George Raft – Hollywood’s Gangster

“You know, I haven’t got the pose to walk into an executive office and say ‘no’ in a dozen pretty ways like a lot of people. I’ve got to get it over with. I’ve got to blurt right out and say I don’t like it and I refuse to do it. That’s why they think I am tough.” — George Raft

Source: Jeannette Meehan (1938)

 

 

“I had no education. I fought in the streets so I became a fighter. I played baseball, so I became a ballplayer. I saw some people dancing in a nightclub, so I became a dancer.” — George Raft

Source: Dick Adler (1967)

Photo: 1930s

“I wasn’t the world’s best dancer but I was the quickest.” — George Raft

Source: Sheilah Graham (1951)

Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929)

 

Scene from Palmy Days. With Eddie Cantor.

 

Quick Millions (1931). With Spencer Tracy.

 

“I wasn’t sure I was ever going to get anywhere in this racket.  When we made ‘Scarface’ I happened to snap my fingers in a way I have when I’m nervous. The director saw me and put a buffalo nickel between my fingers and told me to flip that! I did! It was easy. I’ve always been flipping something. When they saw the stunt in the projection room they wrote my part bigger and gave me more to do. I was made in Hollywood on the flip of a coin! Everything else that matters in life is about as trivial as that!” — George Raft

Source: Edith Dietz (1934)

Photo: Scarface (1932)

 

“That was the best picture where I got my best tip on acting. Paul Muni told me never to let anyone change my type. I never have.” — George Raft

Source: H.H. Niemeyer (1932)

Photo: Scarface (1932). With Paul Muni.

“My movie hoodlums were always well-dressed, soft-spoken and underplayed. Some of my critics say that limited me as an actor – but I patterned these characters on people I really knew. The top gangsters were as quiet and efficient as bank presidents. The only loudmouths I remember were Dutch Schultz and Larry Fay.” — George Raft

Photo: Scarface (1932). With Paul Muni.

 

A scene from the comedy Madame Racketeer (1932), released after Scarface.

 

 

 

 

With lifelong friend Mae West in 1932.

 

With Joel McCrea.

 

At the Cocoanut Grove with Edith O’Roarke in 1932.

 

“Nobody’s any better than I am, and I’m no better than anybody else – we’re all human.” — George Raft

 

 

“When he’s angry he can cuss with the best of them. In a free-for-all fight he’s pretty nifty with his fists. He sleeps in the raw and tosses about in bed. Before going to bed he carefully combs his hair. He wants to look his best at all times. And this tough guy sprays himself with sweet-smelling perfumes.” —

Source: Sidney Skolsky (1932)

Photo: If I Had a Million (1932)

 

 

“It began with my first picture. The second I saw myself, I said, ‘Is that me! Holy — ! I frighten babies.’ I ran right out of the studio.” — George Raft

Source: Earl Wilson (1944)

 

“I like it out here now and I guess I’ll stay.” — George Raft

Source: John C. Moffitt (1932)

“I’m not afraid to flop at anything and fame doesn’t scare me, either.” — George Raft

Source: H.H. Niemeyer (1932)

 

“I can’t go on the screen wearing a $40 suit. I have to be wearing the latest and the best, and that costs money.” — George Raft

Source: 1933

“I was afraid. I was afraid that people might discover that George Raft was mysterious and stayed away from Hollywood parties only because he was ignorant and could barely write his own name. Ridicule was and is a popular Hollywood weapon, and I thought that alongside me anyone with a high school diploma would sound like Professor Einstein himself.” — George Raft

Raft at his Malibu beach house, circa 1933.

 

“Why, I get sued every time I turn around, just because I’m in pictures. If I go out in the street and bump into somebody – they sue me. I get swamped with letters from people asking me for things, and if I don’t give ’em I’m criticized – if I do, I go broke; so what am I supposed to do?” — George Raft

 

“I got it [gonorrhea] from either from Gary Cooper or George Raft… do you think I’ve learned my lesson now?” — Tallula Bankhead

 “I always played the guy with the gun or something like that.” — George Raft

Photo: Midnight Club (1933)

George Raft Custom Pin Buttons

 

On the set of Midnight Club (1933). With Helen Vinson, Clive Brook, and director Alexander Hall.

 

 

 

“Nattiness. George makes me think of ‘natty,’ a word long since gone out of style.” — Joan Blondell

Source: Donald Freeman (1968)

 

“And he never made a pass at me. He was a perfect gentleman.” — Sylvia Sidney

Photo: Pick-up (1933)

 

“I don’t claim to be an actor. I just do my best. If they like it, okay. If they don’t, that’s that.” — George Raft

Source: 1933

Photo: The Bowery (1933)

The Bowery (1933). With Jackie Cooper, who later described Raft as being “warm and friendly.”

 

All of Me (1934). With Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Helen Mack.

 

For a laugh, Mack Gray, George Raft’s shadow, told a group in the Paramount commissary:

“Well Georgie had a headache this morning, but I took a pill and in two hours he was all right.”

“Who is that guy?” demanded Ginger Rogers as Mack walked away.

