He also had troubles with his ego. Two of George's best friends were Owen Madden, a prominent New York mobster, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, who in the late 1930's relocated to Los Angeles. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In fairness once Warners realised how to use him they did it beautifully – I don’t think any other studio would’ve exploited him as well. Den George Raft, gebuer als George Ranft de 26.September 1901 zu New York City a gestuerwen de 24. Owney Madden and Frenchy Demange? He wasn’t conventionally good looking – the idea of a Hollywood star at the time (like now, really) was someone who looked like Tyrone Power. Interviewed in 1980, his final television appearance, the then 85-year-old actor, dressed stylishly in a charcoal peak-lapel suit over a black polo neck, was asked about his habit of giving money to those struggling to break into his fickle industry. Now, everyone makes career mistakes, even stars with highly-paid advisers, but no one seemed to reject more scripts that turned out to be classics than Raft. "His continued presence", wrote the Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, "would not be conducive to the public good.". He was certainly discussed as a possibility to play Rick Blaine (both the role and film were very much in his wheelhouse) – indeed, Raft actively campaigned for the part – but by now Warners were sick of him, as they had every right to be, and they cast Bogart, this time their first choice. His well publicised friendship with Bugsy Siegel wouldn’t have helped, especially after Siegel’s corpse was found riddled with bullets in 1947 – movie stars who knew gangsters before they were famous was a bit titillating, but ones who continued to regularly associate with them is something else. If good judgement was a necessary attribute I would have had few friends. George Ranft Wiki Biography 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. Ha? He was in ten motion pictures and rose from appearing as an uncredited dancer to getting top billing. He punched out producers and co-stars. I’ve given this book three stars, which means that it accomplished what its author set out to do, but I have to state up-front that it is very flawed, and that I didn’t like it as much as most of the three star books I rate. But they didn’t call. To be fair, a number of other male stars passed on this – the role was very unsympathetic – but Raft’s reason was especially dumb: he wanted the character, again, to be secretly an undercover police officer. But historians who have searched census records find there was only George and an older sister. Edgar replied that the FBI had no jurisdiction in England and had no say in the actions of their government. In fairness, maybe Raft did try looking, but either he didn’t look hard enough or Hollywood were cooling on the actor. As a judge of roles he was an ignoramus. Raft made Christmas Eve (1947) for Bogeaus and Marin, a terrible portmanteau melodrama about three different brothers; the gimmick was, the schedule enabled Raft, Randolph Scott and George Brent to only film a few days each, but the script was weak and the movie flopped. Although some casinos continued to operate for a while, their connection to the United States - not to mention their unsavory association with American mobsters - was too much for Fidel and his buddies. But George had a previous engagement. And by the mid-1950's George's continuing lavish lifestyle was playing havoc with his finances. At Universal he had the lead role in Follow the Boys (1944), a musical best remembered for featuring cameos from a lot of Universal’s contract list at the time, plus stars who had recently made movies for the studio – including Orson Welles doing his magic act and WC Fields performing an old vaudeville bit. So George found roles harder and harder to come by. Jay Leno told some tales of the strangeness that went along with working in the mob-controlled clubs and Richard Pryor even worked his experiences into his routine.

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