Debra Paget is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films including
Cecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
's epic
The Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
and
Love Me TenderLove Me Tender is a 1956 American black-and-white CinemaScope motion picture directed by Robert D. Webb, and released by 20th Century Fox on November 21, 1956. The film, named after the song, stars Richard Egan, Debra Paget, and Elvis Presley in his film debut. It is in the Western genre with...
, the film début of
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
Early life and career
Paget was born in
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
as
Debralee Griffin to show-business parents Frank H. and Margaret Griffin. She took the stage name "Paget" from two of her ancestors, Lord and Lady Paget of England. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Margaret was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. This ambition was realized: Paget's sisters Judith ("
Teala LoringTeala Loring was an American actress who appeared in over thirty films during the 1940s. Born Marcia Griffin in Denver, Colorado, she was the sister of actors Debra Paget, Lisa Gaye, and Reull Shayne...
") and Lezlie ("
Lisa GayeLisa Gaye is a former American actress, singer and dancer.She was born Lezlie Gae Griffin in Denver, Colorado. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Her mother, actress Margaret Griffin, was determined that Gaye and her siblings would...
"), and her brother Frank ("Ruell Shayne") all entered the business as either cast or crew.
Paget had her first professional job at age 8, and acquired some stage experience at 13 when she acted in a 1946 production of
ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's
The Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
. In the period 1950-1956 she also took part in six original radio plays for
Family TheaterFamily Theater was a dramatic anthology radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947 to September 11, 1957.-Production background:...
. During those same years, she read parts in four episodes of
Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
, sharing the microphone with such actors as
Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
,
Tyrone PowerTyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
,
Cesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
,
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
, and
Robert StackRobert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
. The latter set included dramatizations of two of her feature films.
Paget's first notable film role was as "Teena Riconti", girlfriend of the character played by
Richard ConteRichard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
, in
Cry of the CityCry of the City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Robert Siodmak based on the novel by Henry Edward Helseth, The Chair for Martin Rome. Veteran film noir-writer Ben Hecht worked on the film's script, but is not credited...
, a 1948
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
directed by
Robert SiodmakRobert Siodmak was a German born American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for the series of Hollywood film noirs he made in the 1940s.-Early life:...
. Fresh out of high school in 1949, she acted in three other films before being signed by 20th Century-Fox. Her first vehicle under Fox was 1950's successful film,
Broken ArrowBroken Arrow is a western Technicolor film released in 1950. It was directed by Delmer Daves and starred James Stewart and Jeff Chandler. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won a Golden Globe award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding. It made history as the first...
with
James StewartJames Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
. Paget played an Indian maiden, Sonseeahray ("Morningstar"), who gives up her life to save Stewart's character.
Paget again played an Indian Princess 'Appearing Day' in
White FeatherWhite Feather is a 1955 Technicolor western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner. The movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. The story is based in fact, however, great artistic license is used and none of the characters are real....
(1955) along with
Robert WagnerRobert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
and
Jeffrey HunterJeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...
and later at MGM replaced
Anne BancroftAnne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
as the Indian girl in
The Last Hunt with Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger. In 1953 Paget, wearing a blonde wig, auditioned with
Anita EkbergKerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...
,
Irish McCallaNellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla was an American actress and artist best known as the title star of the 1950s television series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Sheena co-starred actor Chris Drake...
and a fourth unknown actress for the starring role in
Sheena, Queen of the JungleSheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional, American comic book jungle girl heroine, published originally by Fiction House. The female counterpart to Tarzan, Sheena had two things in common with Edgar Rice Burrough's Jungle Lord: Both possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals and were...
. She went on to starring roles in a variety of films, appearing along with such major stars as
Richard BasehartJohn Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
,
Michael RennieMichael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
,
Cornel WildeCornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
,
Raymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
,
Vincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
,
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
,
Yul BrynnerYul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
,
Anthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
,
Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
,
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
,
Joseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
,
Robert WagnerRobert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
and
Donald CrispDonald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
.
Leaving the studio system
The Hollywood
studio systemThe studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
dominated American feature film production in the first half of the 20th century. Under it, an actor would sign an exclusive contract to make films for a major studio, such as Fox. An actor would be slated for a specific number of films and could count on appearing with some of the top stars of the day in films produced with at least reasonable competence. Thus, actors just starting out could be sure of getting experience and exposure.
