Ralph Graves (January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in 93 films between 1918 and 1949.Born as Ralph Horsburgh in Cleveland, Ohio, Graves had been featured in 46 films, half of them produced by Mack Sennett, before writing, directing, and starring in Swell Hogan (1926), produced by Howard Hughes, whose father once had supported Graves by placing him on the payroll of the Hughes Tool Company between screen assignments, although the actor never worked there.Graves and the younger Hughes met on the Wilshire Country Club golf course, and over lunch the actor pitched a film about a Bowery bum that adopts a baby.