- His parents were Italian immigrants, and he did not speak English until he entered grade school.
- In preparation for his first major role in The Marrying Kind (1952), director George Cukor recommended that he go to ballet school because he walked too much like a football player.
- On Pat and Mike (1952) Spencer Tracy said to the 25-year-old Ray, "Kid, I don't know what it is that you got, and I got, and some others have, but you can't work in this business forever".
- Columbia Pictures'boss Harry Cohn wanted to give Ray the name of his two sons, John Harrison, but the actor stubbornly refused to respond to it.
- Because of his raspy voice, during his Navy hitch an officer remarked that he was "the first frogman who sounded like one".
- At age 23 he was elected Constable for the 12th District of Contra Costa County (CA), beating the incumbent by 500 votes.
- Educated at UC Berkeley (CA).
- Was a member of the US Navy's UDT-17. Trained in Hawaii, the team cleared landing beaches of obstacles and coral heads in the Pacific during World War II, and participated in the largest UDT operation of the Pacific War--the invasion of Okinawa, in March 1945. In 1983 the UDTs (Underwater Demolition Teams ) were re-designated as SEAL Teams.
- His brother, Mario DaRe, appeared on You Bet Your Life (1950) in 1954.
- Cast in Dune (1984), but replaced by Patrick Stewart.
- He was active in local politics as a Republican before becoming an actor. He considered returning to politics in the early 1980s after his acting career had declined.
- He had five brothers and one sister, Gina.
- He studied political science at the University of California and was the local sheriff in his hometown of Crockett when spotted by a Columbia Pictures talent scout. Harry Cohn, the studio's chief, tried to rename him John Harrison, but he insisted on retaining a bit of his Italian heritage; Cohn countered by saying that, if he used his real name, people would instead call him "Aldo Dare", so they eventually compromised on "Ray".
- Biography in: American National Biography. Supplement 1, pp. 504-505. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Bore a resemblance to Murray Alper.
- His brother Mario DaRe appeared on Episode #5.35 (1955).
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