Ray "Crash" Corrigan....Serial King, Real Estate Magnate, Guy In An Ape Suit, Star

A friend of mine, Bill Forsche(you may remember him as the werewolf in The Howling IV ) sent an E-Mail reminding me of Milwaukee's own Ray "Crash" Corrigan. How could I forget. Ray Corrigan was the first celebrity ever to be featured on a box of Wheaties. If he is remembered at all today, it is as a star of 1930's serials and B westerns. He was born Raymond Benitz in Milwaukee on February 14, 1902. He moved to Hollywood at age 18 - a 90 pound weakling with curvature of the spine. In 1921 he discovered California's burgeoning physical fitness culture and built his body up. By 1925 he was on the Hollywood scene as an in-demand physical fitness instructor to the stars. "He was good looking guy with lots of muscles. In the early 30's, he started at MGM as a muscular stand-in and double for Johnny Weissmuller of Tarzan fame. He was soon doing walk-ons and bit-parts in films such as Mutiny On The Bounty and Nightlife of the Gods, a film based on a book by the author of the "Topper" series, Thorne Smith. During these early years, he was known as "Ray Bernard". The name change to Ray Corrigan would occur during his first year at Republic Pictures." At Republic pictures Ray starred in Undersea Kingdom, a successful serial that launched his career. He was soon cast as one of the Three Mesquiteers and proceeded to appear in 24 films in the long running series. In 1937, he purchased land in Simi Valley, California and developed it into Corriganville, a shooting ranch - a location for Western movies and, years later, TV shows(Have Gun Will Travel was shot there). Corriganville proved to be a solid, steady money maker. Ray joined Monogram pictures and starred in the "Range Buster" series of films. The production deal for these films gave Corrigan a substantial share of the film profits. Twenty-four films were released during 1940-1943, and Corrigan appeared in 20 of them.
By the 50's Ray could be seen working in a Gorilla costume (Just like Bill in his werewolf costume)in such films as Bela Lugosi Meets
a Brooklyn Gorilla, Nabonga (with Julie London) and Zamba. His last film role was as the creature in the science fiction thriller It! The Terror from Beyond Space. Corrigan was 59 years old and decided to retire from the screen. He eventually sold Corriganville to Bob Hope in 1966 for three million dollars, took his money and moved to Oregon. He died in 1976 at the age of 74. Here's a short paragraph that sums up a very remarkable man...
"A dreamer, a planner, a doer, a seer. An astute businessman with diversified interests, a stuntman,an actor, a fortune-seeker, the owner of a movie ranch built on prime real estate. He trained as a fencer, boxer, wrestler and swimmer, was a physical culturist. He sold real estate and built swimming pools. Ray Corrigan was a one man E-ticket ride!"

Bill Forsche is also an interesting and very talented fellow. He had a long, successful career as an effects make-up artist in Hollywood before returning to Appleton in the 90's. You can check out Bill's many film credits here. Here's another great link from Bill....click here.