As per our current Database, Gregory Ratoff has been died on 14 December, 1960 at Solothurn, Switzerland.
When Gregory Ratoff die, Gregory Ratoff was 63 years old.
| Popular As | Gregory Ratoff |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Age | 63 years old |
| Zodiac Sign | Aries |
| Born | April 20, 1897 (Samara, Russian Empire [now Russia]) |
| Birthday | April 20 |
| Town/City | Samara, Russian Empire [now Russia] |
| Nationality | Russian Empire [now Russia] |
Gregory Ratoff’s zodiac sign is Aries. According to astrologers, the presence of Aries always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent. They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition, always being the first in everything - from work to social gatherings. Thanks to its ruling planet Mars and the fact it belongs to the element of Fire (just like Leo and Sagittarius), Aries is one of the most active zodiac signs. It is in their nature to take action, sometimes before they think about it well.
Gregory Ratoff was born in the Year of the Rooster. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Rooster are practical, resourceful, observant, analytical, straightforward, trusting, honest, perfectionists, neat and conservative. Compatible with Ox or Snake.
Producer, director and actor Gregory Ratoff was born in Samara, Russia on April 20, 1897, and studied at the University of St. Petersburg. His pursuit of a law career was interrupted by service in the Czar's army, and he fought in World War I.
He later changed his focus and went on to make a name for himself with the Moscow Art Theatre. Fleeing his homeland during the Bolshevik revolution, he resettled in France. While performing in the Paris production of "Russe Revue" in 1922, impresario Lee Shubert brought Ratoff and the show to Broadway and the actor decided to stay.
Also in this revue was Russian actress Eugenie Leontovich; the couple married a year later. Ratoff joined the Yiddish Players in addition to appearing in Shubert's productions and became known as a theatrical impresario himself, performing in all three capacities (producing, directing, acting).
He made his Hollywood debut as an actor in 1932, and his heavy accent, mangling of the English language and hefty Laughtonesque features had him typecast as an eccentric, harried and/or villainous foreigner.
He played Mae West's attorney in I'm No Angel (1933), a baron in Alice Faye's Sally, Irene and Mary (1938) and added to the fun in John Barrymore's self-parodying The Great Profile (1940). As a film director he stood out among his peers with such classics as Intermezzo (1939), the tearjerker with Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard that introduced Bergman to American audiences, and the robust swashbuckler The Corsican Brothers (1941).
Most of Ratoff's appearances were in "B" fare in both leads and supporting roles. Ironically, he was often called upon to simply play himself -- namely, an excitable, whirlwind producer or director, prime examples of which are his MGM-like producer Julius Saxe in What Price Hollywood? (1932) and the nervous, mop-faced Broadway producer Max Fabian who tangles with Bette Davis' stage diva Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950).
One English comedy, Abdullah's Harem (1955), which he produced, directed and starred in as a Middle Eastern monarch, was a dismal failure. Divorced from Leonovitch in 1949, Ratoff died of leukemia in 1960, the same year he appeared in the epic film Exodus (1960), and he directed the well-received biopic Oscar Wilde (1960) starring Robert Morley.
