Gene Raymond
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Gene Raymond (August 13, 1908 - May 2, 1998) was a popular film actor of the 1930s and 1940s.
Gene Raymond, leading man of stage, film, and TV, singer, composer, writer, director, producer, decorated military pilot, and, for twenty-eight years, the first and only husband of singer Jeanette MacDonald, died May 3rd, 1998 in Los Angeles. He was 89.
He had enjoyed a long and illustrious stage, film, and television career. His important films include Red Dust (1932) with Jean Harlow , Zoo in Budapest (1932) with Loretta Young, Flying Down to Rio (1933) with Astaire and Rogers, I am Suzanne (1934) with Lilian Harvey, Sadie McKee (1934) with Joan Crawford, and Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) with Carole Lombard. He appeared with his film star wife in one film, Smilin' Through, in 1942.
A man of many talents, Gene was also a composer, and some of his songs were used in the series of light-hearted RKO musicals he made with Ann Sothern, or sung by his wife in concert. Gene Raymond was born Raymond Guion on August 13, 1908 in New York City. He attended the Professional Children's School while appearing in productions like Rip Van Winkle and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. His Broadway debut, at age 17, was in The Cradle Snatchers which ran two years. (The cast included Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, and young Humphrey Bogart.)
His screen debut was in Personal Maid in 1931. With his blond good looks, classic profile, and youthful exuberance — plus a name change to the more pronounceable "Gene Raymond" — he scored in films like the classic Zoo In Budapest and a series of light RKO musicals, mostly with Ann Sothern. He wrote a number of songs, including the popular "Will You?" which he sang to Ann Sothern in Smartest Girl In Town (1936). His wife sang several of his more classical pieces in her concerts and recorded an especially lovely one, "Let Me Always Sing."
Jeanette and Gene made one film together, Smilin' Through, which came out as the U.S. was on the verge of entering the World War II. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Gene took flying lessons at his own expense, sure the U.S. would soon be involved. After Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant.
Initially, he flew as an observer in B-17s on anti-sub patrol off the Atlantic coast. After attending intelligence school, he was sent to England in July 1942 and assigned to the 97th Bomb Group. He was soon promoted to Assistant Operations Officer in the 8th Bomber Command. During these difficult years of frequent separation, Jeanette constantly wore a pair of his flying wings pinned to her dress.
In 1943, Gene returned to the U.S. and flew B-17s, B-25s, B-26s, and P-39s. After the war, he was released from active duty as a Major on Oct. 22, 1945. He remained in the USAF Reserve, taking jet training and flying the T-33, T-39, KC-97, KC-135, and C-141. He logged more than 5,000 hours and received his command pilot wings before his retirement from the USAF on August 13, 1968 as a Colonel.
(To read more about Gene Raymond's WWII military service, go to http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wwii/gr.htm)
Postwar Hollywood was whole new ball game, and few of the old actors were able to resume their former status. Gene wrote and directed Million Dollar Weekend, 1949, and a TV pilot for his wife, "Prima Donna." His own TV acting credits included "Fireside Theatre," "Hollywood Summer Theatre," and TV's Reader's Digest" in the 1950s. He was a series regular on "Paris 7000" on ABC in `970 and had guest roles on "The Outer Limits," "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Playhouse 90," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Ironside," Mannix," "The Defenders," "The Name of the Game," "Lux Video Theatre," "Kraft Television Theatre," and "U.S. Steel Hour." (Gene Raymond's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is in front of 7001 Hollywood Blvd.)
Gene was very active behind the scenes of the entertainment industry. He served as a board member of the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and as president of the Motion Picture and Television Fund. He was also a vice president of the Arthritis Foundation of Southern California and a president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Air Force Association.
From their story-book marriage until Jeanette's death on January 14, 1965, Gene and Jeanette were, as columnist Hedda Hopper wrote, "a refreshing exception...a quieter, more retiring couple would be hard to find. There just is no scandal in their lives. They are almost notoriously congenial...each [having] a proper respect for the other's talents and achievements."
A decade later, Gene remarried. His second wife's first name was, coincidentally, Nelson—the former Mrs. Bentley Hees. "Nels," as she was called, died in 1995. Gene followed her on May 3, 1998. He was laid to rest next to Jeanette at Forest Lawn, with Nels' family among the mourners. Gene left $1 million to the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music to establish scholarships for aspiring vocalists in Jeanette’s name.
(Recommended: "Gene Raymond: Renaissance Man" by Maury Daly in the November 1995 issue of Classic Images.)
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