Mack Gray

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Mack Gray

Mack Gray (born December 11, 1905 in Brooklyn , New York as Max Greenburg , † January 17, 1981 in Beverly Hills , California ), called "Killer", was an American actor . For several decades he was the personal assistant to actors George Raft and Dean Martin .

Life

Mack Gray was born in Brooklyn in 1905 under the name Max Greenburg. His parents belonged to the local Jewish community. His younger brother Joe (1912–1971) later became known as a boxer, stuntman and actor.

In the 1920s, Gray worked intermittently as a boxing manager. From 1932 he was George Raft's private secretary and closest confidante. Raft gave Gray in feature films in which he himself had the lead role, repeated minor appearances. One source assumes that Gray's nickname "Killer", which he received from Carole Lombard and which he increasingly cultivated in private life, can be traced back to the fact that Gray often used gangsters, bouncers or similar "tough guys" in his films (tough guys) represented. Another source attributes the nickname to the Yiddish word killa for hernia , from which Gray suffered in the 1930s.

In 1952, the singer, actor and entertainer Dean Martin, whose career was at its first peak as part of the comedian duo Martin & Lewis , took on Gray in his service. As with Raft, Gray organized Martin's everyday life for the next three decades. He became Martin's factotum and soon became his closest confidante and friend.

Martin, like Raft before, made it possible for Gray to do some acting in his feature films in the 1950s and 1960s. Gray plays bartenders or party goers. In 1966, Martin put him on the newly established Dean Martin Show on NBC as "Musical Coordinator". Martin regularly employed his brother Joe as a light double in the 1960s .

Gray died in January 1981, two months after George Raft, after a brief serious illness. His great-nephew Jon Abrahams , born four years earlier, is also an actor.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Everett Aaker: George Raft: The Films , McFarland, 2013, ISBN 9780786466467 .
  • Shawn Levy: Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party , Crown / Archetype, 1999, ISBN 9780385500258
  • Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-40367-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Everett Aaker: George Raft: The Films , McFarland, 2013, ISBN 9780786466467 ; P. 6.
  2. ^ A b Shawn Levy: Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party , Crown / Archetype, 1999, ISBN 9780385500258 , p. 215.
  3. ↑ Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-40367-3 , p. 354.
  4. ^ Mack Gray at IMDB.com (accessed February 10, 2016).
  5. ↑ Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-40367-3 , pp. 359, 392.
  6. ^ Ricci Martin, Christopher Smith: That's Amore. A Son Remembers Dean Martin , Taylor Trade Publications, 2004, ISBN 9781589791404 , p. 146.
  7. ↑ Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-40367-3 , p. 527.
  8. ↑ Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-40367-3 , p. 579.
personal data
SURNAME Gray, Mack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greenburg, Max (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH 17th January 1981
Place of death Beverly Hills , California