“That’s George Raft’s bodyguard,” she was told.

“Bodyguard!” snapped Ginger. “You mean his stage mother.”

Source: Harrison Carroll (1933)

 

Mrs. George Raft Asks $1,200 Weekly Alimony

New York – AP – March 27, 1934 – George Raft, screen star, was called “cruel and inhuman” by his wife today in a separation suit in which she asked $25,000 counsel fees and $1,200 a week alimony.

Raft’s cruelty, she said, consisted of “constantly associating in public with other women.” She married Raft in 1923, the affidavit states, when he was a comparatively obscure vaudeville performer. His present income is reputed to be in the neighborhood of $300,000 a year.

 

 

Bolero (1934). With Carole Lombard and Sally Rand. Also photos of Gloria Swanson visiting the set.

 

 

“One day I found out Carole wasn’t a natural blonde. We’re sitting and chatting in her dressing room, and as we’re talking she starts undressing. She had one of the sexiest, most sensational figures I’ve ever seen in my life.

“I didn’t know what the hell to do after she undressed. She’s talking away and mixing peroxide and some other liquid in a bowl. Still talking casually, with a piece of cotton she begins to apply the liquid to dye the hair around her honeypot.

“She glanced up, saw my amazed look, and smiled, ‘Relax, Georgie, I’m just making my collar and cuffs match.” — George Raft

 

“I don’t know what to say half the time. I get in trouble every time I make a personal appearance. And yet I try to be a right guy.” — George Raft

Source: Marjory Adams (1934)

Photo: 1934

“People are always telling me to save my money. Well, I save a little, but I spend more. I’m not afraid of life and I’m not afraid of Hollywood. What the – excuse me – I earned my living before I ever went into pictures and I can earn it again. I like to make my friends happy. I don’t squander money, but I don’t squeeze it either.” — George Raft

Source: Edith Dietz (1934)

Photo: 1934

 

“As far as women are concerned, they’re my private life.” — George Raft

Source: 1934

Photo: The Trumpet Blows (1934). With Frances Drake.

 

“Anybody else who tried to be a Valentino is licked before he starts, He puts himself in the imitator class, and imitators are second-raters. That’s why I don’t want to play in a talkie version of ‘Blood and Sand.’ No matter what I did people’d say, ‘Well, he ain’t Valentino,’ and they’d be right.” — George Raft

Source: John C. Moffitt (1932)

Photo: The Trumpet Blows (1934)

“If they want me in a new bullfight picture, that’s okay, but I don’t want to beat the record of something that was perfect. I don’t want set-ups, but I don’t want to be licked before I start.” — George Raft

Source: John C. Moffitt (1932)

 

Raft poses with Jean Acker, Rudolph Valentino’s first wife, during the production of The Trumpet Blows (1934).

 

 

The Trumpet Blows (1934). With Adolphe Menjou and Frances Drake.

 

“I can’t act. I simply must be myself, do the things that seem natural to me. When I get with a director who wants me to act, I’ll be lost.” – George Raft

Source: Charles Grayson (1932)
Photo: Limehouse Blues (1934)

 

“The press has always been nice to me, and I’ve always been nice to the press. If I was lousy in a role they had a right to give me a bad review. But at times I wondered why it was always the actor who took the rap. Why didn’t the critics blame the script or the director?” — George Raft

 

 

“I don’t care what you write as long as you spell the last name right. It’s Raft.” — George Raft

 

Sharing the cover of Screen Pictorial with Carole Lombard in 1935.

 

“What was the sense in it? I had nothing to offer her. By then I had signed over ten percent of my earnings to Grayce, and she refused to divorce me. I was trapped. Regardless of my personal feelings, I was happy for her when she married Clark Gable.” — George Raft

Rumba (1935). With Carole Lombard.

 

Scenes from Rhumba (1935)

 

 

George Raft is Off Payroll in Fight

Fred MacMurray May be Given Post

HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 12, 1936 – (U.P.) – Paramount Studio today prepared to replace George Raft in a picture he was scheduled to make with Carole Lombard as the sleek actor refused to work until another cameraman had been assigned to photograph the picture.

Raft objected to the assignment of Teddy Tetzlaff as cameraman on “Concertina” because he believed Tetzlaff gave Miss Lombard all the breaks while photographing their co-starring features.

The quarrel between Raft and Tetzlaff reached a climax during filming of “Rhumba,” and the actor vowed he would not appear in another picture unless some other cameraman was assigned.

Paramount officials ordered Raft to work with Tetzlaff or face suspension from the payroll. The actor accepted the challenge and did not appear at the studio yesterday, going to the horse races instead. The studio removed him from the payroll and reported Fred MacMurray would be given the Raft role if he did not return.

 

“I always cooperated, but I never got as much as a handkerchief for all the posing I did. I did anything I was asked to do. I played any part they gave me. I realized I wasn’t an actor. I thought other people knew more about this business than I did, so I did what I was told.” — George Raft

 

Raft and producer Walter Wanger visit the set of Klondike Annie where they pose for a photo with director Raoul Walsh and Mae West in 1935. Wanger had just hired Walsh to direct Raft in Every Night at Eight which was released the following year.

