CINEFILER

Gene Raymond

Born
August 13, 1908
Died
May 2, 1998
Gene Raymond, born Raymond Guion, was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a composer, writer, director, producer, and decorated military pilot. His screen debut was in Personal Maid (1931). Another early appearance was in the multi-director If I Had a Million with W. C. Fields and Charles Laughton. 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 with Loretta Young, 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 Sothern in Smartest Girl in Town. His wife, Jeanette MacDonald, sang several of his more classical pieces in her concerts and recorded one entitled "Let Me Always Sing". His most notable films, mostly as a second lead actor, include Red Dust (1932) with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, Zoo in Budapest with Loretta Young, Ex-Lady with Bette Davis, Flying Down to Rio with Dolores del Río, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I Am Suzanne with Lilian Harvey, Sadie McKee with Joan Crawford, Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, and The Locket with Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, and Robert Mitchum. MacDonald and Raymond made one film together, Smilin' Through, which came out as the U.S. was on the verge of entering World War II. After service in the United States Army Air Forces Raymond returned to Hollywood. He wrote, directed and starred in the 1949 film Million Dollar Weekend. In later years he appeared in only a few films. His last major film was The Best Man in 1964 with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson. In the 1950s he mostly worked in television, appearing in Playhouse of Stars, Fireside Theatre, Hollywood Summer Theater and TV Reader's Digest. In the 1970s he appeared on ABC Television Network's Paris 7000 and had guest roles in The Outer Limits, Robert Montgomery Presents, Playhouse 90, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ironside, The Defenders, Mannix, The Name of the Game, Lux Video Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre and U.S. Steel Hour. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Raymond, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Red Dust
(1932)
Gary Willis
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(1941)
Jeff
Full Filmography
Acting
Ladies of the Big House
(1931)
Standish McNeil
Personal Maid
(1931)
Dick Gary
Red Dust
(1932)
Gary Willis
If I Had a Million
(1932)
John Wallace (uncredited)
The Night of June 13
(1932)
Herbert Morrow
Forgotten Commandments
(1932)
Paul Ossipoff
Flying Down to Rio
(1933)
Roger Bond
The House on 56th Street
(1933)
Monte Van Tyle
Ex-Lady
(1933)
Don Peterson
Zoo in Budapest
(1933)
Zani
I Am Suzanne!
(1933)
Tony Malatini
Brief Moment
(1933)
Rodney Deane
Ann Carver's Profession
(1933)
William Graham
Sadie McKee
(1934)
Tommy Wallace
Behold My Wife!
(1934)
Michael Carter
Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round
(1934)
Jimmy Brett
Coming Out Party
(1934)
Chris Hansen
The Woman in Red
(1935)
John 'Johnny' Wyatt
Seven Keys to Baldpate
(1935)
William Magee
Hooray for Love
(1935)
Douglas Tyler
Transient Lady
(1935)
Carey Marshall
The Bride Walks Out
(1936)
Michael Martin
Love on a Bet
(1936)
Michael MacCreigh
Smartest Girl in Town
(1936)
Richard Stuyvesant Smith
Walking on Air
(1936)
Pete Quinlan / Count Pierre Louis de Marsac
That Girl from Paris
(1936)
Windy McLean
She's Got Everything
(1937)
Fuller Partridge
The Life of the Party
(1937)
Barry Saunders
There Goes My Girl
(1937)
Jerry Martin
Stolen Heaven
(1938)
Carl
Cross-Country Romance
(1940)
Lawrence Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(1941)
Jeff
Smilin' Through
(1941)
Kenneth 'Ken' Wayne / Jeremy 'Jerry' Wayne
The Locket
(1946)
John Willis
Assigned to Danger
(1948)
Dan Sullivan
Million Dollar Weekend
(1948)
Nicholas Lawrence
Sofia
(1948)
Steve Roark
Hit the Deck
(1955)
Wendell Craig
Plunder Road
(1957)
Eddie Harris
The Best Man
(1964)
Don Cantwell
The Hanged Man
(1964)
Whitey Devlin
I'd Rather Be Rich
(1964)
Martin Wood
Five Bloody Graves
(1969)
The Voice of Death
Nelson and Jeanette: America's Singing Sweethearts
(1992)
Self
Complicated Women
(2003)
Self (archive footage)
Directing
Writing
Data provided by TMDB