Gregory Ratoff

Gregory Ratoff (20 April 1897 — 14 December 1960) was a Russian-born American film director, actor and producer. His most famous role as an actor was as producer Max Fabian who feuds with star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) in All About Eve (1950).

Biography

Ratoff was born in Samara, Russia to a Jewish family. The actor first came to the United States in 1922. He married the Russian actress Eugenie Leontovich in 1923 (they divorced in 1949). He returned to the United States, passing through Ellis Island in July 1925. On the steerage passenger list of the SS Mauretania he was listed as Gregoire Ratoff; for next of kin he listed his mother, Mme. Sophie Ratner of Paris.

Ratoff is most noted for having directed the pro-Soviet propaganda film Song of Russia (1944) and for being one of the two producers to have purchased and developed the original rights to the James Bond franchise from Ian Fleming in 1955.

Death

Ratoff died on 14 December 1960 from leukemia in Solothurn, Switzerland, aged 63. His body was returned to the United States for burial at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. Although divorced from Leontovich, Ratoff was buried under a gravestone marked Beloved Husband.

Filmography

Director

• Oscar Wilde (1960)
• Abdulla the Great (1955)
• Taxi (1953)
• My Daughter Joy (1950)
• Black Magic (aka Cagliostro) (1949)
• That Dangerous Age (1949)
• Moss Rose (1947)
• Carnival in Costa Rica (1947)
• Do You Love Me (1946)
• Paris Underground (1945)
• Where Do We Go From Here? (1945)
• Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944)
• Song of Russia (1944)
• The Heat's On (1943)
• Something to Shout About (1943)

• Footlight Serenade (1942)
• Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942)
• The Men in Her Life (1941)
• The Corsican Brothers (1941)
• Adam Had Four Sons (1941)
• Public Deb No. 1 (1940)
• I Was an Adventuress (1940)
• Barricade (1939)
• Day-Time Wife (1939)
• Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)
• Hotel for Women (1939)
• Rose of Washington Square (1939)
• Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
• Lancer Spy (1937)
• Sins of Man (1936)

Actor

• The Big Gamble (1961)
• Exodus (1960)
• Once More, with Feeling! (1960)
• The Sun Also Rises (1957)
• Abdulla the Great (1955)
• Sabrina (1954)
• Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach (1953)
• The Moon Is Blue (1953)
• O. Henry's Full House (1952)
• All About Eve (1950)
• My Daughter Joy (1950)
• Something to Shout About (1943)
• The Great Profile (1940)
• Gateway (1938)
• Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
• Café Metropole (1937)
• Top of the Town (1937)
• Seventh Heaven (1937)
• Under Your Spell (1936)
• Sing, Baby, Sing (1936)
• The Road to Glory (1936)
• Under Two Flags (1936)
• Here Comes Trouble (1936)

• Under Your Spell (1936)
• King of Burlesque (1936)
• Remember Last Night? (1935)
• 18 Minutes (1935)
• Falling in Love (1935)
• Hello, Sweetheart (1935)
• George White's Scandals (1934)
• Forbidden Territory (1934)
• Let's Fall in Love (1933)
• Girl Without a Room (1933)
• Sitting Pretty (1933)
• Broadway Through a Keyhole (1933)
• Headline Shooter (1933)
• I'm No Angel (1933)
• Professional Sweetheart (1933)
• Sweepings (1933)
• Secrets of the French Police (1932)
• Under-Cover Man (1932)
• Once in a Lifetime (1932)
• Skyscraper Souls (1932)
• What Price Hollywood? (1932)
• Symphony of Six Million (1932)
• Dubrowsky, der Räuber Ataman (1921)

External links

• Gregory Ratoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Gregory Ratoff at the TCM Movie Database
• Gregory Ratoff at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gregory Ratoff at Find a Grave