The George Raft Story is a fictionalized 1961 movie biography of former top Hollywood film star George Raft

George Raft

George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...

. Ray Danton

Ray Danton

Ray Danton , also known as Raymond Danton, was a radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous role was The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond...

 portrays Raft and the film was directed by Joseph M. Newman

Joseph M. Newman

Joseph M. Newman was an American film director most famous for his 1955 film This Island Earth. His credits include episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour....

. The picture was retitled Spin of a Coin for release in the United Kingdom, a reference to Raft's character's famous nickel-flipping in Scarface

Scarface (1932 film)

Scarface is a 1932 American gangster film starring Paul Muni and George Raft, produced by Howard Hughes, directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, and written by Ben Hecht based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Armitage Trail...

, the film that launched Raft's career as a major gangster actor.

Neville Brand

Neville Brand

Neville Brand was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Neville Brand was born in Illinois. He was born to Leo and Helen Brand as one of seven children. Leo, was an electrician and bridge building steel worker in Detroit, where Neville was raised...

 appears briefly as Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

, recreating his role from the 1959 television series The Untouchables

The Untouchables (1959 TV series)

The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...

. Although other characters were fictional, Moxie was based on Raft's long-time friend and associate Mack Gray and "Benny" was modeled on "Bugsy" Siegel. No mention is made in the photoplay of Raft's long-estranged wife Grayce (Mulrooney) or early mob benefactor Owney Madden.

George Raft had played himself almost two decades earlier in a markedly different biographical moviefilm about his early days as a dancer reluctantly involved with gangsters entitled Broadway

Broadway (1942 film)

Broadway is a 1942 film about Broadway theatre with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Janet Blair, Broderick Crawford, Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Gwynne, and S.Z. Sakall. Raft plays himself, recalling an incident early in his pre-movie career as a dancer. The movie was directed by William A....

.

Cast

Ray Danton

Ray Danton

Ray Danton , also known as Raymond Danton, was a radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous role was The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond...

... George Raft

George Raft

George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...

... Lisa Lang

Julie London

Julie London

Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...

... Sheila

Barrie Chase ... June

Frank Gorshin

Frank Gorshin

Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...

... Moxie

Barbara Nichols

Barbara Nichols

Barbara Nichols was an American actress who often played brassy comic roles in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and Career:...

... Texas

Brad Dexter

Brad Dexter

Brad Dexter , was an American actor.-Life and career:Dexter was born Boris Malanovich , in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian parentage. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character...

... Benny

Robert Strauss

Robert Strauss (actor)

Robert Strauss was a gravel-voiced American actor.-Career:Strauss began his career as a classical actor, appearing in The Tempest and Macbeth on Broadway in 1930...

... Frenchie

Herschel Bernardi

Herschel Bernardi

Herschel Bernardi was an American film, Broadway, and television actor....

... Sam

Margo Moore ... Ruth

Neville Brand

Neville Brand

Neville Brand was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Neville Brand was born in Illinois. He was born to Leo and Helen Brand as one of seven children. Leo, was an electrician and bridge building steel worker in Detroit, where Neville was raised...

... Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...