Screen actor George Raft's greatest lasting contribution to the film industry was in creating the clichéd image of the caring and compassionate gangster who was more victim than victimizer. Raft may be more famous, however, for turning down Humphrey Bogart's four star-making roles than for any of the parts he did play. Raft was offered Dead End, High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca; he turned each one down only to be quickly eclipsed by Bogart, who had been struggling to make a name for himself.

Raft's acting career was based on the premise that as a former gangster himself (he was friends with racketeer Owney Maddon and at one time aspired to be a big shot in Maddon's liquor mob), he would excel at playing one. Raft preferred playing tough, brutal men who were revealed to be not as cold and heartless...