 

“George Raft‘s pals say he no longer appears at cafes because Paramount made the suggestion…” — Hollywood Ticker Tape in 1935.

Photo: Every Night at Eight (1935). Co-stars Alice Faye.

 

Images for Every Night at Eight. With Alice Faye, Patsy Kelly, and Frances Langford.

 

 

“I’m not very smart. I’m not intelligent, either. You heard that guy from the Harvard paper that asked me what I thought of a college education. Say, I didn’t know what to answer him. I went to school only two years. I went to work when I was 14. I know I’m not much on intellect, and I don’t know what to say when other people talk to me.” — George Raft

Source: Marjory Adams (1934)

 

 

With Paramount chief Adolphe Zukor.

 

“George Raft is another actor who has been hauled into court three times on charges – mostly that he has struck people. Raft says most of these were by persons who deliberately started fights, hoping he would strike back.” — Mollie Merrick in 1935

 

 

Stolen Harmony (1935)

 

“With George Raft, I had to use a different method of approach than I had used in the past. He is the star, but past experience had taught me the folly of letting the star dominate the film. So, I appealed to him by making him feel responsible for the film. I talked over everything with Raft, consulted him on all points, and so established the feeling of cooperation that he afterwards acceded to most of my requests.” — Alfred Werker, director of Stolen Harmony

Stolen Harmony (1935)

“I’ve been afraid to smile…You see, I used to dance with a girl who had a glorious smile. Her husband kept telling me I must not smile, that I looked funny when I did. So, with that ringing in my ears, for four years I never smiled while dancing. I just danced. When I came to pictures I was still afraid. I didn’t want to look funny.” — George Raft

Source: Maude Cheatham (1934)

“I may have played a lot of tough characters but I never accepted a picture in which I wasn’t the nice guy at the the finish. That’s why I still hold the suspension record at Paramount — 22 times off salary – because I refused to play out-and-out heels.” — George Raft

Source: Erskine Johnson (1959)

 

Raft once again wears a prison uniform as he listens to Walter Connelly hatch a plan in the unusually dark screwball comedy She Couldn’t Take It (1935).

 

 

She Couldn’t Take It (1935). With Joan Bennett.

 

“He wasn’t a stage-trained actor. I remember he didn’t like a lot of dialogue and had trouble interpreting lines. George? Maybe a little insecure as an actor. But at the time I first worked with him he was probably the biggest star on the lot next to Cooper.” — Lloyd Nolan

Source: George Raft: The Man Who Would be Bogart by Stone Wallace.

Photo: She Couldn’t Take It (1935). With Lloyd Nolan.

She Couldn’t Take It (1935). With Lloyd Nolan.

 

“He’s a white guy through and through. I don’t know why he took the wrong road or why I didn’t take one just as bad. Things just happen and sometimes a man is pushed into a way he never intended to take. Owney always seemed okay to me and I never saw the things in him I read about in the papers.” — George Raft on his crime boss friend Owney Madden.

Source: James Arswell (1936)

“Can you realize that this penthouse is the end of the rainbow for me? It represents the seemingly unattainable pot of gold. That is quite natural, I suppose, considering that I came up from the streets of New York. I heard about penthouses in those days; I dreamed about them and so, to me, a penthouse would be the symbol of success.” — George Raft

Source: Harry T. Brundidge (1937)

Photo: Taken at his El Royale penthouse in 1936.

 

“It’s an odd fact, but true, that fans think you, personally, are the same sort of guy that they see you interpret on the screen. That’s why I much prefer the sort of role I am doing now with Dolores Costello Barrymore in Yours for the Asking.“  — George Raft

Source: Mollue Merrick (1936)

Photo: Yours for the Asking (1936)

RAFT SAYS ‘NO’

Dolores Costello, on a set, was reading a Spanish newspaper. Its headlines proclaimed: Dolores Costello Amo El Romantissimo.

“Dolores Costello loves romances,” murmured George Raft, translating, then turned to mutter, “She’s as cold as a Siberian icicle.”

Source: McNaught Syndicate (1936)

Photo: Yours for the Asking (1936)

Photo: Yours for the Asking (1936). With Dolores Costello.

“I am playing the type of character that I’m suited for, and yet fans aren’t going to hate me on account of it. And that’s very important to me.” — George Raft discussing his film Yours for the Asking.

Yours for the Asking (1936). With Ida Lupino.

 

 

“I don’t try to put ‘something’ into a line of dialogue. I try to find out the meaning of the line and the reason for it and then I speak it as I feel it. All I want people to say is that I give a characterization the feeling of reality.” — George Raft

Photo: With Rosalind Russell in It Had to Happen (1936).

 

“Changing Raft has really been a job. One of the first steps was to get more spontaneity into Raft‘s speeches. This we did by not allowing him to spend too much time studying his lines. All I wanted him to do was get the idea, and if he wanted to ad lib here and there, he could. On the set he became a new man – utterly without restraint, free and easy. He gives a grand performance in ‘Souls at Sea.'” — director Henry Hathaway in 1937

Photo: George Raft, Gary Cooper, and Henry Hathaway on the set of Souls at Sea (1937).

