Gene Raymond

Gene Raymond was born on August 13, 1908, in New York City as Raymond Guion. He was a child performer and a Broadway veteran by the age of 12.

Performed on Broadway as Raymond Guion from his 1921 debut as a 12-year old through 1930. He returned briefly for another production in the 1957 flop, A Shadow of My Enemy.

Blond, husky, and handsome, he enjoyed his greatest popularity in the 1930s and early 1940s.

His big break came in Personal Maid (1931).

He was soon cast in classics such as Red Dust (1932) (opposite Jean Harlow and Clark Gable) and in Ex-Lady (1933) (as the husband of Bette Davis 's character).

His career continued to grow with a starring role in Sadie McKee (1934) (opposite Joan Crawford). Soon after, he met and fell in love with one of MGM's stars, actress/singer Jeanette MacDonald.

They married in 1937.

In 1941, he and Jeanette were cast opposite one another in Smilin' Through (1941), their only picture together.

In 1948, Raymond tried his hand at directing and producing with Million Dollar Weekend (1948), but it was not a very successful venture.

In 1949, he and MacDonald decided to slow down their careers: she left the movies, and he became very selective on the ones he did. They spent the next 14 years traveling and staying active in Hollywood society.

In 1963, MacDonald, who suffered from heart disease, had an arterial transplant, and Raymond tried to nurse her back to health.

Brother-in-law of Clarence Rock and of Marie Blake (also known as Blossom Rock). Blake was best-known for her role as "Grandmama" on television's The Addams Family (1964).

Raymond was a decorated bomber pilot of World War II. At the outbreak of war, Mr. Raymond joined the Army Air Forces as a pilot in the B-17 bomber group that inaugurated precision bombing. As a colonel in the Air Force Reserve in 1967 he again flew jets into South Vietnam on high-priority missions and won the Legion of Merit.