TV.com

Ray Charles

FavoritedFavorite

9.3

Avg Rating: Superb

11 votes

Your Rating: 10

"Perfect"
Your Rating: 9.5

"Superb"
Your Rating: 9

"Superb"
Your Rating: 8.5

"Great"
Your Rating: 8

"Great"
Your Rating: 7.5

"Good"
Your Rating: 7

"Good"
Your Rating: 6.5

"Fair"
Your Rating: 6

"Fair"
Your Rating: 5.5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 4.5

"Poor"
Your Rating: 4

"Poor"
Your Rating: 3.5

"Bad"
Your Rating: 3

"Bad"
Your Rating: 2.5

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 2

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 1.5

"Abysmal"
Your Rating: 1

"Abysmal"

Rate Now!

Biography

Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. Suffering from glaucoma, he began to lose his sight aged…more

Born

9/23/1930, Albany, Georgia, USA

Died

6/10/2004

Birth Name

Ray Charles Robinson

Gender

Male

Credits

Recurring Role (1)

Role
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
  Guest
  - S 30: Ep 105 Show #4516
    4/16/92
  - S 29: Ep 26 Show #4256
    11/21/90
  - S 28: Ep 97 Show #4142
    4/11/90
  - S 27: Ep 2 Show #3929
    10/12/88
  - S 26: Ep 28 Show #3878
    12/10/87
  - + 10 More Credits
Guest Star (52)

