Gene Raymond

At 89 years old, Gene Raymond has this physical status:

Gene Raymond (1908-May 3, 1998), an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s, died on August 13, 1908 – May 3, 1998).

Raymond was not limited to acting; he was also a writer, screenwriter, producer, and decorated military pilot.

Early life

Raymond was born in New York City on August 13, 1908. He attended the Professional Children's School while appearing in Cabbage Patch shows like Rip Van Winkle and Mrs. Wiggs. He appeared on Broadway at the age of 17, and was a member of the Cradle Snatchers, a two-year stint. (The cast included Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, and a young Humphrey Bogart.)

Personal life

Raymond was known in Hollywood for speaking out against the film system, saying that it was not "living up to expectations." Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, two people he trusted were "knowing what they were doing," were the only actors he had faith in. He was one of the first actors of the time to go freelance, but he denied that it was mainly to spite the studios.

He also excelled in athletics, such as gymnastics and tennis. Raymond was once described by George Sidney as the world's most stunning thing he had ever seen.

In 1937, Raymond married Jeanette MacDonald. At Roszika Dolly's house two years ago, she was invited to a date; MacDonald declined to a date as long as it was at her family's dinner table. Despite the close friendship, Raymond's mother did not like MacDonald, snubbing her a few times (such as arranging her son with Janet Gaynor as a plus one at a charity ball) but did not attend the wedding.

The Raymonds lived in Twin Gables, a 21-room Tudor Revival mansion that Raymond gave to MacDonald as a birthday gift; after MacDonald's death, it was briefly owned by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips from The Mamas and Papas.

MacDonald was often worried about her husband's self-confidence. Although MacDonald wished that their support was equal, she wished that they were both successful; when Raymond turned down one of her music tours, she felt as if she were not let down: "Trailing along on my tours would make him a 'Mr.' MacDonald', a sarcastic term for any self-respecting man, is a bit of a joke. As it was, he was branded 'Mr.' MacDonald's good sportsmanship in taking it on the chin is often enough to make me adore him greatly. Raymond was often mistaken for Nelson Eddy by MacDonald's followers and passersby, who later admitted that she never agreed, although Gene certainly obliged by signing Nelson's name, but no one would ever know the agonies I suffered on such occasions." I wanted him to have as much acclaim as I did, to save him these humiliations more than any other time in history. "Because I've been on my best part, by his [Raymond's] side, I reunited with Maurice Chevalier in 1957." And I'm perfectly content." The two of them were married for nearly 28 years before MacDonald's death in 1965.

Despite rumors of getting close to Jane Wyman in 1974, Raymond married Nelson Bentley Hees and lived in Pacific Palisades together. In 1995, he died of Alzheimer's disease.

Raymond devoted time to Jeanette MacDonald's International Fan Club, befriending president Clara Rhoades, and inviting a few people out to lunch each year. His last public appearance at the Fan Club's 60th anniversary banquet at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on June 27, 1997.

In the 1964 United States presidential election, he ran as a Republican and endorsed Barry Goldwater.

During the time of the Hollywood Blacklist, he and MacDonald did not involve themselves in the HUAC probes; neither of them were ever summoned to a hearing (MacDonald openly disagreed with the situation in a radio interview).

Raymond died of pneumonia at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, on May 3, 1998, at 89 years old. In the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn, Glendale, Jeanette MacDonald's body was laid next to his body.

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Film career

In Personal Maid (1931), his first film appearance was made (1931). With W. C. Fields and Charles Laughton, a new appearance appeared in the multi-director If I Had a Million. He starred in films like the classic Zoo in Budapest, as well as a series of light RKO musicals, mainly with Ann Sothern, with his blond good looks, classic portrait, and youthful exuberance – plus a name change to the more pronounced "Gene Raymond" – as well as youthful exuberance. He produced a number of songs, including the famous "Will You". In Smartest Girl in Town (1936), the singer performed to Sothern in Smartest Girl in Town (1936). Jeanette MacDonald, his wife, performed several of his more classical pieces in her shows and released one titled "Let Me Always Sing."

With Patricia Young, Dennis Covey (1933) and Jean Harlow and Clark Rogers, I Am Suzanne (1934) with Alice Leitchmann and Robert Montgomery (1941) and Laraine Day, 1954) with Larry Gray, Blessing Down to Rio (1933), I Am Suzanne (1934) with Bernard Harris, Jean Harlow, and Margaret Rogers, 1936) with Carmen del Ro (1933), Ex-Lady (1933) with Marion Hood and Robert Montgomery (1941) and Robert Mitchum Both MacDonald and Raymond made Smilin' Through, a film that came out as the United States was on the verge of entering World War II.

Raymond returned to Hollywood after being stationed in the United States Army Air Forces. In the 1949 film Million Dollar Weekend, he wrote, produced, and starred. He appeared in only a few films in later years. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson's last major film, The Best Man, was 1964.

He appeared in Playhouse of Stars, Fireside Theatre, Hollywood Summer Theater, and TV Reader's Digest, although he was primarily active in television in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he appeared on ABC Television Network's Paris 7000 and appeared in The Outer Limits, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Attorneys, Mannix, The Name of the Game, Lux Video Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, and United States Steel Hour.

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