George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and '40s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in Quick Millions with Spencer Tracy, Scarface with Paul Muni, Each Dawn I Die with James Cagney, Invisible Stripes with Humphrey Bogart, and Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon; and as a dancer in Bolero with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in They Drive by Night with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and again with Bogart.
Raft's association with organized crime figures resulted in controversy throughout his life, and led to a ban from Great Britain in 1967.
Early life and career
Raft was born at 415 West 41st Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City, the son of Eva, a German immigrant, and Conrad Ranft, who was born in Massachusetts to German immigrants. His parents were married on November 17, 1895, in Manhattan. Raft's sister Eva, known as Katie, was born on April 18, 1896. Raft's grandfather had emigrated from Germany and worked on merry-go-rounds and prospected for gold. His father worked in carnivals before settling in New York.Most obituaries cited Raft's year of birth as 1895, which he stated was correct when he appeared on The Mike Douglas Show seven months prior to his death. However, Raft is recorded in the New York City Birth Index as having been born on September 26, 1901, in Manhattan as "George Rauft". The 1900 census for New York City lists his sister Katie as his parents' only child, with two children born and only one living. In the 1910 census, he is listed as eight years old.
Raft grew up on 41st Street and worked as an errand boy and a fishwrapper after school. His parents sent him to live at his grandparents' house on 164th Street. He left school at the age of 12, and left home at 13. He worked as an apprentice electrician for a year, then boxed professionally for two years beginning at the age of 15. As Dutch Rauft, he fought 14 bouts, with nine victories, three defeats and two draws. Another account says that Raft fought 25 bouts and was knocked out seven times.
Raft played minor-league baseball, reportedly with Springfield of the Eastern League, as a utility outfielder with pitching aspirations. However, his batting was poor and he was dropped.
"I was just trying to find something that I liked that would make me a living," said Raft later. "I saw guys fighting, so I fought. I saw guys playing ball, so I played ball. Then I saw guys dancing... and getting paid for it!"
Career as a dancer
Raft's mother taught him how to dance, and he danced at outdoor amusement parks and carnivals with his parents. Following his baseball career, he began working as a taxi dancer in the poorer sections of New York. At first he struggled financially, but then he won a Charleston competition and was launched professionally.Raft started performing exhibition dances in the afternoon at Healy's, Murray's, Rectors and Churchills in New York. He then started working in New York City nightclubs, often in the same venues as did Rudolph Valentino before Valentino became a film actor. Raft had a notable collaboration with Elsie Pilcer. A May 1924 review in Variety called him "gifted."
"I could have been the first X-rated dancer," he said later. "I was very erotic. I used to caress myself as I danced. I never felt I was a great dancer. I was more of a stylist, unique. I was never a Fred Astaire or a Gene Kelly, but I was sensuous."
Raft went on tour as a dancer and helped popularize the tango in Paris, Vienna, Rome, London and New York. He had a great success as a dancer in London in 1926, and the Duke of Windsor was "an ardent fan and supporter." Fred Astaire, in his autobiography Steps in Time, wrote that Raft was a lightning-fast dancer and did "the fastest Charleston I ever saw." A September 1926 edition of Variety spoke of Raft's reputation as "the best Charleston dancer in New York."
During this time, Raft befriended a number of gangsters, including Enoch Johnson and Larry Fay, and he would occasionally drive for Owney Madden. A boyhood friend of gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, and later a "wheel man" for the mob, Raft acknowledged having narrowly avoided a life of crime.
Broadway
Raft became part of the stage act of flamboyant speakeasy and nightclub hostess Texas Guinan at the 300 Club, and he also produced some of her shows.His success led him to Broadway, where he again worked as a dancer. His stage performances included The City Chap , Gay Paree, Madhattan, Palm Beach Nights and Padlocks of 1927. He was called "the fastest Charleston dancer."
Raft later starred in the film Broadway, a fictionalized account of his life when he was working the Paramount-Publix circuit and performing in stage shows that were presented before movies.
