-telegram-at-50.html |title=The Singing Telegram At 50 |date=1983 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 13, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-07-07/168.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108220256/http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-07-07/168.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 8, 2006 |title=Special delivery: The singing telegram endures |author=Liz Sadler |work=Columbia News Service |publisher=Columbia School of Journalism |access-date=September 13, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://soundbeat.org/episode/the-first-singing-telegram/ |title=The First Singing Telegram |work=Sound Beat |publisher=Syracuse University Libraries |access-date=September 13, 2018 }}</ref>
=== Radio and film === [[File:Behind the scenes of the Rudy Vallée Hour - Radioland, November 1933.jpg|thumb|upright|Rudy Vallée on ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'' in 1933. He always signed on saying, "Heigh-ho, everybody!"]] In 1929, Vallée began hosting ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'',<ref>''Walker'' p.169</ref> a popular radio show with guests such as Fay Wray and Richard Cromwell in dramatic skits. Vallée continued hosting radio shows such as the Royal Gelatin Hour, Vallee Varieties, and The Rudy Vallee Show through the 1930s and 1940s.
[[File:Rudy Vallee in Radio Stars.jpg|thumb|left|Vallée as bandleader Skip Houston in ''Sweet Music'']]
When Vallée took his contractual vacations from his national radio show in 1937, he insisted his sponsor hire Louis Armstrong as his substitute.<ref>[http://www.onhifi.com/features/20020301.htm Features Archives]. onhifi.com (March 1, 2002). Retrieved on 2012-01-30.</ref> This was the first instance of an African-American hosting a national radio program. Vallée wrote the introduction for Armstrong's 1936 book ''Swing That Music''.
In 1929, Vallée made his first feature film, ''The Vagabond Lover'', for RKO Radio. His first films were made to cash in on his singing popularity. While his initial performances were rather wooden, his acting greatly improved in the late 1930s and 1940s, and by the time he began working with Preston Sturges in the 1940s, he had become a successful comedic supporting player. He appeared opposite Claudette Colbert in Sturges's 1942 screwball comedy ''The Palm Beach Story''. Other films in which he appeared include ''I Remember Mama'', ''Unfaithfully Yours'' and ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''.
In 1955, Vallée was featured in ''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes'', co-starring Jane Russell, Alan Young, and Jeanne Crain. The production was filmed on location in Paris. The film was based on the Anita Loos novel that was a sequel to her acclaimed ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. ''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes'' was popular throughout Europe at the time and was released in France as ''A Paris Pour les Quatre'' ''("Paris for the Four")'', and in Belgium as ''Tevieren Te Parijs.''
Vallée performed on Broadway as J.B. Biggley in the 1961 musical ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' and reprised the role in the 1967 film version.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=1208}}</ref> He appeared in the 1960s ''Batman'' television show as the villain Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and in 1971 as a vindictive surgeon in the ''Night Gallery'' episode "Marmalade Wine".<ref name="Gallery">{{cite book |last1=Skelton |first1=Scott |last2=Benson |first2=Jim |title=Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-hours Tour |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nf6HV6mbJGIC&pg=PA159 |access-date=21 December 2018 |year=1998 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-0535-5 |pages=159– }}</ref>
===Vallee-Video=== From 1948 to 1952, Vallée owned Vallee-Video, a television production company formed in the early days of national TV broadcasts. The company was incorporated on April 3, 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vallee-Video |url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C0226326 |website=OpenCorporates |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> Vallée made 16mm film shorts for television, including ''These Foolish Things'' and ''Under a Campus Moon'', in which he appeared himself. Ed Wynn, Pinky Lee, Buddy Lester and Cyril Smith also appeared in Vallee-Video productions.<ref name=crooners>{{cite book |last1=Pitts |first1=Michael |last2=Hoffman |first2=Frank |title=The Rise of the Crooners: Gene Austin, Russ Columbo, Bing Crosby, Nick Lucas, Johnny Marvin, and Rudy Vallee |date=2001 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810840812 |page=204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Deb9AAAAQBAJ&q=%22vallee+video%22&pg=PA204 |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> Comedy sequences in the productions featured dubbed-in laughter.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 2, 1949 |page=26 |title=Vallee Sees Separate Coast TV Depts., Sub-Divided Studios as Aids to Biz |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety173-1949-02/page/n25/mode/1up?view=theater |accessdate=January 17, 2023}}</ref>
