Paulette Goddard

Paulette Goddard (born Pauline Marion Levy on June 3, unknown -April 23, 1990) was an American actress. A former child model and Ziegfield Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. Her exceptional beauty and fame led to several marriages to notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque, although she never had any children.

Early life and career

Goddard was born an only child in Whitestone Landing, New York to a Jewish father and an Episcopalian mother. She became a fashion model as a teenager, and a member of the Ziegfeld Follies at the age of 13 in 1924. Her stage debut was in the Ziegfeld revue production No Foolin in 1926. The next year she made her stage acting debut in The Unconquerable Male. She married the Broadway writer Edgar James in 1926 or 1927, but divorced him in 1930.

Related Topics:
Whitestone Landing - New York - Jewish - Episcopalian - Ziegfeld Follies - No Foolin - The Unconquerable Male

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In 1929 she went to Hollywood after signing a contract with Roach Studios, and appeared in small parts of several films over the next few years, including roles as an uncredited extra in Chaplin's City Lights and Eddie Cantor's Kid Millions. She also joined other such notables as Betty Grable, Jeanne Gray, and Jane Wyman as Goldwyn Girls with Cantor in The Kid from Spain.

Related Topics:
Eddie Cantor's - Betty Grable - Jeanne Gray - Jane Wyman - Goldwyn Girls

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In 1932, she met Charlie Chaplin, and began an eight year personal and cinematic relationship with him. Chaplin bought Goddard's contract from Roach Studios and cast her as a street urchin opposite his Tramp character in the 1936 film Modern Times, which made Goddard a star. During this time she lived with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home. Their marital status was and has remained a source of controversy and speculation; Chaplin stated in his 1961 autobiography that they were married in China in 1936, but in private he claimed that they were never married, except on a common-law basis. Regardless, they were amicably divorced in 1942, and Chaplin agreed to a generous divorce settlement.

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Goddard began gaining star status after appearing in The Young In Heart (1938), Dramatic School (1938), and a strong supporting role in The Women (1939), with Rosalind Russell. During filming of The Women Goddard was considered as a finalist for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, but after several auditions lost the part to Vivien Leigh (legend has it the ambiguity of her marital status to Chaplin was a factor in this decision.) However, in 1939 Goddard signed a contract with Paramount pictures and her next film The Cat and the Canary (1939) with Bob Hope, was a decisive turning point in the careers of both actors.

Related Topics:
Rosalind Russell - Scarlett O'Hara - Gone with the Wind - Vivien Leigh - Bob Hope

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