Festival honors actress Ella Raines' life, work

A screenwriter couldn't do better than Ella Raines' life.

A small-town girl ignores her mother and becomes an actress. She stars in films with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. She falls in love with a fighter pilot whose military assignments take him abroad. Will she choose love or her career?

And for a touch of mystery, both her hometown and a memorial plaque to her father have disappeared.

The movie star, whose career spanned four decades, from the 1940s to 1980s, will be honored at the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum's Ella Raines Film Festival today, Saturday and Sunday. An opening tribute tonight will include a slide show, and five of her films will be shown over the weekend.

Her youngest daughter, Susan Olds, lives in North Bend and will be at the festival.

The actress was born Aug. 6, 1920, in Snoqualmie Falls — which once stood across the river from today's Snoqualmie. It was a lumber-mill town, and her father, Ernest, was a lumber foreman.

Ernest Raines was so influential in the lumber industry that a plaque was erected in his honor in 1983. Gloria McNeely of the historical museum said the plaque disappeared when the old Snoqualmie Falls Lodge was being converted to today's Salish Lodge & Spa.

"We know it was bronze and we know it was mounted on a steel post," McNeely said. "It's a mystery we'd love to solve."

There's no mystery about Ella Raines. She grew up passionate about animals and the outdoors, her daughter said.

Raines learned to horseback ride, swim, hike, ski and fly-fish. She graduated from Snoqualmie High School in 1938 and went to the University of Washington.

"Not as a drama major but a music major, a decision made by Bird Raines, her mother," Olds said. "Her mother did not approve of Ella's desire to become an actress."

After appearing on stage in a play at the UW, Raines convinced her mother she should switch majors. Then she was invited to take a screen test in Hollywood.

"Her natural beauty and striking, green eyes and dark hair were perfect for the black and white films of the 1940s," Olds said.

She debuted in "Corvette K-225" with Randolph Scott, the first of more than 20 film roles. During the 1950s she starred in the television series, "Janet Dean, Registered Nurse."

Raines eventually chose love over career.

On a double date in 1946, she met Robin Olds, a World War II double ace pilot. They married Feb. 6, 1947. Olds was transferred to England, so Raines moved to New York City, where she returned to the stage.

After the birth of their daughters, Christina and Susan, Ella moved to England, the first of many military assignments for the couple. Robin Olds achieved triple ace status during the Vietnam War.

The couple divorced in 1975. Olds died last Thursday, June 14, in Colorado.

Raines had returned to California, where she made guest appearances on television shows. She died May 30, 1988, of throat cancer.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com