In 1949, Vallee-Video produced one of the first cartoon shows on television, ''Tele-Comics''.<ref name=woolery>{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981 |date=1983 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1557-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/childrenstelevis0000wool/page/285 285]–286 |url=https://archive.org/details/childrenstelevis0000wool |url-access=registration |access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref>
Vallee-Video's breakthrough in 1952 would have been a 15-minute television show based on the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strip starring Vallée's friend Ralph Byrd, who played the character in four successful ''Dick Tracy'' theatrical serials from 1937 to 1941. Vallée sold the show as a pilot to NBC. Vallée and Byrd also worked on a proposed radio show based on the comic strip ''Hawkshaw the Detective''.<ref name=billboard>{{cite magazine |title=Vallee-NBC in Deal on 'Tracy' Telefilms |magazine=The Billboard |date=May 28, 1949 |volume=61 |issue=22 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfYDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22vallee+video%22&pg=PT11 |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> However, Byrd died in August 1952, bringing the ''Dick Tracy'' production to a halt, and spelling the end for Vallee-Video.<ref name=crooners/>
== Personal life == Vallée was married four times. He married Jane Greer on December 2, 1943, in Hollywood, but they separated after three months and divorced on July 27, 1944. His last wife, Eleanor, wrote a memoir called ''My Vagabond Lover''.{{Citation needed |date=December 2022}}
Always loyal to Yale University, Vallée never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake.<ref>C. Stewart Doty, "Rudy Vallee: Franco-American and Man from Maine", ''Maine Historical Society Quarterly'' 1993 33(1): 2–19</ref>
NBC announcer George Ansbro wrote in his memoir that Vallée "had quite a temper and a very foul mouth... almost always the butt of his nastiness was the orchestra... his outbursts were mean-spirited, and he didn't care who overheard".<ref name="Ansbro">{{cite book |last=Ansbro |first=George |title=I Have a Lady in the Balcony: Memoirs of a Broadcaster in Radio and Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paD3WwlxmGAC&pg=PA89 |access-date=21 December 2018 |date=1 February 2000 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4318-5 |pages=89–}}</ref> Alton Cook, however, wrote, "Vallée may be fuming at his orchestra, but a Vallée hour rehearsal never quite loses its air of being a gathering of old friends... Rudy is grimly serious about rehearsal. He sometimes has his band spend a quarter-hour going over one short passage that doesn't satisfy him. On those occasions his temper wears thin..."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cook |first1=Alton |title=Rudy Acts Like Real Tough Guy |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19370418&id |access-date=January 15, 2016 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=April 18, 1937 }}</ref>
During his divorce from his second wife, Fay Webb, she alleged that "Vallée is possessed of a violent, vicious, and ungovernable temper, and given to the use of blasphemy and the use of intemperate, vile, and vituperative language, particularly when applied to [her]". She accused him of committing adultery with three women, including actress Alice Faye. Vallée denied the allegations, and the judge found him "not guilty of any misconduct or maltreatment of Webb which detrimentally affected her health, physical or medical condition".<ref name="Court">{{cite book|title=Fay Webb Vallee v. Hubert Prior Vallee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNu_zJvpsKEC&pg=PA56|access-date=21 December 2018|page=56}}</ref>
Vallée got into a fist fight with producer George White on the set of the 1934 film ''George White's Scandals''. Dorothy Brooks wrote in 1936, "Other stars on the air have their troubles, their disagreements, and yet you don't read about their ending in black eyes. Only Rudy Vallee seems to figure in endings of this kind." In an interview with Brooks, Vallée claimed he found fighting "savage and stupid" and "the wrong way to try to solve problems, because it never solves them". When asked why he got into fights, he replied, "I just lost my temper. I'll admit I have a too-quick temper."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brooks |first=Dorothy |date=August 1936 |title=Why I Always Have to Fight |url=https://archive.org/stream/radiomi00macf#page/n335/mode/2up |magazine=Radio Mirror |location=Broadway, New York |access-date=December 31, 2015 }}</ref>
Vallée died of cancer at his home on July 3, 1986, while watching the televised centennial ceremonies of the restored Statue of Liberty. His wife Eleanor said that his last words were, "I wish we could be there; you know how I love a party."<ref>Obituary, ''Los Angeles Times'', July 4, 1986.</ref>
==Legacy== In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://palmspringswalkofstars.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf|url-status=dead|title=The Brightest Stars|archive-date=October 13, 2012|website=Palmspringswalkofstars.com}}</ref>
For his work in radio, Vallée was inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2011.
