Blind Items Revealed #1 - Mr. X - Old Hollywood
December 30, 2014
Which B-list tough guy, who was almost A-list for a short period, was born and raised into a Jewish family, but when he got to Hollywood he was told by several [Jewish] studio heads to hide his faith from the public, because they wanted an ‘exotic’ leading man a la Rudolph Valentino? He did so, never discussing his faith to the public until his later years.
George Raft
OMFG! He was A LIST! An ICON! Are you 12, FFS?
ReplyDeleteI heard a story about this happening to Tony Bennett ? I think..I might be wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to have to hide who you are,either way.
Yes George Raft was A+ list. They did it to Tony Curtis real name Bernard Schwartz Planet J.
ReplyDeleteThat's it! I got my Tony's mixed up! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo one over the age of 12 would have guessed George Raft characterized as B-list. A travesty.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Raft was of non-Jewish German background. As with every story here that can be checked, this turns out to be false (see also Catherine Zeta-Jones's age, Ava Gardner's ancestry, and Jean Harlow's age).
ReplyDeleteSpeak Beeman. Data please.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean? The writer said Zeta-Jones is lying about her age, but British Birth Records prove 1969 is right. Jean Harlow was indeed born in her stated year of 1911 (her parents have no kids on the 1910 census, and list her as born c. 1912 on the 1920 census).
ReplyDeleteYou can look these up at the familysearch website.
As for Ava Gardner, no non-white or even non-English ancestry has been produced for her by genealogists. All her recent ancestors are listed as white on censuses. So the idea that she was secretly part black has no basis. You can look up her ancestry on ethnicelebs.
George Raft's grandfather and great-grandfather were named Christopher Ranft... not the most Jewish of names. You can look up his ancestry on ethnicelebs also.
Again, this isn't new information.
ReplyDeleteYes, not a lot of Jews named "Christ-bearer", I'm thinking.
ReplyDeleteBut even more laughable is calling Raft "B-list". Humphrey Bogart built a legend off of roles Raft turned down, ffs. (High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, to name but two.) He also could have had the lead in Double Indemnity, which Fred McMurray lived off of for twenty years, before "My Three Sons" gave Fred a late-career boost. Sheesh.
the idiot that has taken over this blog, doesn't validate blind items, repeats them repeats "REVEALS" *sarcasm intended* repeats reveals with different answers. i've stopped believing a thing i read here and visit occasionally to see if things have changed.
ReplyDeleteWhile George Raft did eventually descend to "B"-list status (due of course to poor career choices) in the thirties and into the early 40s Raft was a top star. Lloyd Nolan told me that at the time he first worked with George in the mid-30s, Raft was probably the biggest star on the Paramount lot - next to Gary Cooper. Director John Huston said that during Raft's time at Warners, virtually everything was meant for George Raft - and most were roles which Raft turned down.
ReplyDeleteGeorge's heritage was German. Surname Ranft; his mother's maiden name was Glockner.