Los Angeles and early films
told Raft that he should be in motion pictures, and Raft decided to try to break into film acting after being threatened by the husband of a woman whom he had been seeing. In 1927, Raft relocated to Hollywood, where he first danced in clubs to pay the bills.In October 1928, Raft appeared in a stage show presented by Texas Guinan called Night Club. The Los Angeles Times said Raft "scores a tremendous individual hit." Variety wrote that Raft appeared at the climax when he "came to the front and did his eccentric dance routine, which he climaxed with the hottest black bottom ever. He goaled the audience, being the big punch of the show."
Film debut
Raft's screen debut was in Queen of the Night Clubs starring Guinan, who insisted Raft have a small role. Although Raft's scenes were cut, a Variety review said "...a nite club scene introduces George Raft, the hot stepper, as the m. c. and band leader, being brought down for one of his rip-snorting hoofing specialties." Raft also appeared in stage shows supporting the film. One reviewer called him "a clever dancer". Queen of the Night Clubs is considered a lost film.Raft followed this with small roles in Gold Diggers of Broadway and Side Street. His dancing skills were noticed by director Rowland Brown, who cast him in a substantial supporting gangster role as Spencer Tracy's character's sidekick in Quick Millions. Raft's appearances in these films were followed by Goldie with Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow, Hush Money with Joan Bennett, and the Eddie Cantor musical Palmy Days.
In Taxi!, starring James Cagney and Loretta Young, Raft had a colorful unbilled dancing role as Cagney's competitor in a dance contest, who wins only to be knocked down by Cagney. He was third-billed in an extremely large role as a gangster in Dancers in the Dark, below Miriam Hopkins as a dancer and Jack Oakie as a bandleader.
Raft said he never regarded himself as an actor. "I wanted to be me," he said.
''Scarface''
Raft's big break came when cast as the second lead, alongside Paul Muni, as Tony Camonte in Howard Hawks's Scarface. In the film, he plays second-in-command Guino Rinaldo, who falls in love with Camonte's sister and is murdered by him. Raft's performance is notable for his character's habit of flipping a coin, which became an iconic trope in gangster films; while others claimed credit for the mannerism, writer W.R. Burnett confirmed that it was Raft who invented it. Burnett said: "He realized he wasn't a good actor, which he wasn't. But he knew if he reacted to what other people said, he was effective."Scarface was filmed in September 1931. It was released by United Artists in 1932. It became a hit and made Raft a star. He said: "That was the big one. People remembered me. I was getting real fan mail – by the bushel basket – and even a dumb kid from 10th Avenue could figure out how to translate that into money."
After filming Scarface, Raft made Night World at Universal, supporting Lew Ayres, and Love Is a Racket, directed by William Wellman, although all of Raft's scenes were eventually cut.
Paramount
Raft signed a contract with Paramount in March 1932. The following month, he was cast in a supporting role in Madame Racketeer, and contemporary reports referred to his "menacing suavity." He was announced for Ladies of the Big House with Sylvia Sidney and Gene Raymond.''Night After Night'' (1932)
When Scarface was released, public response was so strong that Raft was offered the lead role in a film based on a story by Louis Bromfeld, originally titled Number 55 and then changed to Night After Night.Raft was one of several Paramount stars who appeared in the episodic comedy/drama If I Had a Million, playing a forger hiding from police who is suddenly given a million dollars with no place to cash the check. He starred in Under-Cover Man and was announced for Bodyguard, which was never made. He next appeared in Pick Up. A natural practitioner of a form of method acting, Raft told Variety:
I don't know what I do, but it's not acting. It's me. Supposing I'm supposed to hate a guy. Then I think of somebody I hate and visualize him instead of the actor. Same way when I'm supposed to be in love with the heroine. I think of a girl I could be crazy about and though I'm saying to the actress "I love you, darling", all the time I keep thinking of the other party.
First suspension
Raft refused to appear in The Story of Temple Drake with Miriam Hopkins, as he did not want to play a sadist. He was replaced by Jack La Rue, who had been originally cast for Raft's role in Scarface. Raft was placed on suspension in February.He said: "It's not that I mind being the guy on the wrong side of the law. But I won't take a role that's pure heel. The character has to have some ray of warmth, some redeeming quality – or it just isn't real."
The Story of Temple Drake performed poorly at the box office and was believed to have hurt La Rue's career. Raft was removed from suspension in April 1933, and he returned to Hollywood to appear in Midnight Club, set in London.