== Discography == {{Main|Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees discography}}
== Filmography == {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Films |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1929 | ''Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees'' | Himself |Vitaphone Varieties #771;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://picking.com/vitaphone84.html |title=Vitaphone Thrills the World During Event-Filled Year |last=Picking |first=Patrick |date=2007 |website=The Vitaphone Project |publisher=Patrick J. Picking |access-date=February 14, 2016 }}</ref><br />Lost film (soundtrack survives, containing the songs "Deep Night" and "Outside")<ref>{{cite web |url=https://soundcloud.com/vitaphone/04-rudy-vallee-his-connecticut |title=Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees Vitaphone |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2012 |website=SoundCloud |publisher=Vitaphone |access-date=February 14, 2016 }}</ref> |- | 1929 | ''Radio Rhythm'' | Himself | Short |- | 1929 | ''The Vagabond Lover'' | Rudy Bronson | |- | 1929 | ''Glorifying the American Girl'' | Himself | |- | 1930 | ''College Sweethearts'' | | Short |- |1930 |The Stein Song |Himself |Short |- | 1931 | ''Kitty from Kansas City'' | Himself | Short |- | 1931 | ''Musical Justice'' | Judge | Short |- | 1932 | ''The Musical Doctor'' | Dr. Vallee | Short |- | 1932 | ''Rudy Vallee Melodies'' | Himself | Short |- | 1933 | ''International House'' | Himself | |- | 1934 | ''George White's Scandals'' | Jimmy Martin | |- | 1934 | ''Hollywood on Parade # B-9'' | Himself | |- | 1935 | ''Sweet Music'' | Skip Houston | |- | 1938 | ''Gold Diggers in Paris'' | Terry Moore | Alternative title: ''The Gay Impostors'' |- | 1939 | ''Second Fiddle'' | Roger Maxwell | |- | 1941 | ''Too Many Blondes'' | Dick Kerrigan | |- | 1941 | ''Time Out for Rhythm'' | Daniel "Danny" Collins | |- | 1942 | ''The Palm Beach Story'' | John D. Hackensacker III | |- | 1943 | ''Happy Go Lucky'' | Alfred Monroe | |- | 1945 | ''It's in the Bag'' | Himself | |- | 1945 | ''Man Alive'' | Gordon Tolliver | |- | 1946 | ''People Are Funny'' | Ormsby Jamison | |- | 1946 | ''The Fabulous Suzanne'' | Hendrick Courtney, Jr. | |- | 1947 | ''The Sin of Harold Diddlebock'' | Lynn Sargent | Alternative title: ''Mad Wednesday'' |- | 1947 | ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer'' | District Attorney Tommy Chamberlain | Alternative title: Released in the U.K. as ''Bachelor Knight'' |- | 1948 | ''I Remember Mama'' | Dr. Johnson | |- | 1948 | ''So This Is New York'' | Herbert Daley | |- | 1948 | ''Unfaithfully Yours'' | August Henshler | |- | 1948 | ''My Dear Secretary'' | Charles Harris | |- | 1949 | ''Mother Is a Freshman'' | John Heaslip | Alternative title: ''Mother Knows Best'' |- | 1949 | ''The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend'' | Charles Hingleman | |- | 1949 | ''Father Was a Fullback'' | Mr. Roger "Jess" Jessup | |- | 1950 | ''The Admiral Was a Lady'' | Peter Pedigrew (Jukebox king) | |- | 1954 | ''Ricochet Romance'' | Worthington Higgenmacher | |- | 1955 | ''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes'' | Himself | |- | 1957 | ''The Helen Morgan Story'' | Himself | Alternative titles: ''Both Ends of the Candle''<br />''Why Was I Born?'' |- | 1967 | ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' | Jasper B. Biggley | |- | 1968 | ''Live a Little, Love a Little'' | Louis Penlow | With Elvis Presley |- | 1968 | ''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' | Narrator | Voice |- | 1970 | ''The Phynx'' | Himself | |- | 1975 | ''Slashed Dreams'' | Proprietor | Alternative title: ''Sunburst'' |- | 1976 | ''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' | Autograph Hound | |}
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1953 | ''The Ford 50th Anniversary Show'' | Himself | Song medley and banter with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra |- | 1956 | ''The Johnny Carson Show'' | Himself | 1 episode |- | 1956–1957 | ''December Bride'' | Himself | 2 episodes |- | 1957 |''The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'' | Himself | 1 episode |- |1961 |''What's My Line?'' |Himself |1 episode |- | 1967 | ''Batman'' | Lord Marmaduke Ffogg | 3 episodes |- | 1969 | ''Petticoat Junction'' | Herbert A. Smith | Episode: "But I've Never Been In Erie, Pa" |- | 1970 | ''Here's Lucy'' | Himself | 1 episode |- | 1971 | ''Night Gallery'' | Dr. Francis Deeking | 1 episode |- | 1971–1972 | ''Alias Smith and Jones'' | Winford Fletcher | 2 episodes |- | 1976 | ''Ellery Queen'' | Alvin Winer | Episode: "The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley" |- | 1979 | ''CHiPs'' | Arthur Forbinger | Episode: "Pressure Point" |- | 1984 | ''Santa Barbara'' | Elderly Con | 1 episode (final appearance) |}
