Paulette Goddard
Encyclopedia
Paulette Goddard was an American
film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl
, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin
, Burgess Meredith
, and Erich Maria Remarque
. Goddard was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her performance in So Proudly We Hail!
(1943).
Landing, Queens
, Long Island
. She was the only child of Joseph Russell Levy, who was Jewish, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was Episcopalian and of English heritage. Her parents divorced while she was young, and she was raised by her mother. Her father virtually vanished from her life, only to resurface later in the late 1930s after she became a star. At first, their newfound relationship seemed genial and they attended film premières together, but later he sued her over a magazine article in which she purportedly claimed he abandoned her when she was young. They never reconciled. On his death, he left her one dollar in his will
. She remained very close to her mother, however, as both had struggled through those early years, with her great uncle, Charles Goddard (her grandfather's brother) lending a hand.
Charles Goddard helped his great niece find jobs as a fashion model, and with the Ziegfeld Follies
as one of the heavily decorated Ziegfeld Girls
from 1924 to 1928. She attended Washington Irving High School in Manhattan
at the same time as future film star Claire Trevor
.
. The next year she made her stage acting debut in The Unconquerable Male. She also changed her first name to Paulette and took her mother's maiden name (which also happened to be her favorite great uncle Charles' last name) as her own last name. She married an older, wealthy businessman, lumber tycoon Edgar James, in 1926 or 1927 and moved to North Carolina
. Goddard returned to Hollywood in 1929 and they were divorced in 1930.
Upon her return to Hollywood, with her mother, Goddard appeared in small roles in The Girl Habit (1931) and The Mouthpiece (1932). She signed a contract with Hal Roach Studios, and appeared in films such as The Kid from Spain
and Laurel and Hardy
's Pack Up Your Troubles
(both 1932). In 1932, she met Charlie Chaplin
. Goddard was considering investing the money from her divorce settlement in a film venture but Chaplin intervened when he discovered the deal was fraudulent, and bought out her contract from Roach. Chaplin began planning a film with Goddard that was released in 1936 as Modern Times
. In the interim, Goddard appeared in a few films for Samuel Goldwyn Productions. Along with such actresses as Betty Grable
, Lucille Ball
, and Ann Sothern
, Goddard became a "Goldwyn Girl" and was featured in films such as Roman Scandals
(1933) and Kid Millions
(1934).
During this time she lived with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home. Their marital status was a source of controversy and speculation. During most of their time together, both refused to comment on the matter. Chaplin maintained that they were married in China in 1936, but to private associates and family, he claimed they were never legally married, except in common law
.
Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick
and appeared with Janet Gaynor
in the comedy The Young in Heart
(1938) before Selznick loaned her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (1938), costarred Luise Rainer
, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women
(1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer
, Joan Crawford
, and Rosalind Russell
, Goddard played the supporting role of Miriam Aarons. Pauline Kael
later commented of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. She's fun."
Selznick had been pleased with Goddard's recent performances, and specifically her work in The Young at Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara
. Initial screen test
s convinced him and the director George Cukor
that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor
screen test. Russell Birdwell, the head of Selznick's publicity department, had strong misgivings about Goddard. He warned Selznick of the "tremendous avalanche of criticism that will befall us and the picture should Paulette be given this part… I have never known a woman, intent on a career dependent upon her popularity with the masses, to hold and live such an insane and absurd attitude towards the press and her fellow man as does Paulette Goddard… Briefly, I think she is dynamite that will explode in our very faces if she is given the part." Selznick remained interested in Goddard and after he had been introduced to Vivien Leigh
, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur
, Joan Bennett
, and Vivien Leigh" After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. It has been suggested that Goddard lost the part because Selznick feared questions surrounding her marital status with Chaplin would result in scandal. However, Selznick was aware that Leigh and Laurence Olivier
lived together as their respective spouses had refused to divorce them, and in addition to offering Leigh a contract, he engaged Olivier as the leading man in his next production Rebecca (1940). Chaplin's biographer Joyce Milton wrote that Selznick was worried about legal issues by signing her to a contract that might conflict with her preexisting contracts with the Chaplin studio.
