Jimmy Boyd (1939 – 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor. He was known for his recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" when he was 13. It became a hit, selling over two and a half million records in its first week's release and Boyd's name became known internationally. It has reportedly sold more than sixty million copies since its initial release.
The original recording by Jimmy Boyd, recorded on July 15, 1952 when he was 13 years old, reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart in December 1952, and on the Cash Box chart at the beginning of the following year. The song was commissioned by Saks Fifth Avenue to promote the store's Christmas card for the year, which featured an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for The New Yorker for many decades. The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs from his bedroom on Christmas Eve to see his mother kissing "Santa Claus" (presumably his father in a Santa Claus costume) under the mistletoe. Boyd's record was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in Boston when it was released on the grounds that it mixed kissing with Christmas, ignoring the fact that mistletoe, under which many couples kiss, is traditionally hung in many homes during the Christmas season. Boyd was photographed meeting with the Archdiocese to explain the song. After the meeting, the ban was lifted.
Boyd had a recurring role in the television series Bachelor Father (as Howard Meechum, the boyfriend of the Noreen Corcoran character), he also appeared in Date with the Angels, The Betty White Show, Broadside (in the role of Marion Botnik), and My Three Sons. He also appeared in a number of motion pictures, including Inherit the Wind (1960).
Between February 1953 and November 1954, Boyd made five appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In the same year and the years that followed Boyd made multiple appearances on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall, The Doris Day Show, The Bing Crosby Show, The Bob Hope Show, the syndicated The Patti Page Show (1955), Dave Garroway, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show, Shindig, American Bandstand and other programs throughout the United States and Canada.
Date with the Angels, The Betty White Show, Broadside (in the role of Marion Botnik), and My Three Sons. He also appeared in a number of motion pictures, including Inherit the Wind (1960).
A seasoned performer at fourteen, he took time off to return to Hollywood to star in a horse racing movie called Racing Blood for 20th Century Fox. Boyd found Hollywood to be far less grueling than life on the road. At sixteen years of age he returned to Hollywood again to appear in The Second Greatest Sex with Jeanne Crain, George Nader, and Bert Lahr for Universal Pictures. Then it was on to New York to do a musical version of Tom Sawyer for The United States Steel Hour on CBS, with Florence Henderson as Becky. The next year he was asked back to do the title role in The United States Steel Hour's musical version of Huckleberry Finn, co-starring with Basil Rathbone and Jack Carson as the carpetbaggers.
Not wanting to go on the road again, and enjoying doing TV and movies, Boyd hung up his guitar at least temporarily and started having fun as a regular on comedy shows like Date With The Angels, Bachelor Father with John Forsythe, and Broadside. He starred with Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, Dan Duryea and Yvette Mimieux in the film Platinum High School for MGM. Boyd was shooting Bachelor Father with Forsythe and simultaneously filming Inherit the Wind with Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly and Fredric March for Universal Studios.
Boyd co-starred in the national touring company of Neil Simon's play The Star-Spangled Girl with George Hamilton and Deana Martin. Neil Simon's brother Danny Simon stated, "Initially Jimmy didn't want to do The Star-Spangled Girl. It meant he would have to leave L.A. for a year, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do the same show night after night. Neil and I took him out to dinner and coerced him into it. Jimmy got rave reviews, and was glad he did the play."
In 1960, Boyd married actress Yvonne Craig (TV's Batgirl). After a year of marriage, Boyd was drafted into the Army and was stationed in Texas. Separation proved unfortunate to his marriage, which ended in divorce in 1962. Boyd went to the Republic of Vietnam in 1965 with his own show for the USO. In February 1967 he also joined in Nancy Sinatra's USO trip to entertain American troops in South Vietnam.
Boyd married a second time in 1980. He and Anne Forrey Boyd had a son together, but divorced in 1984. He remained single for the rest of his life. When asked, "What's the most exciting thing that ever happened to you?" his reply was, "The birth of my son." Jimmy Boyd died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 70.
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