Skinning 101

Teachers' Pets Ella Raines, Laraine Day and Gene Tierney

Phantom Lady

ELLA RAINES (August 6, 1920 - May 30, 1988)

Sometimes lost in the shuffle of better-known noir beauties like Lizabeth Scott, Gene Tierney, et al., Ella Raines nevertheless should be better remembered today. She's astonishing in Phantom Lady (1944), her first noir, in which she portrays a Midwestern innocent thrust into a corrupt and dangerous Manhattan. When Ella's straight-laced character pretends to be a party-loving floozy in order to gather information which will clear her boss from a murder rap, she's positively incendiary. Other notable noir films included Brute Force (1947) with Burt Lancaster and Yvonne de Carlo; and Impact (1949) with Brian Donlevy and Anna May Wong.

Raines' cinematic output slowed down considerably in the 1950's; she only appeared in a handful of films, none distinguished; and also starred in her own short-lived television series, Janet Dean: Registered Nurse (1954). Ella Raines retired soon after, and lived a life of quiet normalcy until her death in 1988 from throat cancer.