Role
- CMT Insider
  Himself (Footage)
  - S 3: Ep 12 March 25, 2006
    3/25/06
  - S 3: Ep 11 March 18, 2006
    3/18/06
- CMT Insider
  Himself
  - S 2: Ep 7 February 10, 2005
    2/10/05
- Soul Train
  Himself
  - S 32: Ep 14 The 5th Annual Sears Soul Train Christmas Starfest
    12/14/02
- CMT Crossroads
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 7 Travis Tritt and Ray Charles
    12/6/02
- Walk On By: The Story of Popular Song
  Interviewee
  - S 1: Ep 5 Atlantic Crossing
    4/14/01
- Blue's Clues
  G-Clef
  - S 3: Ep 31 Blue's Big Musical Movie
    9/23/00
- The Academy Awards
  Himself - Performer
  - S 72: Ep 1 The 72nd Annual Academy Awards
    3/26/00
- Top Ten (1999)
  Himself
  - S 2: Ep 7 Sixties Soul
    3/11/00
- The Nanny
  Sammy Portnoy
  - S 6: Ep 10 The Hanukkah Story
    12/16/98
  - S 5: Ep 20 The Pre-nup
    4/29/98
  - S 5: Ep 17 Homie-Work
    3/18/98
  - S 5: Ep 8 Fair Weather Fran
    11/19/97
- The John Larroquette Show
  Himself
  - S 4: Ep 4 The Blues Traveller
    10/9/96
- Austin City Limits
  Himself
  - S 22: Ep 0 All Time Legends of Country Music: A Best of Austin City Limits Special
    7/23/96
  - S 9: Ep 2 Ray Charles followed by Lee Greenwood
  - S 5: Ep 4 Ray Charles & His Orchestra
- Saturday Live (1996)
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 4 Episode 4
    6/22/96
- Late Show with David Letterman
  Guest
  - S 3: Ep 121 Show #0560
    3/20/96
  - S 1: Ep 156 Show #0156
    5/9/94
  - S 1: Ep 44 Show #0044
    10/28/93
- Wings
  Himself
  - S 5: Ep 24 A Decent Proposal
    5/12/94
- Moonlighting
  Himself
  - S 4: Ep 1 A Trip to the Moon
    9/29/87
- St. Elsewhere
  Arthur Tibbits
  - S 5: Ep 16 Jose, Can You See?
    2/4/87
- Who's the Boss?
  Himself
  - S 3: Ep 16 Hit the Road, Chad
    2/3/87
- Disneyland
  Himself
  - S 31: Ep 6 Walt Disney World's 15th Anniversary Celebration
    11/9/86
- Omnibus (UK)
  Himself
  - S 20: Ep 19 Ray Charles
    10/31/86
- Dinah!
  Himself
  - S 6: Ep 163 May 15, 1980
    5/15/80
  - S 5: Ep 164 May 14, 1979
    5/14/79
  - S 5: Ep 136 April 2, 1979
    4/2/79
  - S 3: Ep 104 February 23, 1977
    2/23/77
  - S 1: Ep 79 February 20, 1975
    2/20/75
- The Mike Douglas Show
  Himself/Co-host
  - S 17: Ep 92 February 15, 1979
    2/15/79
  - S 12: Ep 115 February 8, 1974
    2/8/74
  - S 12: Ep 114 February 7, 1974
    2/7/74
  - S 12: Ep 113 February 6, 1974
    2/6/74
  - S 12: Ep 112 February 5, 1974
    2/5/74
  - + 1 More Credits
- The Hollywood Squares (1966)
  Himself
  - S 12: Ep 27 December 5-11, 1977 (2)
    12/5/77
  - S 11: Ep 70 May 9-15, 1977 (2)
    5/9/77
  - S 10: Ep 63 April 12-18, 1976 (2)
    4/12/76
  - S 7: Ep 13 October 16-22, 1972 (2)
    10/16/72
  - S 6: Ep 42 February 21-27, 1972 (1)
    2/21/72
- Saturday Night Live
  Himself
  - S 3: Ep 5 Ray Charles and the Raylettes
    11/12/77
- The Mike Douglas Show
  Himself
  - S 15: Ep 99 February 10, 1977
    2/10/77
  - S 14: Ep 194 June 3, 1976
    6/3/76
  - S 12: Ep 120 February 15, 1974
    2/15/74
- The Midnight Special
  Host
  - S 4: Ep 28 Host: Ray Charles
    4/30/76
- The Merv Griffin Show
  Himself - Co-host
  - S 12: Ep 224 August 11, 1975
    8/11/75
- Sammy & Company
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 5 May 3, 1975
    5/3/75
- The Smothers Brothers Show (1975)
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 4 Episode 4
    2/4/75
- The Midnight Special
  Himself
  - S 3: Ep 19 Host: Helen Reddy (2nd Anniversary Show)
    1/31/75
  - S 1: Ep 12 Host: Bill Cosby
    4/13/73
- The Dick Cavett Show
  Himself
  - S 7: Ep 81 July 9, 1973
    7/9/73
  - S 7: Ep 55 January 26, 1973
    1/26/73
  - S 6: Ep 185 June 26, 1972
    6/26/72
- The Midnight Special
  Himself, host
  - S 1: Ep 10 Host: Ray Charles
    3/30/73
- The Carol Burnett Show
  himself
  - S 6: Ep 11 with Ray Charles, Vincent Price
    11/22/72
  - S 5: Ep 17 with Tim Conway, Ray Charles
    1/26/72
- The David Frost Show
  Himself
  - S 4: Ep 209 July 7, 1972
    7/7/72
- Hee-Haw
  Himself
  - S 2: Ep 11 Ray Charles / Lynda K. Lance / Doyle Holly
    12/1/70
  - S 2: Ep 3 Ep. 32: 9-29-70: Ray Charles, Lynn Anderson
    9/29/70
- The Name of the Game
  Guest Star
  - S 3: Ep 11 I Love You, Billy Baker (2)
    11/27/70
- The Name of the Game
  Himself
  - S 3: Ep 10 I Love You, Billy Baker (1)
    11/20/70
- The Johnny Cash Show
  singer
  - S 2: Ep 1 Season Premiere
    9/23/70
  - S 1: Ep 19 February 11, 1970
    2/11/70
- This is Tom Jones
  Himself
  - S 2: Ep 25 March 26, 1970
    3/26/70
- The Ed Sullivan Show
  Himself, on film
  - S 23: Ep 23 March 8, 1970: Nancy Sinatra, Rodney Dangerfield, Bobby Vinton, Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne
    3/8/70
- The Engelbert Humperdinck Show
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 7 March 4, 1970
    3/4/70
- Super Dave
  Himself
  - S 4: Ep 1 Episode Fifty One
  - S 1: Ep 3 Episode Three
- The Merv Griffin Show
  Himself
  - S 7: Ep 72 November 26, 1969
    11/26/69
  - S 6: Ep 10 September 13, 1968
    9/13/68
  - S 9: Ep 169 June 6, 1972
    6/6/72
  - S 9: Ep 1 September 6, 1971
    9/6/71
- The Andy Williams Show (1969)
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 5 October 18, 1969
    10/18/69
  - S 2: Ep 16 January 16, 1971
    1/16/71
- The Joey Bishop Show
  Himself
  - S 3: Ep 251 August 26, 1969
    8/26/69
  - S 3: Ep 241 August 12, 1969
    8/12/69
  - S 3: Ep 205 June 19, 1969
    6/19/69
  - S 3: Ep 121 February 20, 1969
    2/20/69
  - S 2: Ep 215 July 18, 1968
    7/18/68
  - + 2 More Credits
- The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 10 April 9, 1969
    4/9/69
  - S 3: Ep 13 December 13, 1970
    12/13/70
  - S 2: Ep 17 January 25, 1970
    1/25/70
- The Bob Hope Show
  Himself
  - S 19: Ep 8 March 19, 1969
    3/19/69
  - S 19: Ep 3 November 6, 1968
    11/6/68
- The Ed Sullivan Show
  Himself
  - S 22: Ep 8 December 8, 1968: Ray Charles, Richard Pryor, Liza Minnelli, The Association
    12/8/68
  - S 21: Ep 13 December 3, 1967: Ray Charles, Billy Preston, Jackie Kahane, Bill Dana
    12/3/67
- The Jonathan Winters Show
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 11 March 6, 1968
    3/6/68
- The Hollywood Palace
  Himself
  - S 4: Ep 4 Host: Adam West / Ray Charles
    10/8/66
- Shindig
  Himself
  - S 1: Ep 36 Ray Charles / Zombies / Dinah Lee / Righteous Brothers
    5/19/65
- The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
  Himself
  - S 7: Ep 5 January 20, 1963
    1/20/63
- The Perry Como Show
  Himself
  - S 13: Ep 35 June 7, 1961
    6/7/61
  - S 13: Ep 21 February 22, 1961
    2/22/61
Special Guest Star (1)