Goddard signed a contract with Paramount Pictures
and her next film The Cat and the Canary
(1939) with Bob Hope
, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. She starred with Chaplin again in his 1940 film The Great Dictator
. The couple split amicably soon afterward, and Goddard allegedly obtained a divorce in Mexico in 1942, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. She was Fred Astaire
's leading lady in the musical Second Chorus
(1940), where she met Burgess Meredith
. One of her best-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm
(1943), in which she sang a comic number, A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang, with fellow sex symbol
s Dorothy Lamour
and Veronica Lake
.
She received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress
, for the 1943 film So Proudly We Hail!
, but did not win. Her most successful film was Kitty (1945), in which she played the title role. In The Diary of a Chambermaid
(1946), she starred opposite Meredith, by then her husband. Cecil B. DeMille
cast her in three blockbusters: North West Mounted Police
(1940), Reap the Wild Wind
(1942) (where Goddard played a Scarlett O'Hara-type role), and Unconquered
(1947).
Her career faded in the late 1940s. In 1947 she made An Ideal Husband
in Britain for Alexander Korda
films, being accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels
by Clarissa Churchill, niece of Sir Winston
and future wife of Prime Minister Anthony Eden
. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck
. Her last starring roles were the English production A Stranger Came Home
(known as The Unholy Four in the USA), and Charge of the Lancers
in 1954. She also acted in summer stock and on television, including in the 1955 television remake of The Women, playing a different character than she played in the 1939 feature film. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Time of Indifference, but that turned out to be her last feature film. Her last performance was a small role in The Snoop Sisters
(1972) for television.
from 1944 to 1949. She suffered a miscarriage
while married to him. In 1958 she married Erich Maria Remarque
, author of, among other best-sellers, All Quiet on the Western Front
. They remained married until his death in 1970, and she inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe including a wealth of contemporary art
, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword amongst the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City society, appearing, covered with jewels, at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men including Andy Warhol
, with whom she sustained an unlikely friendship for many years until his unexpected death in 1987.
, Switzerland, where she died after a short illness (reportedly emphysema
) several months before her 80th birthday. She is buried in Ronco cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother.
and Sydney Chaplin, sons of Charlie Chaplin
.
Goddard, in her youth, was forced to drop out of school to support herself and her mother, bequeathed US$ 20 million to New York University
(NYU). This was also in recognition of her friendship with the Indiana
-born politician and former NYU President John Brademas
. Goddard Hall, an NYU freshman residence hall on Washington Square, is named in her honor.
The villa of Paulette Goddard and Erich Maria Remarque will be probably destroyed in 2012, if the necessary funds (approximately 6 million Swiss francs) are not found to make a cultural center for the peace.
in the 1992 film Chaplin. And she was portrayed by Natalie Wilder in the 2011 play "Puma," written by Julie Gilbert, who had also written the joint biography "Opposite Attraction: The Lives Of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard."
Americans
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, and Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...
. Goddard was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her performance in So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail! is a 1943 film directed by Mark Sandrich, and starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard – who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance – and Veronica Lake...
(1943).
Early life
Paulette Goddard was born Marion Pauline Levy in WhitestoneWhitestone, Queens
Whitestone is a residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the City of New York borough of Queens. Located between the East River to the north and 25th Avenue to the south. Whitestone is surrounded by College Point, Flushing, Bayside, Auburndale, Linden Hill, and Murray Hill...
Landing, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. She was the only child of Joseph Russell Levy, who was Jewish, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was Episcopalian and of English heritage. Her parents divorced while she was young, and she was raised by her mother. Her father virtually vanished from her life, only to resurface later in the late 1930s after she became a star. At first, their newfound relationship seemed genial and they attended film premières together, but later he sued her over a magazine article in which she purportedly claimed he abandoned her when she was young. They never reconciled. On his death, he left her one dollar in his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
. She remained very close to her mother, however, as both had struggled through those early years, with her great uncle, Charles Goddard (her grandfather's brother) lending a hand.
