Wrote the wonderfully, haunting melodic theme song for the 1944 movie
"Laura". The inspiration for writing this piece of music was after his
first wife separated from him.
He had a son, Alex, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for the
Los Angeles Times, a daughter, Tina; and three grandchildren.
Raksin started out working with dance bands and arranging music for
Broadway shows. He came to Hollywood to work with Charlie Chaplin on
the music for "Modern Times". Chaplin hummed and whistled melodies, and
Raksin wrote them down and arranged them into the score.
Raskin recorded a commentary track (with film historian Jeanine Basinger) on the DVD of "Laura".
Composed the music for five Otto Preminger movies, more than any other composer. However, his relationship with Preminger was frequently combative, even though Preminger often spoke with admiration of Raksin's work.