“Souls was a helluva good adventure movie about the slavery days. My hair was marceled and I wore a ring in my ear – like some sailors did in those days.” — George Raft

Source: George Raft by Lewis Yablonsky

Photo: Souls at Sea (1937)

 

“In one scene Coop and I are drinking rum together. Both of us were quiet actors. You know, we didn’t take a lot of dialogue. Mainly, we looked at each other. Finally, he said to me, ‘You know I love you.’ The script had ‘look at him, pause, and then say “I know I love you, too.'” The director yells, ‘Print!’ After we both stopped laughing, Coop jokingly told Hathaway, ‘You can’t put that in the movie. People are going to think Cooper and Raft are a couple of fags.’ I guess he figured we were right because he cut it.” — George Raft

Source: George Raft by Lewis Yablonsky

Photo: Souls at Sea (1937). With Gary Cooper.

 

“Everyone knows he’s a gangster.” — Frances Dee

With Frances Dee and Gary Cooper.

Photo: Souls at Sea (1937)

 

Production stills fromSouls at Sea (1937). WithOlympe Bradnaand Gary Cooper:

 

 

“A guy can’t be a heel all his life. Not all his screen life, anyway. You’d be surprised how deeply most of the fans feel about actors who are typed. If a guy is always a bad one, the public begins hating him and his fans fade away.” — George Raft

Source: Paul Harrison (1937)

Photo: Souls at Sea (1937)

 

“I was really very pleased with the picture. That’s the kind of role I have been begging forever since I came to Hollywood. But you know how it is here. The first part an actor portrays types him. After that, no matter what he can really do, the producers, directors, and others in on the say think that that’s the only role he can carry.” — George Raft

Source: Jackie Martin (1938)

Photo: Souls at Sea (1937)

“You take fellows like Colman and Cooper. They stick around this racket as long as they do because those fans see ’em die a hero’s death and do big brave things. They never play the scoundrel or the skunk. So now they’re talking about putting me in ‘Beau Geste.’ And I say if I’m in ‘Beau Geste’  I’m gonna be Beau – Beau or nothin.'” — George Raft

 

Photo images from All of Me (1938). With Sylvia Sidney, George E. Stone, Robert Cummings, and Roscoe Karns:

 

 

“There’s another little matter I may as well tell you, now that I’m talking out of turn about myself. I get a terrific boot when people introduce me as ‘Mr. Raft.’ I’m never sure whether to laugh out loud or continue enjoying the little goose pimples that run up and down my spine when that happens. That’s something I’ve got to make up my mind about.” — George Raft

Source: Harry T. Brundidge (1937)

 

Despite his tough-guy reputation, Raft was known to be extremely kind and generous with children.  He had secretly fathered a male child and the child was raised elsewhere.  This fact was kept out of the press and little is known about it.

 

A WB rendition of Raft as a cartoon character wearing a fez and smoking a cigarette. Probably created in the 1930s.

 

 

Raft was one of several celebrities promoting Nunn-Bush shoes in 1938. According to shoemaker Emidio Spezza, he had small feet and wore size 7.5 B.  In this photo he is admiring the “Gotham.”

 

 

“It’s a fighting philosophy and that’s what it should be. Don’t think you get anything for nothing in Hollywood because you don’t. Not even if you’re a star. You’ve got to keep fighting.” — George Raft

Source: Erskine Johnson (1938)

Photo: Spawn of the North (1938)

“I fought for five years to prevent myself from being typed on the screen as a heel. Now at least I’m holding my own. In ‘Spawn of the North’ I play a sympathetic character and the audience is with me instead of against me.” — George Raft

Source: Erskine Johnson (1938)

Photo: Spawn of the North (1938)

Spawn of the North (1938). With Dorothy Lamour, Henry Fonda, and Akim Tamiroff.

 

“I guess I’ve had more fights over my parts than anyone else out here. I don’t want to be the vile villain, the greasy gangster any longer. I’ve never wanted to be that – for many reasons: first that it’s professional suicide.” — George Raft

Source: Jackie Martin (1938)

Photo: 1938

 

Posing with Cecil B. DeMille and his wife, Constance Adams, at Los Angeles’ newly opened Union Station prior to DeMille’s departure on a nationwide promotional tour for his film, Union Pacific (1939).

 

“In ‘The Lady’s from Kentucky,’ there’s a horse named Roman Son, supposedly owned by Ellen Drew and myself. The horse’s real name is Mickey O’Boyle, and take it from me, he’s an amazing equine Charles Laughton. He has to be, in order to fill the role. That horse practically runs the gamut of emotions, so far as it’s possible for a horse, and it’s inevitable that he’ll steal a good many scenes from me. Alexander Hall, the director, tells me how he expected me to complain about the acting horse and his scene-stealing long ago. But as a matter of fact, I’m as grateful for that horse as I was for Slicker, the seal.” — George Raft

Source: Fan-Fare (1939)

Photo: The Lady’s From Kentucky (1939). With Ellen Drew and Mickey O’Boyle.

