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 multidirector 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 ExLady 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 Hitchcocks 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 US 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 Readers Digest In the 1970s he appeared on ABC Television Networks Paris 7000 and had guest roles in The Outer Limits Robert Montgomery Presents Playhouse 90 The Man from UNCLE Ironside The Defenders Mannix The Name of the Game Lux Video Theatre Kraft Television Theatre and US Steel Hour Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Raymond licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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