== Gallery ==
=== Illustrations === <gallery> File:Rudy Vallee and Rolf Armstrong.jpg|In the process of being painted by Rolf Armstrong on November 21, 1929 File:Rudy Vallee by Rolf Armstrong.jpg|Painted by Rolf Armstrong on November 21, 1929 File:Rudy Vallee Caricature.jpg|1929 caricature from ''Radio Revue'' File:Rudy Vallée - Photoplay, June 1930.jpg|1930 caricature from ''Photoplay'' File:1930 Old Gold Cigarettes ad - Rudy Vallée.jpg|Advertisement for Old Gold Cigarettes with a fabricated biography File:Rudy Vallee caricature from Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee.PNG|Caricature in the 1932 Merrie Melodies cartoon ''Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee''; note the megaphone and the curl in his hair File:Rudy Vallee caricature.png|Caricature in the 1934 Betty Boop cartoon ''Poor Cinderella'' </gallery>
==== Magazine covers ==== <gallery> File:Radio Revue, Dec. 1929.jpg|''Radio Revue,'' December 1929 File:Rudy Vallée on the Cover of Radio Guide, 1933.jpg|''Radio Guide,'' April 16–22, 1933 File:Radio Stars, May 1933.jpg|''Radio Stars,'' May 1933 File:Radio Mirror, December 1934.jpg|''Radio Mirror,'' December 1934 File:Radio Stars, May 1936.jpg|''Radio Stars,'' May 1936 </gallery>
=== Videos === <gallery> </gallery>
== See also == * Vallee Family House, a house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Westbrook, Maine
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* Walker, Leo. (1976) ''"The Wonderful Era of the Great Dance Bands"''
== Further reading == *{{cite book |last1=McCracken |first1=Allison |editor1-first=Pamela Robertson |editor1-last=Wojcik |editor2-first=Arthur |editor2-last=Knight |title=Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music |year=2001 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0-8223-2797-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/soundtrackavaila00pame/page/113 113]– |chapter=Real Men Don't Sing Ballads (Section:''The Rise and Fall of Rudy Vallée'') |url=https://archive.org/details/soundtrackavaila00pame |url-access=registration |access-date=December 21, 2016}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Rudy Vallee}} {{Wikiquote}} * [http://www.rudyvallee.com/ Official site] * [http://www.americanradioarchives.com/vallee.htm Rudy Vallee Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203018/http://www.americanradioarchives.com/vallee.htm |date=March 3, 2016 }} at the American Radio Archive the Thousand Oaks Library * [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/9213/rudy-vallee Virtual History] * A collection of rare aluminum transcription discs of some of Vallée's radio broadcasts is housed in the [http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative/Archive-Gallery Great American Songbook Foundation archives] * [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4143/rudy-vallee Grave] * {{IMDb name|0884964}} * {{IBDB name}} * {{allMusic|artist|mn0000362658}} * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103912 Rudy Vallée recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
===Media===
* [http://www.vintageradioplace.com/ra/sametime060226.ram ''The Royal Desserts Hour'' with Rudy Vallée (May 5, 1938) (one hour in)] * [https://archive.org/details/RudyValleeCollection1925-1934PartOne-StandardLabels Recordings on Standard Labels] at the Internet Archive * [https://archive.org/details/RudyValleeCollection1925-1934PartTwo-DiscountLabels Recordings on Discount Labels] at the Internet Archive * [https://archive.org/details/RudyVallee78rpmCollection More recordings] (including unreleased personal recordings) at the Internet Archive
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallee, Rudy}} Category:1901 births Category:1986 deaths Category:20th-century American male actors Category:20th-century American singers Category:American bandleaders Category:American crooners Category:American male film actors Category:American male radio actors Category:American male pop singers Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:Big band bandleaders Category:Singers from Vermont Category:People from Brighton, Vermont Category:People from Westbrook, Maine Category:Military personnel from Vermont Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Viva Records artists Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:United States Coast Guard Band musicians Category:American vaudeville performers Category:Yale University alumni Category:People from Lovell, Maine Category:Maine Republicans Category:20th-century American male singers Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I Category:Child soldiers in World War I Category:United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II Category:United States Coast Guard officers