“George Raft says he is making more money on his winning horses than with movie work – which is plenty.” — Sheilah Graham in 1939.

 

With Ellen Drew.

 

“George Raft…recently took the salary he received while doing The Lady’s from Kentucky for Paramount and bought an interest in New York’s Cotton Club.” — Column “Irish Eyes in Hollywood,” April 16, 1939

Photo: 1939

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I don’t mind playing that sort of part, but I won’t ever again be an unfair killer and a louse and a heel. I’ve done too many of those.” — George Raft

Source: John Stokes (1939)

Photo: Each Dawn I Die (1939)

From Lewis Yablonsky’s book, George Raft:

During the filming of Dawn, a ruthless union racketeer, Willie Bioff, whom Raft knew from his New York years, was extorting huge sums of money from Hollywood producers and other industry leaders…With his partner, George Brown, Bioff controlled the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union. Their blackmail was paid because they threatened work stoppages and other trouble. If their payments were delayed, “accidents” would happen on the sets of films….

George saw Willie on the set of Each Dawn I Die more than once looking with obvious dislike at Cagney. Bioff stared at the overhead lamps and exchanged meaningful looks with some of his goons. Although nothing happened, Raft suspected something was wrong.

Sometime later, after the picture was finished, Raft met Bioff in New York. “You did pretty good with Each Dawn I Die…You can thank me for that.”

“How come?” George asked.

“The studio wasn’t going to pay off and we were planning to take care of Cagney,” Bioff explained. “We were all set to drop a lamp on him. But I got word to lay off because you were in the picture.”

“You son-of-a-bitch,” George swore. “It’s a good thing nothing happened to Cagney. Jimmy‘s one of the greatest guys in Hollywood and if you had hurt him – you would’ve hurt me!”

Another version of the story (which is most likely true) was that Raft, who considered himself an expert lip reader, picked up on part of Bioff’s conversation with his goons and phoned his friends back East. His mob contacts assured him that they would make sure that nothing would happen.

 

“George was a real pro, letter-perfect in his lines every day, every word, I must say I can’t say the same for myself.” — James Cagney

 

 

“I had an opportunity to work with Jimmy Cagney, a guy I admired. Also, I liked the role. Stacey, the tough criminal I played, showed great courage and helped a pal, Cagney, out of a tough spot.” — George Raft

 

 

At a celebrity baseball junket with James Cagney.

 

 

 

“I’m not sticking up a post office. That’s a federal rap. As a kid I learned that no gunman in his right mind fools around with Uncle Sam.” — George Raft to I Stole a Million director Frank Tuttle.

Images from I Stole a Million (1939):

 

 

“I had only been in one film, Golden Boy, before I went to work on Invisible Stripes. I wasn’t a very experienced actor, and besides, I was pretty nervous working with two stars like Raft and Bogart.” — William Holden

 

“In one scene, I squared off with George in a fight because I resent his help. When we did the scene I must have still been bobbing and weaving from my fight scenes in Golden Boy because my head hit George‘s eye. I remember, when I saw the blood, thinking, ‘Christ, it’s George Raft. Now I’m going to really get it.’ Well, he was as nice as could be even though his wound needed several stitches later at the hospital.” — William Holden

 

“He really was my big brother, in and out of the movie. In fact, if he had not helped me, I might have been thrown out of the picture. However it began, the director, Lloyd Bacon, was always yelling at me. I couldn’t seem to get anything right – my lines or my movements. It was hell. Then George stepped in with the director and told him to go easy on me. The director finally lightened up on me because of George’s insistence.” — William Holden

 

 

 

 

Raft was popular enough to get his own unauthorized tabloid-style graphic novel in the late 1930s – early 1940s. These books measured 3″ x 4.75″ It was titled “Gangster Gangs Up!”

 

 

“I worked in many roles as a gambler – but I’m not a gambler.” — George Raft

Source: Howard Hertel (1967)

The House Across the Bay (1940).

 

“I could drive a car blindfolded. I learned how when I was helping to move booze, and the associate producer of the movie and my old pal, Mark Hellinger, must have known that when he assigned me to They Drive by Night. Some people say I got nothing from Owney Madden but a bad reputation – but the driving skills I acquired when I worked for him in New York years before undoubtedly saved my life and those of the people in the picture with me.

“In this scene, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and I are highballing down a long hill in an old beat-up truck. Halfway down, the brakes really went out – a situation that wasn’t in the script. Bogart saw me press the pedal and when nothing happened, he began to curse. ‘We’re going to get killed!’ he yelled. Ann screamed and turned her eyes away from the road as I fought the wheel. I couldn’t have been more scared myself. The speedometer hit eighty when I saw a break on the right where a bulldozer had started a new road. I pulled hard on the wheel and the truck went bouncing up the embankment. Thank God – it finally stopped.

Ann was too upset to talk, but Bogart said, ‘Thanks, pal,’ with definite appreciation.

