10030572_110670678853.jpgRAY CORRIGAN
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Date of birth
14 February 1902
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Date of death
10 August 1976
Brookings Harbor, Oregon, USA. (heart attack)
Birth name
Raymond Benard
Nickname
Crash
Spouse
Elaine DuPont (? - ?) (divorced)
Rita Jane Smeal (? - 1954) (divorced) 3 children
Trivia
Corrigan owned and operated "Corriganville" a working movie ranch outside of Chatsworth, California. On weekends, it was open to the public. Kids could see stuntmen in wild-west gunfights, and meet some stars, like Rin-Tin-Tin and Chief Thundercloud, while Dad had a beer in the movie 'saloon.' Just down the road was the Spahn Movie Ranch, later home to the infamous Manson Family.
Sometimes Credited As:
Raymond Benard / Ray Benard / Crash Corrigan / Ray "Crash' Corrigan / Ray 'Crash' Corrigan
Mini Biography
Ray was a physical culturist and very good athlete. This is how he began working in Hollywood, as a physical fitness trainer for movie stars. Bit parts in 1932 led to action roles in the "Undersea Kingdom" and "The Leathernecks Have Landed" in 1936, the same year he began his role as Tucson Smith in the "Three Mesquiteer" series for which he did 24 pictures before leaving in 1939. He also did 20 of the 24 "Range Busters" series which ran from 1940 to 1943. He finished up playing apes in "White Gorilla" (1947) and "Killer Apes" (1953) and the role of It in "It, the Terror from Beyond Space" (1958). After he retired he operated a number of successful businesses. One of these, Corriganville, was a ranch and town used for filming TV and movie westerns. His nickname 'Crash' derived from his powerful physique and willingness to undertake dangerous stunts.
IMDb mini-biography by Ed Stephan
Mini-Biography-2
from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia
Muscular physical-culture instructor turned action star and, so help us, professional ape impersonator. He entered films as a stuntman and bit player in the early 1930s (he claimed to have doubled Johnny Weissmuller in 1932's Tarzan, the Ape Man). As Ray "Crash" Corrigan, he starred in the sci-fi serial Undersea Kingdom (for which, contrary to other reports, he was billed as "Crash" so his name would sound like "Flash Gordon"), and played "Tucson" Smith in the first 24 of the "Three Mesquiteers" Westerns, beginning with The Three Mesquiteers (1936) and ending with New Frontier (1939). During this period he bought a large tract of land in California's San Fernando Valley, and rented the picturesque location to movie producers.
Corrigan and fellow "Mesquiteer" alumnus Max Terhune joined John "Dusty" King to become "The Range Busters" in 24 Monogram Westerns-many of them shot at "Corriganville"-from 1940 to 1943. Corrigan also made his own ape suit and farmed himself out to cheapie producers of threadbare jungle epics like Zamba (1949) and Killer Ape (1953). The zenith (or perhaps nadir) of this work ethic was reached in The White Gorilla (1945), in which Corrigan played the male lead and two gorillas. He wore another monster suit as the creature in It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958). Corrigan ran a Wild West show at Corriganville until the early 1960s, when he sold his property to Bob Hope for a reported $3 million.
Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc
Filmography
Actor
1. It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) .... It
... aka It! The Vampire from Beyond Space
... aka The Terror from Beyond Space
2. Domino Kid (1957) (uncredited) .... Buck
3. Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) .... Sailor
... aka The Dead That Walk (UK)
4. Apache Ambush (1955) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Mark Calvin
5. Killer Ape (1953) .... Norley
6. The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd (1953) (uncredited) .... Docklin
7. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) (uncredited) .... The Gorilla
... aka Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
... aka The Boys from Brooklyn
... aka The Monster Meets the Gorilla
8. Trail of Robin Hood (1950) .... Crash Corrigan
9. "Crash Corrigan's Ranch" (1950) TV Series .... Host
10. The Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949) (uncredited) .... Innkeeper
11. Zamba (1949) (uncredited) .... Zamba
... aka Zamba the Gorilla (UK)
12. Unknown Island (1948) (uncredited) .... Monster
13. Renegade Girl (1946) .... William Quantrill
14. White Pongo (1945) (uncredited) .... White Pongo
... aka Adventure Unlimited (UK)
15. The White Gorilla (1945) .... Steve Collins/Konga, the White Gorilla/Narrator
16. The Monster and the Ape (1945) .... Ape
17. Nabonga (1944) (uncredited) .... Nabonga the Gorilla
... aka Gorilla
... aka Nabonga Gorilla (USA)
... aka The Girl and the Gorilla
... aka The Jungle Woman (UK)
18. She's for Me (1943) .... Gorilla Man
19. Bullets and Saddles (1943) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
... aka Vengeance in the Saddle (UK)
