Name: George Raft
Date of Birth: 26 September 1895 Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Court of Remembrance. He turned down High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942) and Double Indemnity (1944). Not much is known about his marriage to Grace Mulrooney except that she was some years his senior. Although seperated early, they were never divorced, and he continued to support her faithfully until her death in 1970. Was a close friend of notorious gangster Benjamin Bugsy Siegel since their childhood in New York. Siegel actually lived at Raft's home in Hollywood for a time while trying to make inroads for organized crime within the movie colony. ... Second actor to portray the title role for CBS Radio's "The Adventures of Rocky Jordan" (1951-1953). Banned from entering Britain in 1966 because of his alleged Mafia connections. Appeared with Mae West in both her first (Night After Night (1932)) and last (Sextette (1978)) films. He died two days after West's death. According to James Cagney's autobiography Cagney By Cagney, (Published by Doubleday and Company Inc 1976), a Mafia plan to murder Cagney by dropping a several hundred pound klieg light on top of him was stopped at the insistence of George Raft. Cagney at that time was President of the Screen Actors Guild and was determined not to let the mob infiltrate the industry. Raft used his 'many' mob connections to cancel the hit. Is portrayed by by Ray Danton in The George Raft Story (1961), Nicholas Mayer in Mae West (1982) (TV) and by Joe Mantegna in Bugsy (1991). July 1939: Signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. Studios. As a teenager, he was a bat-boy for the New York Highlanders (Yankees), tried out for semi-pro baseball, boxed at the Polo Athletic Club and hustled pool. Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003). A lifelong baseball fan, by 1955 Raft had attended the World Series for the past 25 years. Read more George Raft movies (actor)User Comments |