“‘Don’t thank me,’ I thought to myself, because I didn’t have the breath to answer. ‘Write a letter to Owney Madden or Feets Edson.'” — George Raft

Source: George Raft by Lewis Yablonsky

 

 

 

According to a couple of George Raft biographies, High Sierra (1941) was originally intended to be a Raft vehicle, designed to reunite him with Ida Lupino after the success of They Drive By Night.

However, Humphrey Bogart, who was lower in star ranking at Warner Bros. at the time, wanted the role and may have duped Raft into turning it down so that he could play the lead.

Prior to High Sierra, Bogart and Raft had been chummy. In fact, they had worked together in Invisible Stripes (1939) and They Drive By Night (1940). However, Bogart may have still felt the sting of being replaced by Raft in Each Dawn I Die (1939).

As the story goes, Bogart read the script for High Sierra and knew that it was very good. He also knew that Raft didn’t like to read, so he approached Raft and confidentially told him that it was a terrible script, that the dialogue was too wordy, and that having Raft play such a ruthless, unlikable gangster may typecast him permanently. Raft trusted his advice and turned down the part without reading the script. This infuriated Jack Warner, who then handed the part to Bogart. The film became a huge box-office success. Adding to Raft‘s humiliation, a few people at the studio had overheard Bogart boasting about how he had gotten the role. When word got back to Raft, he never spoke to him again and used his influence to kick Bogart off the film  Manpower (1941)

 

 

James Cagney and George Raft in an early animation cell from “Hollywood Steps Out,” a 1941 Warner Bros. cartoon that takes place inside a cartoon Ciro’s. Following the success of High Sierra (1941), animators added Humphrey Bogart.

 

“Cast as rivals for the affections of Marlene Dietrich in the Warner Brothers film ‘Manpower,’ Hollywood’s reigning gangsters were smitten with genuine jealousy.” — Los Angeles Times in 1987

Photo: Manpower (1941). With George Raft, Marlene Dietrich, and Edward G. Robinson

“Raft was touchy, difficult and thoroughly impossible to play with.” — Edward G. Robinson, in his posthumous autobiography.

Photo: Manpower (1941)

“I never thought Robinson was right for the role, which was written to be played by a big guy. I’m not sure why I got mad at Robinson. I resented his trying to put me down with advice, you know, how to handle lines and business. He made me madder and madder.” — George Raft

“He did violently rough-house and push the said Edward G. Robinson around the set…directed toward him a volley of personal abuse and profanity…threatened with bodily harm, and in the course of his remarks directed and applied to Mr. Robinson in a loud and boisterous tone of voice, numerous filthy, obscene and profane expressions.” — Warner Bros. affidavit describing the physical altercation between Raft and Robinson on the set of Manpower.

“I had top billing for the movie, but I was willing to co-star to get Marlene in the film. I was always nuts about her.” — George Raft

“George Raft is the gentlest man I ever knew – at least with girls.” – Marlene Dietrich in 1941.

“Raft was simply wonderful throughout the shooting…His unique lovable kindness belied his appearance and his tough roles.” — Marlene Dietrich

Photo: Manpower (1941), With Marlene Dietrich.

“His eyes were tight shut when he hit me, and Mack Grey (Raft’s bodyguard and close friend) tells me George was almost in tears.” – Marlene Dietrich talking about the hard slaps she took while making Manpower (1941).

According to biographer Stone Wallace: “George wasn’t comfortable hitting a woman, but Miss Dietrich assured him it was all right. When George let loose with his slap, he connected so hard that she tumbled down the stairwell and broke her ankle. The shot remained in the movie.” (Source: George Raft: The Man Who Would Be Bogart).

The next morning, Raft made sure that Dietrich‘s dressing room was filled with roses.

 

“As you know, I strongly feel that The Maltese Falcon, which you want me to do, is not an important picture and, in this connection, I must remind you again, before I signed the new contract with you, you promised me that you would not require me to perform in anything but important pictures.” — George Raft‘s letter to Jack Warner.

The Maltese Falcon‘s director John Huston was relieved that Raft had turned down the project. He later said, “Just to show his authority, he would be insubordinate on the set. He liked challenging directors. He fancied himself an actor, but he was not really a good actor.”

“I’ve been getting a lot of letters from people who want to put on shows for the servicemen. So I’m going to try to start something and need some help and advice. What do you think of the idea of getting a group of boxers and wrestlers together and – well, I’ll foot the bills if we can get a show to the boys in some camp in California every Monday night.” — George Raft

 

“George Raft stays in character with no dull letdown from the screen when you meet the in-the-flesh Raft. Same triggerman tautness, same hooded glance, same sexy allure about him. And George Raft will be playing George Raft, and no one else, when you see him in Broadway …” — Julia McCarthy

 

“I would have married George a week after I met him. I was so deeply in love with him. But when you wait two-and-a-half years, there doesn’t seem a future in a romance with a married man.” — Betty Grable

Source: Louella Parsons (1943)

Photo: 1942

 

 

“He was so icky.” — Vera Zorina

Source: George Raft: The Man Who Would Be Bogart by Stone Wallace

 

 

Photos from Nob Hill (1945). With Vivian Blaine and Joan Bennett:

 

“I’m not in this business to make all the money in the world but to make pictures I think are good. Anything I do I like. Some day I’d like to win an Academy Award.” — George Raft

Source: Erskine Johnson (1945)

Photo: Nob Hill (1945)

 

Because he insists on good scripts and good directors, George Raft often has been called “difficult.” He’s still burning over stories that he turned down such films as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca.”