It was a system that worked well, at first, for Paget; she had beauty and talent, and her early Fox films did well, so the studio bolstered her film career. During the year after
Princess of the Nile was released, the fan mail Paget received at 20th Century-Fox was topped only by that for
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and
Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
. However, by the mid-1950s, it was clear to Fox executives that she could not carry a film on her own.
But it was during this time that she appeared in what would become her signature role—Lilia the water girl, in
Cecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
's monumental production of
The Ten Commandments - Fox lent her to
ParamountParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Also in 1955, she broke the exclusivity clause of her contract;
White FeatherWhite Feather is a 1955 Technicolor western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner. The movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. The story is based in fact, however, great artistic license is used and none of the characters are real....
(1955) was not a Fox film. The studio dropped her contract and 1957's
The River's EdgeThe River's Edge is a 1957 adventure, crime, and drama DeLuxe CinemaScope film directed by Allan Dwan. Based on the unpublished short story The Higher Mountain by Harold Jacob Smith.It starred Anthony Quinn, Debra Paget and Ray Milland...
was the last film she made for Fox. During this period she tried out for the title role in the 1955 TV series
Sheena: Queen of the Jungle but lost out to
Irish McCallaNellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla was an American actress and artist best known as the title star of the 1950s television series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Sheena co-starred actor Chris Drake...
.
After that, Paget's career began to decline. She was typically cast in "exotic" roles such as South Sea Island maidens or middle-eastern harem girls. She travelled to Germany in 1959 to join the cast of
Fritz LangFriedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's two-film adventure saga (called in America
Journey to the Lost City) in a role that recalled her Shalimar/Taura of
Princess of the Nile. Like the Egyptian epic, "Lost City" is remembered chiefly for her energetic dance scenes. She acted in a pair of films shot in Italy. Her final feature film was
The Haunted PalaceThe Haunted Palace is a 1963 horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., and Debra Paget in a story about a village held in the grip of a cult. The film was directed by Roger Corman, and is usually listed as one in his series of eight films...
, a 1963 horror film directed by
Roger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
for
American International PicturesAmerican International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
.
Paget had done
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
work, both comedy and drama, throughout her career. Her last performance in this medium came in a December 1965 episode of
Burke's LawBurke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
. She retired from entertainment in 1965, after marrying a wealthy Chinese-American oil executive.
Paget turned to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. She hosted her own show,
An Interlude with Debra Paget on the
Trinity Broadcasting NetworkThe Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
(TBN), a Christian network, in the early 1990s, and also was involved in
Praise the Lord. She comes out of retirement occasionally to appear on TBN as a guest. Currently, she lives in
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where her sisters Meg and Lezlie Gae (stage name: Lisa Gaye) also reside.
In 1987, the Motion Picture & Television Fund presented Paget with its Golden Boot Award. This award is presented to actors, writers, directors and stunt crew who "have contributed so much to the development and preservation of the western tradition in film and television."
Marriages and other relationships
In 1958, Paget was married for four months to actor and singer David Street; the marriage was annulled. In 1960, she married
Budd BoetticherOscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr. was a film director during the classical period in Hollywood most famous for the series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.Known for their sparse style, dramatic rocky locations near Lone Pine, California, and recurring stories of...
, a prominent director. They separated after just 22 days, and their divorce became official in 1961. (In his later years, Boetticher ascribed the failure of this marriage to the daunting difficulties he encountered when he went to Mexico to make a film about the life of his friend, legendary bullfighter
Carlos ArruzaCarlos Arruza , born Carlos Ruiz Camino, was one of the most prominent bullfighters of the 20th century. He was known as "El Ciclón" ....
.) Paget left the entertainment field in 1964 after marrying Louis C. Kung, a Chinese-American nephew of
Madame Chiang Kai-ShekSoong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang was a First Lady of the Republic of China , the wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter...
, who was successful in the oil industry. This third marriage produced a son, Greg. Kung and Paget divorced in 1980.
