John Joseph Haley Jr. was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer, drummer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz.
Haley in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Haley (far left) in a trailer for Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Haley as the Tin Man in the MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger and Jack Haley reunited in 1970
Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in his 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. In late 19th-century America, men made out of various tin pieces were used in advertising and political cartoons. Baum, who was editing a magazine on decorating shop windows when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was inspired to invent the Tin Woodman by a figure he had built out of metal parts for a shop display.
Poster for 1902 stage extravaganza
Haley as the Tin Man in the MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
1890 cartoon portraying President Benjamin Harrison as a knight in tin armor