Charles Goddard helped his great niece find jobs as a fashion model, and with the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
as one of the heavily decorated Ziegfeld Girls
Ziegfeld girl
Ziegfeld Girls were the chorus girls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical spectaculars known as the Ziegfeld Follies , which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris....
from 1924 to 1928. She attended Washington Irving High School in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
at the same time as future film star Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
.
Career
Her stage debut was in the Ziegfeld revue No Foolin in 1926, and played a small role in Rio RitaRio Rita (musical)
Rio Rita is a 1927 stage musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson , music by Harry Tierney, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, and produced by Florenz Ziegfeld...
. The next year she made her stage acting debut in The Unconquerable Male. She also changed her first name to Paulette and took her mother's maiden name (which also happened to be her favorite great uncle Charles' last name) as her own last name. She married an older, wealthy businessman, lumber tycoon Edgar James, in 1926 or 1927 and moved to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Goddard returned to Hollywood in 1929 and they were divorced in 1930.
The Kid from Spain
The Kid from Spain is a 1932 comedy film directed by Leo McCarey starring Eddie Cantor involving bullfighting. Songs were composed by Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar. Noteworthy are the musical scenes, directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley....
and Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
's Pack Up Your Troubles
Pack Up Your Troubles
Pack Up Your Troubles is a 1932 Laurel and Hardy film directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey, named after the World War I song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and smile, smile, smile." It is the team's second feature-length picture....
(both 1932). In 1932, she met Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
. Goddard was considering investing the money from her divorce settlement in a film venture but Chaplin intervened when he discovered the deal was fraudulent, and bought out her contract from Roach. Chaplin began planning a film with Goddard that was released in 1936 as Modern Times
Modern Times (film)
Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his iconic Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in...
. In the interim, Goddard appeared in a few films for Samuel Goldwyn Productions. Along with such actresses as Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth 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"...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, and Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...
, Goddard became a "Goldwyn Girl" and was featured in films such as Roman Scandals
Roman Scandals
Roman Scandals is a 1933 black-and-white American musical film starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Gloria Stuart, Edward Arnold and David Manners. It was directed by Frank Tuttle....
(1933) and Kid Millions
Kid Millions
Kid Millions is an American film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and starring Eddie Cantor.-Plot:The story features Eddie, a kid from Brooklyn, New York,...
(1934).
During this time she lived with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home. Their marital status was a source of controversy and speculation. During most of their time together, both refused to comment on the matter. Chaplin maintained that they were married in China in 1936, but to private associates and family, he claimed they were never legally married, except in common law
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
.
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
and appeared with Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
in the comedy The Young in Heart
The Young in Heart
The Young in Heart is a film comedy starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke....
(1938) before Selznick loaned her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (1938), costarred Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer is a former German film actress. Known as The "Viennese Teardrop", she was the first woman to win two Academy Awards, and the first person to win them consecutively. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts while acting on stage in Austria and Germany and after appearing in Austrian...
, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women
The Women (1939 film)
The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...
(1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
, Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, and Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
, Goddard played the supporting role of Miriam Aarons. Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
later commented of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. She's fun."
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
. Initial screen test
Screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
s convinced him and the director George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
screen test. Russell Birdwell, the head of Selznick's publicity department, had strong misgivings about Goddard. He warned Selznick of the "tremendous avalanche of criticism that will befall us and the picture should Paulette be given this part… I have never known a woman, intent on a career dependent upon her popularity with the masses, to hold and live such an insane and absurd attitude towards the press and her fellow man as does Paulette Goddard… Briefly, I think she is dynamite that will explode in our very faces if she is given the part." Selznick remained interested in Goddard and after he had been introduced to Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
, Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...
