Not many actors were able to combine westerns with being a professional gorilla impersonator, but Raymond Benitz (1902-76) pulled it off.
After working as a physical fitness instructor, Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan started doing cinematic stunt work in the early 1930s. Some sources claim he played his first gorilla in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), but the AFI cites Murder in the Private Car (1934). He played simian roles in about 35 subsequent pictures, aided by the possession of his very own gorilla suit.
Alongside these roles, Corrigan appeared in two ‘B’ picture series. From 1936 to 1939, he played Tucson Smith in about two dozen of Republic’s ‘Three Mesquiteers’ westerns, some of which co-starred a young John Wayne. He also portrayed ‘Crash’ Corrigan in westerns made by a company called Range Busters, and culminating in an appearance in the ‘B’ western Trail of Robin Hood (1950), in which Roy Rogers calls on all his cowboy pals for help.
Corrigan’s final role was as the eponymous It in It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).
One of Corrigan’s earliest screen appearances was as Ping Pong the gorilla in MGM’s Hollywood Party.
