Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas and voice work in theater, television and motion pictures. A prolific recording artist, the prominent music critic John Rockwell has been quoted in the New York Times as saying that "Ives's voice... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people."