“I didn’t refuse to do these pictures,” he said. “But I did turn down a lot of others at Warner Bros. that turned out to be awful B’s.” 

Source: Erskine Johnson (1945)

 

Images from Johnny Angel (1945). With Claire Trevor.

 

 

Images from Whistle Stop (1946). With Ava Gardner and Victor MacLaglen:

 

 

“George Raft has increased his asking price per picture from $100,000 to $125,000.” — Jimmie Fidler in 1946

 

“George Raft is sore at Cleatus Caldwell … because she did not return a telephone call. ‘Can’t get a nice girl to go out with me until I get a divorce,’ George moans. He has been hoping to be a free man for the last ten years. ‘My wife wants a settlement of $300,000. I put $50,000 in hundred-dollar bills on a table in front of her but even that didn’t work. I want to be free because I’m tired of living alone.'”

Source: Hollywood Today by Sheilah Graham, May 25, 1946.

Photo: Cleatus Caldwell and Raft on a date at Ciro’s in March 1946. Caldwell, at the time, was getting monthly alimony payments of $3100 from ex-husband Ken Murray. She had also gotten $22,000 in bonds as part of their divorce settlement.

 

 

Images from Mr. Ace (1946). With Sylvia Sidney:

 

 

 

Photos from Nocturne (1946):

 

$300,000 Assault Suit Is ‘Silly,’ George Raft Says

December 14, 1946

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Actor George Raft says a $300,000 suit alleging assault and obstruction of justice, filed by Edward Raiden, 50, Hollywood attorney, is “silly and ridiculous.”

A girl in the case, Miss Betty Doss, 19, aspiring film actress, told reporters she had never retained Raiden as her attorney; knew nothing of his claim that he was beaten in her behalf; is still a “very good friend” of Raft.

In the complaint filed yesterday, naming Raft, bodyguard Mack Gray, the latter’s brother, Joe, and Agent Ben Platt as defendants, Raiden made these allegations:

That Miss Doss retained him to recover $6,000 worth of gifts Raft had given her, then taken back by “trick and device.”

That he met Raft a year ago at Miss Doss’ apartment; that while talking to the actor Joe Gray entered and pinioned Raiden’s arms; that Raft “assaulted and battered” the lawyer about the face, eyes, nose, neck, arms, hand and body with his fists, “then kicked plaintiff in the groin and stomach with his knee.”

That Platt and Mack Gray previously threatened him.

He wants $50,000 for personal injuries, the rest for obstruction.

Miss Doss showed newsmen a gold charm bracelet which she said was the only gift she ever received from Raft.

Raft said he was consulting his attorney, Lloyd Wright. Wright made no comment.

“Over the years I had many business deals with Benny Siegel. Once I lent him $20,000 to buy shares in the gambling ship ‘Rex,’ anchored offshore in Santa Monica Bay, and he returned the money two weeks later.

“Another time, at his request, I met him on a street corner on Sunset Blvd. and gave him $100,000 in cash – a loan made without a note or interest. I don’t know why he wanted the money, and I didn’t ask. I gave it to him in cash, because I didn’t want any notes or other documents that might connect me with his not-always-legal enterprises.

With entertainer Rose-Marie at the Ice Capades.  She was a headliner at Benny Siegel’s Flamingo Club in Las Vegas when it opened. She later confided that the mob helped her career when she started out.

Intrigue (1947). With June Havoc.

 

“I’m an actor, not a mobster.” — George Raft was said to have told police in 1947 when questioned about his financial ties to Benny “Bugsy” Siegel.

Photo: Christmas Eve (1947).

 

“I’m no Barrymore.” — George Raft

Source: Armand Archer (1947)

Photo: Christmas Eve (1947). With Dolores Moran.

 

 

Scenes from Race Street (1948), co-starring William Bendix, Marilyn Maxwell, and Gale Robbins:

 

Outpost to Morocco (1949). With Marie Windsor and Akim Tamiroff.

“I help everybody but myself. Everybody else gets a break but me. Maybe I’m not any good.” — George Raft

Source: Gene Handsaker (1949)

Photo: Johnny Allegro (1949)

 

“I have plenty of jobs offered me. But I’m like you – you like to get a big assignment, don’t you?” — George Raft

Source: Gene Handsaker (1949)

Photo: Johnny Allegro (1949). With Nina Foch.

 

 

 

 

George Raft Lighting Up White glossy mug

 

George Raft Linked With Cohen Gang

August 23, 1949

Excerpt:

Pertinent excerpts from a transcript dated Mar. 20, 1948, indicate that Mickey and some of his henchmen were on friendly terms with George Raft at whose home they visited and dined.

