- published: 19 May 2015
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George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, today Raft is mostly known for his gangster roles in the original Scarface (1932), Each Dawn I Die (1939), and Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot, as a dancer in Bolero (1934), and a truck driver in They Drive by Night (1940).
George Ranft was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York City to a Catholic family of German descent, the son of Eva (née Glockner) and Conrad Ranft. His father was born in Massachusetts to German immigrant parents, and his mother was a German immigrant. His parents were married on November 17, 1895, in Manhattan. His elder sister, Eva, known as "Katie", was born on April 18, 1896.
Although Raft's birth year in obituaries has been reported as 1895, he is recorded in the New York City Birth Index as having been born on September 26, 1901 in Manhattan as "George Rauft" (although "Rauft" is likely a mistranscription of "Ranft"); the 1900 Census for New York City lists his elder sister, Katie, as his parents' only child, with two children born and only one living. On the 1910 Census, he is listed as being eight years old, and his birth record can be found in the New York City birth index as being 1901. A boyhood friend of gangsters Owney Madden and Bugsy Siegel (and later a "wheel man" for the mob), Raft acknowledged having narrowly avoided a life of crime.
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress and singer.
She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953).
She appeared in several high-profile films from the 1950s to 1970s, including The Hucksters (1947), Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), On the Beach (1959), 55 Days at Peking (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Earthquake (1974), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). Gardner continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in London in 1990 at the age of 67.
She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
Gardner was born near the farming community of Smithfield, North Carolina, the youngest of 7 children (she had two brothers, Raymond and Melvin, and four sisters, Beatrice, Elsie Mae, Inez, and Myra). Her parents, Mary Elizabeth "Molly" (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner, were poor cotton and tobacco farmers. While there are varying accounts of her background, Gardner's only documented ancestry was English.
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was an English boxer and First World War veteran who became a successful film actor. Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.
McLaglen claimed to have been born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, though his birth certificate records Stepney in the East End of London as his true birthplace. His father, Andrew Charles Albert McClaglen, later a bishop of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England, moved the family to South Africa when McLaglen was a child. He had eight brothers and a sister. Four of his brothers also became actors: Arthur (1888–1972), an actor and sculptor, and Clifford (1892–1978), Cyril (1899–1987) and Kenneth (c. 1901-1979). Other siblings included Frederick (born c. 1882), Sydney (born c. 1884), Lewis (born c. 1889) and a sister, Lily (born c. 1893). Another brother, Leopold McLaglen (1884-1951), who appeared in one film, gained fame prior to the First World War as a showman and self-proclaimed World Jujutsu Champion, who authored a book on the subject.
Actors: Piper Laurie (actress), Ian Wolfe (actor), Ann Jillian (actress), Paul Willson (actor), Chuck McCann (actor), Brad Fiedel (composer), Nicholas Meyer (actor), Roddy McDowall (actor), Harry Reems (actor), Lee de Broux (actor), John Dennis (actor), James Brolin (actor), Ed Call (actor), Redmond Gleeson (actor), Louis Giambalvo (actor),
Genres: Biography, Drama,Actors: Ringo Starr (actor), Mae West (actress), Regis Philbin (actor), Walter Pidgeon (actor), George Raft (actor), Keith Moon (actor), Timothy Dalton (actor), Tony Curtis (actor), Ian Abercrombie (actor), Dom DeLuise (actor), James Bacon (actor), George Hamilton (actor), Alice Cooper (actor), Ken Hughes (director), Mae West (writer),
Plot: Marlo Manners is enjoying her honeymoon with Sir Michael Barrington, husband number 6. As luck would have it, an international conference is taking place in the same hotel and the Russian delegate (one of Marlo's former husbands) is threatening to derail the negotiations unless he can have one more fling with his ex. Adding to the complications is a tape Marlo has made detailing all of her affairs and scandals, which her manager is desperately trying (and failing) to destroy.
Keywords: based-on-play, celebrity, cuckold, ex-husband-ex-wife-relationship, honeymoon, hotel, independent-film, journalist, last-film-role-for-actress, lead-actor's-last-filmActors: Gene Autry (actor), Milton Berle (actor), Jackie Coogan (actor), John Forsythe (actor), Aldo Ray (actor), Forrest Tucker (actor), Rudy Vallee (actor), Phyllis Diller (actress), Jerry Lewis (actor), George Raft (actor), Paul Lynde (actor), Marty Ingels (actor), Sherry Jackson (actress), Ralph Andrews (director),
Genres: Comedy, Documentary,Actors: Jack Albertson (actor), Jerome Cowan (actor), Murray Alper (actor), Phil Arnold (actor), Richard Bakalyan (actor), Norman Alden (actor), Billy Bletcher (actor), Don Brodie (actor), John Carradine (actor), Robert Carson (actor), Chick Chandler (actor), Harry Cheshire (actor), Billy Beck (actor), Hans Conried (actor), Scatman Crothers (actor),
Plot: When a star comedian dies, his comedy team, decides to train a nobody to fill the shoes of the Star in a big TV show (a Patsy). But the man they choose, bellboy Stanley Belt, cant do anything right. The big TV show is getting closer, and Stanley gets worse all the time.
Keywords: actor-director, agency, agent, ballet, barber-shop, bellboy, breaking-the-fourth-wall, cameo, crazy-humor, directed-by-starActors: Myron Healey (actor), Fred Aldrich (actor), Joseph Forte (actor), Frank Gorshin (actor), Jack Albertson (actor), Neville Brand (actor), George DeNormand (actor), Wally Brown (actor), Chet Brandenburg (actor), Ray Danton (actor), George Cisar (actor), John Bleifer (actor), John Close (actor), John Damler (actor), Stuart Holmes (actor),
Plot: Dancer George Raft (Ray Danton) finds himself involved with the criminal underworld. After a conflict with gangster boss Frank Donatella (Joe de Santis), he is exiled to Hollywoood, where he wins a role in the film "Scarface" and becomes famous. He lives with actress Lisa Lang (Jayne Mansfield) in a huge villa, but when his mother dies, he deserts her. His career slides downhill until he is offered a part in "Some Like it Hot" and becomes famous again.
Keywords: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, assassination, bolero, bootlegging, casino, character-name-in-title, chorus-girlActors: Louis Jean Heydt (actor), Hugh Herbert (actor), Jean Hersholt (actor), Count Basie (actor), Pat Flaherty (actor), Henry Armetta (actor), Eddie Hall (actor), Ralph Bellamy (actor), Xavier Cugat (actor), Edgar Bergen (actor), Ray Bolger (actor), Benny Baker (actor), William Demarest (actor), Lloyd Corrigan (actor), John James (actor),
Plot: "Dakota," a young soldier on a pass in New York City, visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theatre and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. Dakota meets a pretty young hostess, Eileen, and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.
Keywords: actor, actress, bandleader, burlesque, chinese, comedian, dancer, dummy, engagement, entertainmentActors: Edward Brophy (actor), Abner Biberman (actor), Jimmy Conlin (actor), Broderick Crawford (actor), Eddie Bruce (actor), Joe Cunningham (actor), John Daheim (actor), Frank Ferguson (actor), James Flavin (actor), Pat Gleason (actor), Joe Gray (actor), Kernan Cripps (actor), John Harmon (actor), Ralf Harolde (actor), Charles Jordan (actor),
Genres: Crime, Musical,