Vintage: Hollywood actress Ella Raines (1940s) | MONOVISIONS

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Ella Raines (1920 – 1988) was an American film and television actress. Ella Raines studied drama at the University of Washington and was appearing in a play there when she was seen by director Howard Hawks. She became the first actress signed to the new production company he had formed with the actor Charles Boyer, B-H Productions, and made her film debut in Corvette K-225 (1943) which Hawks produced.

Immediately following her role in Corvette K-225, Raines was cast in the all-female war film Cry “Havoc” (also 1943). She starred in the film noir Phantom Lady, the Preston Sturges comedy Hail the Conquering Hero, and the John Wayne western Tall in the Saddle (all 1944).

She appeared in films such as The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) with Geraldine Fitzgerald and George Sanders and the thriller The Web (1947). With the exception of Brute Force (1947), in which Raines appeared with Burt Lancaster, none of her later films were nearly as successful as her earlier movies and her career began to decline.
Raines on the cover of Life magazine (February 28, 1944)

In 1954 and 1955 she starred in the television series Janet Dean, Registered Nurse. She also appeared in such television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents, Lights Out, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Christophers. She retired from acting in 1957, but made one further screen appearance with a guest role in the series Matt Houston in 1984. Raines appeared on the cover of Life magazine twice, once for Brute Force in 1947 and, in 1944, for her work in Phantom Lady. Also in 1944, she appeared as a pin-up girl in the June 2 and June 16 issue of the G.I. magazine Yank.

Raines has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, and for television at 6600 Hollywood Boulevard.