Biography

Paulette Goddard was a child model who debuted in "The Ziegfeld Follies" at the age of 13. She gained fame with the show as the girl on the crescent moon, and was married to a wealthy man, Edgar James, by the time she was 17. After her divorce she went to Hollywood in 1931, where she appeared in small roles in pictures for a number of studios. A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond "Goldwyn Girl" in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (1932). In 1932 she met Charles Chaplin, and they soon became an item around town. He cast her in Modern Times (1936), which was a big hit, but her movie career was not going anywhere because of her relationship with Chaplin. They were secretly married in 1936, but the marriage failed and they were separated by 1940. It was her role as Miriam Aarons in The Women (1939), however, that got her a contract with Paramount. Paulette was one of the many actresses tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), but she lost the part to Vivien Leigh and instead appeared with Bob Hope in The Cat and the Canary (1939), a good film but hardly in the same league as GWTW. The 1940s were Paulette's busiest period. She worked with Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940), Cecil B. DeMille in Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and Burgess Meredith in The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her star faded in the late 1940s, however, and she was dropped by Paramount in 1949. After a couple of "B" movies, she left films and went to live in Europe as a wealthy expatriate; she married German novelist Erich Maria Remarque in the late 1950s. She was coaxed back to the screen once more, although it was the small screen, for the television movie The Female Instinct (1972).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

Marion Goddard Levy was born in Whitestone Landing, New York, on 3 June 1910. She was a beautiful child who began to model for local department stores before she made her debut with Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies at the age of 13. For three years she astounded audiences with her talent.

She married Edgar James when she was 17, but the union was doomed to failure and was dissolved in 1930. By then Paulette had begun to make her mark on Hollywood with a small bit appearance in the film Berth Marks (1929). Her age (19) didn't help her in getting better parts. She would continue in bit roles in films such as The Girl Habit (1931), The Mouthpiece (1932), and Young Ironsides (1932). For the next four years she searched for parts but came up empty-handed. It wasn't until 1936 that Paulette would again appear in a motion picture, Charlie Chaplin's last silent film, Modern Times (1936).

Three years later she gained a decent part in The Women (1939), and Paulette thought that maybe her career was finally taking off. In her next film, she played Joyce Norman in The Cat and the Canary (1939), which was intended to be a send-off vehicle for Bob Hope. It not only did that, but it established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. Her next feature film was with the great Fred Astaire in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus (1940). Later that year she once again teamed up with Bob Hope for the film The Ghost Breakers (1940), a huge hit. This was just the beginning because the 1940s was the decade that kept her busy and in the American movie-going public's eyes. Motion pictures such as The Great Dictator (1940) with husband Charles Chaplin, Pot o' Gold (1941), and The Lady Has Plans (1942) were added to her already sparkling resume.

In 1943, Paulette was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the film So Proudly We Hail! (1943). She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Although Standing Room Only (1944) with Fred MacMurray didn't bring in the crowds at the box office, the production is still remembered as a delightful comedy, a must-see for any film buff. Paulette reached the pinnacle of her career in Mitchell Leisen's Kitty (1945). The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone. As Abby Hale in Unconquered (1947), Paulette once more found herself with a profit-making flick. This Cecil B. DeMille film paired her with Gary Cooper in an 18th century romantic drama. The critics weren't too keen on it, but the public could not have cared less. They loved this long-running (146 minutes) movie.

She appeared in only six feature films in the 1950s, the last being Charge of the Lancers (1954). She would not be seen again on the silver screen until in Gli indifferenti (1964). Her career was just about finished, although she did appear in a made-for-TV film called The Female Instinct (1972) as Norma Treet. She retired from the film world for good. On 23 April 1990, she died of emphysema and heart failure in Ronco, Switzerland, at the age of 79.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger