Biography for
Samson Raphaelson More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 March 1894, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

16 July 1983, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Sampson Miles Raphaelson

Spouse

Dorothy Deborah Wegman	(24 December 1927 - 16 July 1983) (his death) 2 children
Rayna D. Simons	(1 January 1918 - 22 September 1922) (divorced)

Trivia

Uncle of Bob Rafelson.

For the last 10 years of his life he taught playwrighting at Columbia University.

Wife, Dorothy Deborah Wegman, was a Ziegfeld Girl for 7 years. She was born November 27, 1904 and died November 7, 2005 at her home in Manhattan, New York, USA.

Dorothy Wegman left the Zigfield Follies in 1927 to elope with Raphaelson. Married for 66 years, she outlived him for another 22 years before she died 20 days short of her 101st birthday.

The first talking film The Jazz Singer (1927) is based on his play "The Jazz Singer.".

Famous for working with Ernst Lubitsch and Alfred Hitchcock. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) is his most famous work with Lubitsch. He worked with Hitchcock in Suspicion (1941). Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, and Alma Reville wrote the screenplay for Suspicion (1941).

Considered Suspicion (1941), for Alfred Hitchcock, "in many ways my best screenplay.".

Great-uncle of Peter Rafelson.

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1917, he worked for several years as a journalist, short story writer and in advertising.

Noted for his wry wit.

Under contract to 20th Century Fox (1934-5) and Paramount (1930-3 and 1936-7).