Biography for
Bill Raisch More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 April 1905, North Bergen, New Jersey, USA

Date of Death

31 July 1984, Santa Monica, California, USA (lung cancer)

Birth Name

Carl William Raisch

Height

5' 9½" (1.77 m)

Mini Biography

Raisch was born of German immigrant parents in New Jersey in 1905. After graduating from high school, Raisch took a job at a construction site hauling cement. When he wasn't working, he lifted weights at Sig Klein's Gym in New York City. Raisch was noticed by a society girl looking for a dancing partner and he escorted her to various parties as her date and dancing partner. Raisch came to the attention of Marilyn Miller the star of Ziegfield Follies. She introduced him to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., who signed Raisch up for his dance troupe. In the late 1920s Raisch danced for Ziegfield at the New Amsterdam Roof Theater where he got to work with Maurice Chevalier making his first American stage appearance and he also appeared in the stage musical "Whoopee" starring Eddie Cantor. While he was dancing in New York, Raisch, coming home from work one evening, was attacked by five muggers on the street. Although he was worked over, Raisch took them on and beat them all up single-handedly. The next day, a newspaper ran a picture of Raisch with the headline, "Don't Say Dancers Are Sissies". While still in New York, Raisch met and married his wife, Ziegfeld dancer Adele Smith. During World War II, Raisch served in the U.S. Navy where he was badly wounded in early 1945 fighting a shipboard fire in which he was so badly burned he lost his right arm. With his stage career over, Raisch moved to Los Angeles in 1946 where Ben Hecht had a part for him in a movie Spectre of the Rose. In 1952, Raisch became a stand-in for Burt Lancaster where he appeared as a double for the famous actor and later appeared as a one-armed man in Lonely Are the Brave (1962). Here Raisch was noticed and offered the recurring role on the TV Series "The Fugitive" (1963) - Fred Johnson, the One-Armed Man which 'David Janssen''s character of Dr. Richard Kimble hounds throughout the series. However, Raisch was hired just for his looks, not his acting ability. His very first speaking role was mainly limited to a handful of episodes with short lines and speeches. Because of the show's popularity, Raisch was so recognizable as the One-Armed Man that it was almost impossible for him to get work on other TV shows. So, producer Quinn Martin put Raisch on a retainer, giving him a degree of security. After "The Fugitive" series ended in 1967, Raisch, fed up with typecast TV and movie offers, rarely worked since, although his popularity of the One-Armed Man never diminished. Bill Raisch died from lung cancer in a hospital in Santa Monica in July 1984 at the age of 79.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Matthew Patay

Spouse

Adele Smith

(? - ?)

Trivia

Lost part of his right arm (two inches above the elbow) in 1945 after he was badly burned fighting a shipboard fire during World War II.

Has a bit part in Spartacus as a Roman soldier who gets his right arm (a fake prostetic) chopped off by Kirk Douglas during a battle scene, but it was cut from the original print because the producers felt it was too gory. But the shot appears in the restored print.

According to the book The Fugitive Recaptured, Raisch was so identified as a villain during The Fugitive television series that he was picked up by two real-life LAPD officers who mistakenly thought he was "wanted for something" and had to convince them that he was merely an actor.