TV appearances
- THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR (Season 5, Episode 9) – Herself
Original Air Date: 28 November 1954
- THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR (Season 5, Episode 20) – Herself
Original Air Date: 13 March 1955
- The 20th Century-Fox Hour: "Gun in His Hand" (dir. Lewis Allen) – "Mary Conners"
4 April 1956 (Season 1, Episode 13)
- The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956 (as herself, in a skit with Elvis Presley)
- CLIMAX!: "The Man Who Lost His Head" – "Maria"
Original Air Date: 26 July 1956 (Season 2, Episode 40)
- CLIMAX!: "Carnival at Midnight" – "Natalie"
Original Air Date: 3 January 1957 (Season 3, Episode 12)
- Premiere Performance (1957 series) Alternated as host with Jeffrey Hunter
- CIMARRON CITY: "The Beauty and the Sorrow" – "Margaret"
Original Air Date: 7 February 1959 (Season 1, Episode 18)
- WAGON TRAIN
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
: "The Marie Dupree Story" – "Marie Dupree"
Original Air Date: 19 March 1958 (Season 1, Episode 25)
- WAGON TRAIN: "The Stagecoach Story" – "Angela DeVarga"
Original Air Date: 30 September 1959 (Season 3, Episode 1)
- RIVERBOAT
Riverboat is a western television series starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds that was broadcast on the NBC television network from September 13, 1959 until January 2, 1961....
: "The Unwilling" – "Lela Candida"
Original Air Date: 11 October 1959 (Season 1, Episode 5)
- THE MAN AND THE CHALLENGE
The Man and the Challenge is a 36-segment half-hour television adventure/science fiction series which ran new episodes on NBC from September 12, 1959, to June 11, 1960. It starred George Nader as Dr. Glenn Barton, a research scientist for the Institute of Human Factors, an agency that conducted...
: "Invisible Force" – "Liza Dantes"
Original Air Date: 17 October 1959 (Season 1, Episode 6)
- THE DUPONT SHOW WITH JUNE ALLYSON
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
: "No Place to Hide" – "Eve Barnes"
Original Air Date: 21 December 1959 (Season 1, Episode 13)
- JOHNNY RINGO
Johnny Ringo is a Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It was loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, John "Doc" Holliday, and "Buckskin" Franklin Leslie.This fictional...
: "East is East" – "Agnes St. John"
Original Air Date: 7 January 1960 (Season 1, Episode 14)
- THE MILLIONAIRE: "Millionaire Mara Robinson" – "Mara Robinson"
Original Air Date: 26 April 1960 (Season 6, Episode 31)
- TALES OF WELLS FARGO
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
: "Man of Another Breed" – "Kate Timmons"
Original Air Date: 2 December 1961 (Season 6, Episode 10)
- RAWHIDE
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
: "Incident in the Garden of Eden" (1960) – "Laura Ashley"
Original Air Date: 17 June 1960 (Season 2, Episode 31)
- RAWHIDE: "The Hostage Child" (1962) – " Estuella Briscoe"
Original Air Date: 9 March 1962 (Season 4, Episode 22)
- BURKE'S LAW: "Who Killed Eleanora Davis?" – "Juliet"
Original Air Date: 20 December 1963 (Season 1, Episode 13)
- BURKE'S LAW: "Who Killed Wimbledon Hastings?" – "Helen Harper"
Original Air Date: 3 February 1965 (Season 2, Episode 20)
Family Theater
- 1950-11-29 "The Clown" – Debra Paget, Stephen Dunn
- 1952-01-23 "The Thinking Machine" – Donald O'Connor, Debra Paget
- 1953-02-11 "The Indispensable Man" – Lisa Gaye, Robert Stack, Debra Paget
- 1953-12-09 "The Legend of High Chin Bob" – Debra Paget, Walter Brennan
- 1955-07-27 "Fairy Tale" – Debra Paget, Jack Haley
- 1956-11-07 "Integrity" – Debra Paget, Cesar Romero
Lux Radio Theater
- 1951-01-22 "Broken Arrow" – Burt Lancaster, Deborah Paget
- 1952-09-22 "I'll Never Forget You" – Tyrone Power, Debra Paget, Michael Pate
- 1952-12-22 "Les Misérables" – Ronald Colman, Debra Paget, Robert Newton
- 1953-04-20 "Deadline USA" – Dan Dailey, Debra Paget, William Conrad
Further reading
- Kinchlow, Ben, "Praise the Lord", TBN Newsletter (USA), 2001, Vol. 28, Issue 9
- Wandworth, James, "Ready for love", Motion Picture and Television Magazine (USA), July 1953, Vol. 85, Issue 6, pp. 38–39 & 73-74
- Weaver, Tom, "First Maid in the Moon", Starlog (USA), April 1998, Issue 249, pp. 63–67
- Weaver, Tom, "Working in the B's", Classic Images (USA), September 2002, Issue 327, pp. 65–68
External links