STACK #164 June 2018

EXTRAS FEATURE

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The Actor and The Mob

Neff opposite Barbara Stanwyck, and Double Indemnity was a massive box-office hit that received seven Academy Award nominations. Without doubt, Raft remains the worst judge of

classic Hollywood movie roles in the history of cinema. As Raft’s film choices slowly continued to slide into the B-movie category, so too did his love affairs. He had married Grayce Mulrooney, an attractive New York social worker, in 1923. The marriage was doomed from the start and they

George Raft (1901-1980) Decline and Downfall Part 3:

Top billing for George Raft in the star-studded movie  Follow the Boys  (1944) 

soon separated. Whether out of vindictiveness or her devout

Catholicism, Grayce refused to grant George a divorce. To his great credit he supported her financially until her death in 1970, but he had lost a measure of his freedom that left him unable to marry the love of his life – Betty Grable. Through various 20 th Century Fox musical comedies such as Coney Island  and  Sweet Rosie O’Grady  (both 1943), Betty Grable became every enlisted man’s favourite pin- up during WWII. The Raft/Grable romance appeared every week in movie fan magazines and the couple were genuinely in love. But the unseen presence of Grayce Mulrooney kept clouding their affair. Finally, Grable confided in gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who regularly covered every detail of their love affair in her weekly column. “I would have married George Raft 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 to be any future in a romance with a married man.” Raft would have many other brief romances but he never got over losing Betty Grable, who, shortly after ending their affair, married band- leader Harry James. Grable’s untimely death in 1973 devastated Raft.  Raft remains the worst judge of classic Hollywood movie roles in the history of cinema

T here is a legendary turned down the role of Rick Blaine in the most enduringly popular movie in cinema history – Casablanca  (1942). But the story is pure Hollywood myth. Raft was certainly keen to play the role, especially after having seen how his rejection of the lead parts in both High Sierra  and  The Maltese Falcon had raised the prominence of former character actor, Humphrey Bogart. But a pair of memos exchanged between studio boss Jack Warner and the story still extant today that George Raft

independent actor.

When Raft left Warner

Bros. he was still very much in demand and made several films at United Artists and RKO including  Stage Door  (1943) and  Follow the Boys  (1944), both popular star-studded wartime entertainment productions. However, his choice of starring movie roles were now not the prestigious films of his former days. Raft could still not bear the idea of playing the part of a gangster or a villain – the very roles that had originally made him a star. As a consequence of

How George Raft might have looked if he had secured the Rick Blaine role in Casablanca.

film’s producer, Hal B. Wallis, disproves the oft-repeated fiction that Raft was offered and turned down the role. Warner wrote to Wallis that Raft was campaigning for the part and might be a perfect fit for the Blaine character. Wallis’ response was: “I have thought over very carefully the matter of George Raft in Casablanca  and have discussed it with Mike [Michael Curtiz, the director of the film]. We both feel that Raft should not be in the picture. Bogart is ideal for it and furthermore, it is being written for him.” Curtiz had actually been much harsher than the memo stated when he told Wallis that he considered Raft a “no-talent star.” By the time Casablanca was released, Raft had already left the studio and set himself up as an

this dogmatic approach to his film career, he continued to refuse roles that just might have kept him at the top of the box-office. A prime example of this was when Billy Wilder wanted him to play the part of corrupted insurance agent Walter Neff in the noir classic Double Indemnity  (1944). Wilder asked him if he could send him the script. “I don’t read scripts,” said Raft. “Tell it to me.” Wilder briefly related the story to him. “When do I flip the lapel?” Raft asked. Wilder looked blank: “What lapel?” “You know, when the guy flashes his detective badge to the dame.” An exasperated Wilder tells him Neff is not a detective, just a besotted dupe. Raft scoffed: “That ain’t no part for me, Wilder.” Fred MacMurray was eventually cast as

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JUNE 2018

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