Ella Raines: A Star Who Rose From Fall City -- Local Fan Still Carries Torch For 1940S Actress

FALL CITY

Jean Pierini hadn't yet met her, but his admiration for the woman who arrived in his driveway on a warm summer day in 1982 had already spanned more than four decades.

She stepped out from the passenger side of a red Chevrolet Corvette at the house on the Fall City-Snoqualmie Road. His brother Bruno was outside and greeted her.

"She told him she once lived in the house . . . . he said, `You're Ella Raines!' She was surprised and happy that anyone would remember her," said Pierini, 61.

Raines was born Aug. 6, 1921, in the old Weyerhaeuser Snoqualmie Falls Hospital, grew up in the valley and graduated from the former Snoqualmie High School in 1938. She majored in drama at the University of Washington, starred in "Spring Dance," the first production staged at the UW Penthouse Theater on May 16, 1940, and went on to become a star of stage and screen in the 1940s and 50s.

When Pierini was a youngster, Raines was already a legend in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley.

Raines had achieved stardom almost overnight when, in 1943, she signed on as the sole contract star of a $1 million production company established by actor Charles Boyer and director Howard Hawks. Her first movie was "Corvette K-225."

"I was always interested in Ella Raines. When I was growing up she was admired by everyone and the fact that she was from here made it all the more interesting," Pierini said.

In 1947, Pierini's father bought the Raines house, built in 1932. Pierini has lived there ever since.

He recalls seeing Raines in a movie for the first time in 1950, at the old Brook Theater in Meadowbrook. It was "Singing Guns" with Vaughn Monroe, Walter Brennan and Ward Bond.

Described by the Hollywood press as sultry and mysterious, the green-eyed actress was probably best known for her 1944 role in "Phantom Lady" opposite Franchot Tone.

She made 24 movies in that era, mostly thrillers and Westerns, sharing top billing with the likes of John Wayne, Vincent Price, William Powell, Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton and Brian Donlevy. Later she worked in television.

When she dropped by the Pierini house in 1982, Raines was in the area to teach an acting class, advising UW drama students on techniques to use in front of a camera.

"She was so happy to see the house and the condition it is in and that everything was the same as when she lived in it from 1932 until she left to start her career," said Pierini, a retired Boeing engineer.

The small white house, tucked behind towering evergreens in the 36200 block of the Fall City-Snoqualmie Road Southeast, remains much the same as it was when he moved in with his family four decades ago.

The two talked about Raines' life since she left the area and her movie career. The last time she'd been in the Seattle area was during a war bond drive in 1945.

"What came across was that she was unpretentious and had a great sense of humor. She said she wished she had bought a summer place on Lake Sammamish years ago when property was a lot cheaper . . . a place to maybe come back to once in a while," Pierini said.

Raines returned to Pierini's home twice more that summer. He drove her around the valley, visiting the site of the old mill town of Snoqualmie Falls, the Snoqualmie Railroad Depot and the Snoqualmie United Methodist Church she once attended.

After Raines returned to California, she and Pierini corresponded regularly until she died in 1988. She sent him old photos of her family, taken in front of the house in 1945, and studio pictures from her movie days.

One photograph shows her standing on a small bridge spanning a creek that trickles past the house. Raines had been surprised to see that the ancient bridge was still intact, Pierini said.

Included in his Raines collection are 1944 and 1947 copies of Life magazine with the actress on the cover. In an old car magazine, he found a photograph of Raines standing next a 1946 Ford Sportsman convertible given to her by Henry Ford.

Last month, he displayed his Raines memorabilia at a reunion of former residents of Snoqualmie Falls.

Pierini still is adding to his collection of anecdotes, movies and mementoes of the valley's hometown actress.

Louis T. Corsaletti's phone message number is 206-515-5626. His e-mail address is: lcor-new@seatimes.com