20. Black Market Rustlers (1943) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
21. Captive Wild Woman (1943) .... Cheela the Ape
22. Cowboy Commandos (1943) .... Crash Corrigan, (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan)
23. Land of Hunted Men (1943) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
24. Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) (uncredited) .... The Ape
25. Arizona Stage Coach (1942) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
26. Texas Trouble Shooters (1942) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
27. Boot Hill Bandits (1942) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Marshal 'Crash' Corrigan
28. The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942) .... Nbongo, the Gorilla
29. Rock River Renegades (1942) .... Crash Corrigan
30. Thunder River Feud (1942) .... Crash Corrigan
31. Underground Rustlers (1941) .... Crash Corrigan
32. Tonto Basin Outlaws (1941) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
33. Saddle Mountain Roundup (1941) .... Crash Corrigan
34. Fugitive Valley (1941) .... Crash Corrigan
35. Wrangler's Roost (1941) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
36. Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona (1941) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
37. The Kid's Last Ride (1941) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
38. Trail of the Silver Spurs (1941) .... Crash Corrigan
39. West of Pinto Basin (1940) (as Ray "Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
40. Trailing Double Trouble (1940) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
41. The Ape (1940) (uncredited) .... The Ape
... aka Gorilla
42. The Range Busters (1940) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... 'Crash' Corrigan
43. New Frontier (1939) .... Tucson Smith
... aka Frontier Horizon
44. Wyoming Outlaw (1939) .... Tucson Smith
45. Three Texas Steers (1939) .... Tucson Smith
... aka Danger Rides the Range
46. The Night Riders (1939) .... Tucson Smith
47. Red River Range (1938) .... Tucson Smith
48. Santa Fe Stampede (1938) .... Tucson Smith
49. Overland Stage Raiders (1938) .... Tucson Smith
50. Pals of the Saddle (1938) .... Tucson Smith
51. Heroes of the Hills (1938) .... Tucson
52. Riders of the Black Hills (1938) .... 'Tucson' Smith
53. Outlaws of Sonora (1938) .... Tucson Smith
... aka Guns of Sonora
54. Call the Mesquiteers (1938) .... 'Tucson' Smith
... aka Outlaws of the West (UK)
55. The Painted Stallion (1938)
56. The Purple Vigilantes (1938) .... 'Tucson' Smith
... aka Purple Riders (UK)
57. Wild Horse Rodeo (1937) .... Tucson Smith
58. The Trigger Trio (1937) .... Tucson Smith
59. Heart of the Rockies (1937) .... Tucson Smith
60. Range Defenders (1937) .... Tucson Smith
61. The Painted Stallion (1937) .... Clark Stuart
62. Come On, Cowboys! (1937) .... Tucson Smith
63. Gunsmoke Ranch (1937) .... Tucson Smith
64. Hit the Saddle (1937) .... Tucson Smith
65. Join the Marines (1937) .... Lt. Hodge
66. Riders of the Whistling Skull (1937) .... Tucson Smith
... aka The Golden Trail (UK)
67. Roarin' Lead (1936) .... Tucson Smith
68. Country Gentlemen (1936) .... Briggs
69. Ghost-Town Gold (1936) .... Tucson Smith
70. The Three Mesquiteers (1936) .... Tucson Smith
71. The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936) (uncredited) .... Captain John C. Fremont [Chs. 1, 11-12]
72. Kelly the Second (1936) (uncredited) .... Undetermined Role
73. Undersea Kingdom (1936) (as Ray 'Crash' Corrigan) .... Crash Corrigan
74. Flash Gordon (1936/I) (uncredited) .... Orangopoid
... aka Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (USA: video title)
... aka Space Soldiers (USA: TV title)
75. The Leathernecks Have Landed (1936) (as Ray Benard) .... Officer of the Day
... aka The Marines Have Landed (UK)
76. Darkest Africa (1936) (uncredited) .... Bonga, the Gorilla/Samabi, the Guard
... aka Batmen of Africa
... aka King of Jungleland
77. The Singing Vagabond (1935) (uncredited) .... Orderly
78. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) (uncredited) .... Extra
79. Dante's Inferno (1935) (uncredited) .... Devil
80. She (1935) (uncredited) .... Guard
81. Night Life of the Gods (1935) (as Raymond Benard) .... Apollo
82. The Phantom Empire (1935) (uncredited) .... Thunder Rider
... aka Gene Autry and the Phantom Empire
83. Tomorrow's Youth (1935) (as Ray Benard)
84. Romance in the Rain (1934) (uncredited) .... Bit
85. Murder in the Private Car (1934) (uncredited) .... Naba the Gorilla
... aka Murder on the Runaway Train (UK)
86. Tarzan and His Mate (1934) (uncredited) .... Gorilla
87. Tomorrow's Children (1934) (uncredited) .... Interne
... aka The Unborn (UK)
Stunts
1. Tarzan and His Mate (1934) (stunts) (uncredited)
2. Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) (stunts) (uncredited)
Miscellaneous Crew
1. Tarzan and His Mate (1934) (double: Johnny Weissmuller) (uncredited)
Archive Footage
1. Sharad of Atlantis (1966) (TV) .... Crash Corrigan
