Bill Raisch was born in 1905 to German immigrant parents in New Jersey. After graduating from high school, he took a job at a construction site, where he would later lift weights at Sig Klein's Gym in New York City.
Noticing his physique, a society girl asked him to be her date and dancing partner, and he soon caught the attention of Marilyn Miller, the star of Ziegfeld Follies. She introduced him to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., who signed him up for his dance troupe.
In the late 1920s, Raisch danced for Ziegfeld at the New Amsterdam Roof Theater, where he worked with Maurice Chevalier and appeared in the stage musical "Whoopee" starring Eddie Cantor.
However, his life took a dramatic turn when he was attacked by five muggers on the street and took them on, beating them all up single-handedly. A newspaper ran a picture of Raisch with the headline, "Don't Say Dancers Are Sissies."
During World War II, Raisch served in the U.S. Merchant Marines, where he was badly wounded in early 1945 fighting a shipboard fire that left him with severe burns and the loss of his right arm.
After the war, Raisch moved to Los Angeles and began working in films, with a notable role in the movie Specter of the Rose (1946). He later became a stand-in for Burt Lancaster and appeared as a one-armed man in Lonely Are the Brave (1962).
Raisch's most famous role was as Fred Johnson, the One-Armed Man, in the TV series The Fugitive (1963),which made him a household name. However, he was hired mainly for his looks and was limited to short lines and speeches.
After the series ended in 1967, Raisch rarely acted again, instead working as an acting teacher and coach in West Los Angeles until his death. He passed away from lung cancer in July 1984 at the age of 79.
