George Raft

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 Wilders 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot, as a dancer in Bolero 1934, and a truck driver in They Drive by Night 1940.

Although Rafts 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.As a young man Raft showed aptitude in dancing which, with his elegant fashion sense, enabled him to earn work as a dancer in New York City nightclubs, often in the same venues as Rudolph Valentino before Valentino became a movie actor. Raft became part of the stage act of flamboyant speakeasy hostess Texas Guinan, and his success led him to Broadway where he again worked as a dancer. He later made a semiautobiographical film called Broadway 1942 about this period in which he plays himself. He had a great success as a dancer in London in 1926, the Duke of Windsor was an ardent fan and supporter. Fred Astaire, in his autobiography Steps in Time 1959, says Raft was a lightningfast dancer and did the fastest Charleston I ever saw. ........

Source: Wikipedia