Rudy Vallee
Date of birth: 1901-07-28
Place of birth: Island Pond, Vermont, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Hubert Prior Vallée
Biography
Rudy Vallee started his career as a saxophone player and singer and later became a band leader. In the 1920s and early 30s he had a hit radio program, The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour (where he was hated by his cast and crew due to his explosive ego-driven personality). In the early 1930's he was ranked with the likes of Bing Crosby and the tragic Russ Columbo in the Hit Parade. A huge hit on radio in 1933 with his program, initially known as 'The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour,' Vallee was considered a slave driver by his staff. He was known to instigate fist fights with virtually anyone who got on his nerves. During the run of his show he slugged photographers, threw sheet music in the faces of pianists' heads and if provoked, would sock hecklers in the nose. While audiences loved him, he was hated by most of his staff. As a very popular star in night clubs and on records, as well as in movies, he helped other singers like Alice Faye - who was for a while his band singer - and Frances Langford to start their careers. In his early movies he often played the romantic lead, but he switched later to stuffy and comic parts. He also appeared on Broadway. The mid-60's Broadway hit "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" was filmed in 1967 with him in his original Broadway role.
Movie Credits
International House
1933-05-27
Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
1947-04-04
Twenty-three years after scoring the winning touchdown for his college football team mild-mannered H
People Are Funny
1946-01-11
A comedy based on NBC's "People Are Funny" radio (and later television) program with Art Linkletter
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
1967-03-09
A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of
The Palm Beach Story
1942-08-28
A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, de
Unfaithfully Yours
1948-12-10
Before he left for a brief European visit, symphony conductor Sir Alfred De Carter casually asked hi
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
1947-09-01
Teenager Susan Turner, with a severe crush on playboy artist Richard Nugent, sneaks into his apartme
I Remember Mama
1948-03-09
Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a d
Second Fiddle
1939-06-30
Studio publicist discovers Minnesota skating teacher and takes her to Hollywood. She goes back to Mi
The Admiral Was a Lady
1950-08-04
Ex-WAVE encounters four fun-loving, work-hating men, all of whom want to marry her.
The Phynx
1970-03-06
A rock band is invented by the government as a cover to find hostages in a remote castle in Albania
Live a Little, Love a Little
1968-10-23
Photographer Greg Nolan moonlights in two full-time jobs to pay the rent, but has trouble finding ti
My Dear Secretary
1948-11-05
A budding young writer thinks it's her lucky day when she is chosen to be the new secretary for Owen
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend
1949-05-27
Saloon-bar singer Freddie gets very angry whenever boyfriend Blackie seems to be playing around. She
Hansel and Gretel
1958-04-27
Musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm story broadcast as a live television special on NBC.
Time Out for Rhythm
1941-06-05
A producer and his partner clash over two women in show business.
So This Is New York
1948-06-01
A small town man inherits a significant fortune and takes his family to New York City whereupon they
Slashed Dreams
1975-04-24
A couple on vacation in the woods is stalked by a pair of rapists.
Mother Is a Freshman
1949-03-12
Widow Abby Abbott is having serious money problems and has to dip into the family trust in order to
Father Was a Fullback
1949-09-30
Coach George Copper's college football team is losing game after game, much to the dismay of stiff-a
Betty Co-ed
1931-08-01
A young dog calls on Betty but fraternity hazers kidnap him. With a Bouncing Ball, Rudy Vallee sings
Rudy Vallee Melodies
1932-08-04
Betty Boop, trying to keep a party lively, is aided by Rudy Vallee, who comes to live-action life fr
Gold Diggers in Paris
1938-06-11
When the representative of the Paris International Dance Exposition arrives in New York to invite th
Glorifying the American Girl
1929-12-07
A young woman, who wants to be in the Follies, is making ends meet by working at a department store'
George White's Scandals
1934-03-15
Reporter Miss Lee is looking for a story and approaches George White as he's assembling the latest e
Happy Go Lucky
1943-01-04
A gold-digger hopes to land a rich husband in Trinidad, but gets mixed up with a beach boy and voodo
11th. Naval District "United States Coast Guard Band"
1944-01-01
A patriotic wartime short showcasing the U.S. Coast Guard Band, led by singer Rudy Vallee, and salut
The Vagabond Lover
1929-12-01
A zany musical about an amateur musician in search of work who impersonates a big band leader.
Sweet Music
1935-02-23
A midwest band leader and his lead singer share a love-hate relationship as they try for success in
Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons
1995-01-01
From the A&E "Biography" series, a review of the birth, development and cinematic history of Betty B
Man Alive
1945-11-16
A reportedly dead man haunts his wife and her boyfriend.
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984-01-01
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were
The Helen Morgan Story
1957-10-02
Torch singer Helen Morgan rises from sordid beginnings to fame and fortune only to lose it all to al
The Golden Twenties
1950-04-08
Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles
Rodeo Dough
1940-11-09
After a trip to Hollywood, two young ladies attempt to hitchhike home but end up at a star-filled ro
It's in the Bag!
1945-04-21
The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
1955-10-29
Two Broadway showgirls, who are also sisters, are sick and tired of New York as well as not getting
Too Many Blondes
1941-08-01
The plot centers on a husband-wife radio team, Dick (Rudy Vallee) and Virginia (Helen Parrish). When
Men Who Rate a 10
1980-10-07
Variety special hosted by Barbara Eden, Gloria Swanson, and Brooke Shields that celebrates the men w
Hollywood on Parade No. B-9
1934-04-28
Jimmy Durante asks popular song writing team Mack Gordon and Harry Revel to demonstrate some of thei
Ricochet Romance
1954-11-01
Marjorie Main is the whole show in the Universal programmer Ricochet Romance. Playing the outspoken
A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio
1935-02-02
This short shows the entrances of the various Hollywood studios, then specifically visits Warner Bro
Breakdowns of 1938
1938-12-31
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.
Things You Never See on the Screen
1935-12-01
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1935.
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975-08-06
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American ent
The Fabulous Suzanne
1946-12-15
Suzanne, a waitress, comes up with a sure-fire method for winning at the racetrack and, later, when
Screen Snapshots (Series 23, No. 1): Hollywood in Uniform
1943-08-15
Actors are seen in their new roles as military men during WWII: Robert Stack displaying his remarkab
Jazz Ball
1956-01-01
A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6
1942-10-05
Narrator Hopper covers two war benefit affairs, a garden party and a USO fashion show, at Pickfair,
Kitty from Kansas City
1931-11-01
Sun bonneted Betty Boop takes a train to "Rudy Valley" where she gains weight and Rudy Vallee perfor
Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do
2015-11-06
A retrospective of Chita Rivera's film, television and stage career, including interviews with Dick
The Musical Doctor
1932-10-28
Rudy Vallee cures patients at Dr. Vallee's Musical Hospital by means of music.
The Night They Raided Minsky's
1968-12-22
Rachel arrives in New York from her Amish community intent on becoming a dancer. Unfortunately Billy
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
1976-07-26
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a stu
Radio Rhythm
1929-08-10
Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees perform a short program, in the style of his shorter radio p
The Perfect Woman
1981-01-01
An alien king sends two of his most loyal--and, as it turns out, stupidest--subjects to Earth to fin
Campus Sweethearts
1930-03-09