In fact, the transcript indicated that when Mickey visited Raft, he just stayed and stayed. The excerpt follows:

“11:25 p.m. – Lavon (Mickey’s wife, Lavonne) told Willa (unidentified) that Mickey, Neddie (Edward Herbert, slain in the July 20 Sunset Strip ambush in which Mickey and two others were wounded), and a couple of other fellows were out at George Raft‘s last night. They had a grand dinner and the boys enjoyed themselves very much. She told Willa that they really have a grand time when they go out there and they think nothing of staying up all night. ‘I never knew when to expect him in when he goes out there.'”

Photo: Red Light (1949)

 

“What puts Raft over except for his resemblance to Valentino? When I watched Raft dance years ago, I said, ‘Why doesn’t he capitalize on his resemblance to Valentino?’ … And now that’s his only claim to fame. He stinks as an actor. I’ll tell him so to his face.” — Rudy Vallee

Source: Earl Wilson (1949)

 

 

 

“My life is an open book. I’m still married. But I haven’t seen my wife for more than 20 years, although I’m still paying her. I wouldn’t mind the payments if I could see where they were going to – if I could see a face. Or have a few minutes with a woman I have paid money to for so long. If she were in love with me, it would be different. But she can’t be.” — George Raft

Source: Sheilah Graham (1951)

 

 

 

 

“I know that I said I was retiring. I wanted to. I don’t know what persuaded me to make more pictures. I didn’t want to.” — George Raft 

Photo:  Loan Shark  (1952)

 

Photos from I’ll Get You (1952). With Sally Gray:

 

“I dunno. The thing’s disgraceful. I doubt if they ever get it put together. Making pictures in Europe for an independent is definitely not like working in the United States.” — George Raft

Source: 1954

Photo: The Man From Cairo (1953)

 

The Man from Cairo (1953).  Raft‘s worst performance in his worst film.

 

 

Photo scenes from Rogue Cop (1954). With Anne Francis:

 

 

Visiting with Esther Williams on the MGM lot while he was working on Rogue Cop (1954).

 

“Funny thing about Hollywood, but unlike other people, we have to sandwich our leisure time between known and hoped-for assignments. When I finished my last picture, Black Widow, I asked the other principals what their leisure time plans were. Gene Tierney said she was going to her family home in Connecticut with her daughter, Tina. Ginger Rogers and her husband, Jacques Bergerac, left for an Oregon ranch. Van Heflin told me he and his wife, Frances, were ‘getting away from it all’ on a trip to Hawaii. And they all left very soon after the picture was completed because in the acting profession you never know. Tomorrow we may be traveling to Europe, Asia, Africa, or Broadway for a new picture. Me? I’ll take the ponies and the ring right here at home.” — George Raft (more than likely a publicist) in 1954.

Photo: Black Widow (1954). With Gene Tierney, Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers, and Reginald Gardiner.

 

“His range was limited. He always played George Raft. but that character – there was no other like it – always evoked a sympathetic response and identification from a mass audience.” – Edward G. Robinson

Source: Lewis Yablonsky, George Raft (1974)

Photo: A Bullet for Joey (1955)

 

 

 

 

“I’ll admit that I was never really a good actor – but I was never that bad.” — George Raft

Source: Erskine Johnson (1959)

Photo: Jet Over the Atlantic (1959). With Guy Madison and Virginia Mayo.

 

Jet Over the Atlantic (1959). With Guy Madison and Virginia Mayo.

 

Working as a technical advisor on The George Raft Story (1961). With Julie London, Barrie Chase, Margo Moore, and Ray Danton (who played Raft in the movie.)

 

Rehearsing the Bolero dance with Julie London for The George Raft Story (1961).

 

Photos from The Upper Hand (1965):

 

 

 

“I can see someday in the future the newspaper headlines saying, ‘George Raft dies.’ And I can hear people’s voices saying, ‘Yeah? Who cares?'” — George Raft

 

“I live the life of a hermit. If, as some of them say, the FBI is really watching me all the time, those guys must be leading an awful dull life.” — George Raft

Source: Dick Adler (1967)

 

 

“I’ve never been locked up in my life. All I’ve had is income tax evasion, and I guess about everybody has that.” — George Raft

Source: Phil Casey (1970)

 

“I must have gone through $10 million during my career. Part of the loot went for gambling, part for horses and part for women. The rest I spent foolishly.” — George Raft

 

“There would been no trouble at all, see, if this mug Peter hadn’t been messing around in the wolf’s territory where he didn’t belong in the first place…the wolf was framed.” — excerpt of George Raft‘s narration of “Peter and the Wolf” in 1972.

 

With Rock Hudson and Mae West at the Movieland Wax Museum. In 1973, Movieland honored West by unveiling a wax likeness of her.

 

Artist: Nicholas Volpe. Pastel. 16″ x 20.” The portrait used to hang inside the Beverly Hills Friars Club when the building was still around. It sold for $1,075.50 in 2008.