Role
- WWE Pay-Per-View
  Himself
  - S 2: Ep 1 Wrestlemania II
    4/7/86
Music (1)

Role
- The Charlie Horse Music Pizza
  Music
  - S 1: Ep 16 Whistle While You Work
    1/26/98
  - S 1: Ep 15 Charlie's Ant
    1/23/98

Trivia and Quotes

See All

Trivia
ADD TRIVIA
- In 2004, Rolling Stone voted Ray the 10th Greatest Artist of All Time. In 2008, he was voted the second greatest singer of the rock era by the same magazine.
  Edit Share Hide
- Ray's biggest hit in the United States was his 1962 release "I Can't Stop Loving You". The single, which was from one of his most popular albums of all-time, Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music, spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
  Edit Share Hide
- In 1961, before civil rights became a full-fledged national issue, he refused to play a sold-out concert in Memphis, Tenn., when he learned that the audience would be racially segregated. When the management integrated the audience, Charles gave the concert.
  Edit Share Hide
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Ray: What is a soul? It`s like electricity - we don`t really know what it is, but it`s a force that can light a room.
  Edit Share Hide
- Ray: I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.
  Edit Share Hide
- Ray: When I sing "I Can't Stop Loving You," I'm not singin' it country-western. I'm singin' it like me. But I think the words to country songs are very earthy like the blues, see, very down. They're not as dressed up, and the people are very honest and say, "Look, I miss you, darlin', so I went out and I got drunk in this bar." That's the way you say it. Where in Tin Pan Alley will say, "Oh, I missed you darling, so I went to this restaurant and I sat down and I had dinner for one." That's cleaned up now, you see? But country songs and the blues is like it is.
  Edit Share Hide