Michael Raffetto

Michael Raffetto
Michael Raffetto in One Man’s Family (third from right)
Born	Elwyn Creighton Raffetto December 31, 1899 Placerville, California, USA
Died	May 31, 1990(1990-05-31) (aged 90) Berkeley, California, USA
Cause of death	throat cancer
Nationality	American
Other names	Mike Raffetto
Education	BA, JD
Alma mater	University of California Berkeley, Boalt Hall
Occupation	actor
Years active	1928-1961
Employer	NBC Radio
Known for	radio actor
Notable work	One Man's Family, I Love a Mystery
Spouse(s)	Constance Murray Raffetto (2)
Parent(s)	John A. Raffetto, Adela Creighton
Relatives	Lloyd Raffetto (brother), John Raffetto (brother), Isadeen Raffetto Murray (sister)

Michael Raffetto (December 31, 1899 – May 31, 1990) was an American radio actor who starred as Paul Barbour (1932-1956) in the NBC Radio series One Man's Family and as Jack Packard in I Love a Mystery during the heyday of radio in the 1930s and 1940s.

Elwyn Creighton Raffetto was born in Placerville, California, the son of John Augustus Raffetto, a hotelier and banker, and Adela Creighton. (His grandparents, Domenico Raffetto and Anna Pensa, came first to nearby Newtown, California, from Ognio, a mountain village northeast of Genoa.) He graduated cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1925. He practiced law in San Francisco until 1928, when he directed drama at Berkeley as well as Los Angeles' Greek Theatre

Raffetto pitched a program concept to NBC Radio’s Tom Hutchinson in San Francisco. He went on to star, direct, and produce the show, called Arm of the Law. Soon after, he became the network’s West Coast program director through 1933. During that time, he produced Death Valley Days (1930).

In 1946, he also directed Michael Shayne, Private Detective.

Although he approached radio through programming, directing, and producing, Raffetto's career took off in acting.

In 1932, writer Carlton E. Morse, with whom Raffetto had already collaborated, created One Man's Family. Raffetto landed the lead role as the family’s eldest son, Paul Barbour, a fighter pilot wounded in World War I. NBC Radio first broadcast the show on April 29, 1932. Raffetto stayed with the show through 1956 (and the show ended on May 8, 1959). Paul Barbour ended many episodes with the line “That's how it is with the Barbours today."