Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 14 April 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor and acclaimed folk singer and author. Ives always seemed slightly out of place in the 1940s New York folk scene, his pleasant voice and non-preachy manner making the traditional songs for which he was originally known into bona-fide chart hits. His radio show, "The Wayfaring Stranger", popularized song like 'Lavender Blue' and Foggy Foggy Dew', and these along with many more became part of many people's childhood memories. As an actor, Ives appeared on Broadway, and in movies such as East of Eden (1955); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Our Man in Havana (1959), and many others. His autobiography, The Wayfaring Stranger, was published in 1948. Ives was identified in the infamous 1950 pamphlet Red Channels as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties. In 1952, he cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee and named fellow folk singer Pete Seeger and others as possible Communists. His cooperation with the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue with his movie acting, but caused a huge rift with the folk community. Forty-one years later, Ives and Seeger were reunited in a benefit concert in New York City; they sang "Blue Tail Fly" together. Ives is still a well-loved performer today, with Frank Black of the Pixies just one of notables claiming to be a fan. In his "Celebrity Playlists", Black includes no fewer than 15 of Ives' hits.
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