Actors - George Raft

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	Actors - George Raft

George Raft (September 26, 1895 - November 24, 1980) was an American film actor most closely identified with his portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s.

Raft was born George Ranft in Hell's Kitchen, New York City to Conrad Ranft (a German immigrant) and an Italian-American mother. He quickly adopted the "tough guy" persona that he would later use in his films.

Initially interested in dancing, as a young man he showed great aptitude, and this, combined with his elegant fashion sense, allowed him to work as a dancer in some of New York City's most fashionable nightclubs. He became part of the stage act of Texas Guinan and his success led him to Broadway where he again worked as a dancer. He worked in London as a chorus boy at some time in the early 20s.

Vi Kearney, later to be a star dancer in shows for Charles Cochran and Andre Charlot, was quoted as saying: "Oh yes, I knew him (George Raft). We were in a big show together. Sometimes, to eke out our miserable pay, we'd do a dance act after the show at a club and we'd have to walk back home because all the buses had stopped for the night by that time. He'd tell me how he was going to be a big star one day and once he said that when he'd made it how he'd make sure to arrange a Hollywood contract for me. I just laughed and said, "Come on, Georgie, stop dreaming. We're both in the chorus and you know it." (Did he arrange the contract?: "Yes. But by that time I'd decided to marry...". (Was he (Raft) ever your boyfriend?: "How many times do I have to tell you ...chorus girls don't go out with chorus boys".

In 1929 Raft moved to Hollywood and took small roles. His success came in Scarface (1932), and Raft's convincing portrayal led to speculation that Raft himself was a gangster. He was a close friend of Bugsy Siegel, and Raft encouraged the publicity that stimulated his early career, and continued to work steadily. Raft was considered one of Hollywood's most dapper and stylish dressers and he achieved a level of celebrity not entirely commensurate with the quality or popularity of his films.

He was definitely one of the three most popular gangster actors of the 1930s, along with James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson (Humphrey Bogart never matched Raft's stardom during that decade). Raft and Cagney worked together in Each Dawn I Die
(1939) as fellow convicts in prison. His 1932 film Night After Night
launched the movie career of Mae West. He appeared the following year in Raoul Walsh's turn of the century period piece The Bowery as Steve Brodie, the first man to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and survive, with Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, and Fay Wray.

Some of his other popular films include If I Had A Million
(1932), Bolero (1934), The Glass Key
(1935), Souls At Sea (1937) with Gary Cooper, two with Humphrey Bogart: Invisible Stripes (1939) and They Drive by Night
(1940), each with Bogart in supporting roles, and Manpower (1941) with Edward G. Robinson and Marlene Dietrich (the memorable posters said, " - He's mad about Dietrich. - She's mad about Raft. - He's mad about the whole thing.")

His career went into a period of decline over the next decade, and Raft achieved a place in Hollywood folklore as the actor who turned down some of the best roles of the decade, most notably High Sierra
and The Maltese Falcon; both roles made Humphrey Bogart a major force in Hollywood in 1941. He was also reported to have turned down Bogart's role in Casablanca (1942) saying he did not want to play opposite "some unknown Swedish broad" (Ingrid Bergman).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for George Raft ]

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Actors - George Raft

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