When a Man’s an Empty Kettle

Haley contributed to charities throughout his life, eventually creating the Jack Haley Foundation, which donated to a variety of causes. A lifelong Catholic, Haley was named a Knight of Malta and honored by the pope for his good works.

Haley's need to give came from growing up in poverty. He was born John Joseph Haley in 1898 in Boston, and his father died when Haley was just six months old. His mother scrubbed floors to support her children and make ends meet. From her, Haley learned the importance of hard work and the value of money.

Coincidentally, Haley grew up just miles from Scarecrow Ray Bolger. When Haley started his showbiz career in Vaudeville as a teenager, he met the man who would someday be his other Oz co-star and his best friend, Cowardly Lion Bert Lahr.

After Vaudeville, Haley became a contract player at 20th Century Fox. He worked with Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl in 1936 and in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm in 1938. He even appeared with Judy Garland in her very first feature film, Pigskin Parade in 1936.

When MGM's original choice for the Tin Man, Buddy Ebsen, had a nearly fatal allergic reaction to his makeup, studio executives asked Fox to lend them Haley for the role. As a contract player, Haley had no choice but to do as he was told. In The Making of The Wizard of Oz by Aljean Harmetz, Haley recalled his miserable days on the Oz set.

"[Making Oz] was the most horrendous job in the world, with those cumbersome uniforms and the hours of makeup, but I had no choice," he remembered.

His makeup and costume were indeed cumbersome. He spent two hours a day, six days a week in the makeup chair, where he was covered in layers of makeup, rubber, glue, and silver paste. Once he had his costume on, he could not sit or lie down. His only option was to rest against a reclining board. He'd often fall down and have to lie helpless on his back, turtle-style, until someone else could right him. Mid-way through shooting the film, he developed a severe eye infection from his silver makeup and was confined to his darkened bedroom for two weeks.

The miserable months paid off for Haley. He was one of the few cast members who lived long enough to enjoy the popularity of Oz after it became a television phenomenon. He went on to make more than 40 films throughout his career, and he also worked on stage and radio.

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