, and Vivien Leigh" After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. It has been suggested that Goddard lost the part because Selznick feared questions surrounding her marital status with Chaplin would result in scandal. However, Selznick was aware that Leigh and Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
lived together as their respective spouses had refused to divorce them, and in addition to offering Leigh a contract, he engaged Olivier as the leading man in his next production Rebecca (1940). Chaplin's biographer Joyce Milton wrote that Selznick was worried about legal issues by signing her to a contract that might conflict with her preexisting contracts with the Chaplin studio.
Goddard signed a contract with Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount 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...
and her next film The Cat and the Canary
The Cat and the Canary (1939 film)
The Cat and the Canary starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard is a 1939 comedy horror film remake of the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary, which was based on the 1922 play of the same name by John Willard...
(1939) with Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. She starred with Chaplin again in his 1940 film The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
. The couple split amicably soon afterward, and Goddard allegedly obtained a divorce in Mexico in 1942, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. She was Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
's leading lady in the musical Second Chorus
Second Chorus
Second Chorus is a Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw, and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen, Hal Borne and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C...
(1940), where she met Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
. One of her best-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm
Star Spangled Rhythm
Star Spangled Rhythm is a 1943 all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flimsy storylines, and with the specific intent of entertaining the...
(1943), in which she sang a comic number, A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang, with fellow sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
s Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
and Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, for the 1943 film So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail! is a 1943 film directed by Mark Sandrich, and starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard – who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance – and Veronica Lake...
, but did not win. Her most successful film was Kitty (1945), in which she played the title role. In The Diary of a Chambermaid
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946 film)
The Diary of a Chambermaid is a drama film about a newly-hired servant who severely disrupts a wealthy family. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau and the play Le journal d'une femme de Chambre by André Heuse, André de Lorde, and Thielly Nores, was directed by Jean...
(1946), she starred opposite Meredith, by then her husband. Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil 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...
cast her in three blockbusters: North West Mounted Police
North West Mounted Police (film)
North West Mounted Police is a 1940 American action adventure film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, and Madeleine Carroll. This was DeMille's...
(1940), Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind is a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post, which was the basis for the 1942 film starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, and Susan Hayward, and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, his second picture to be filmed in...
(1942) (where Goddard played a Scarlett O'Hara-type role), and Unconquered
Unconquered
Unconquered is a 1947 adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount. The film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the time of Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around...
(1947).
Her career faded in the late 1940s. In 1947 she made An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband (1947 film)
An Ideal Husband, also known as Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, is a 1947 film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was made by London Film Productions and distributed by British Lion Films and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation . It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a...
in Britain for Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
films, being accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
by Clarissa Churchill, niece of Sir Winston
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and future wife of Prime Minister Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
. Her last starring roles were the English production A Stranger Came Home
A Stranger Came Home
A Stranger Came Home is a 1954 English film based upon a novel of the same name by George Sanders. It was directed by Terence Fisher and starred American actor Paulette Goddard...
(known as The Unholy Four in the USA), and Charge of the Lancers
Charge of the Lancers
Charge of the Lancers is a 1954 American war film directed by William Castle and starring Paulette Goddard, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Richard Wyler...
in 1954. She also acted in summer stock and on television, including in the 1955 television remake of The Women, playing a different character than she played in the 1939 feature film. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Time of Indifference, but that turned out to be her last feature film. Her last performance was a small role in The Snoop Sisters
The Snoop Sisters
The Snoop Sisters was an American mystery television show that aired on NBC during the 1973–1974 season.-Plot:The show starred Hollywood film legends Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick as two elderly sisters who routinely stumbled across mysteries which they solved...
(1972) for television.
Later life
Goddard was married to actor Burgess MeredithBurgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
from 1944 to 1949. She suffered a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
while married to him. In 1958 she married Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...
, author of, among other best-sellers, All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
. They remained married until his death in 1970, and she inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe including a wealth of contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword amongst the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City society, appearing, covered with jewels, at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men including Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, with whom she sustained an unlikely friendship for many years until his unexpected death in 1987.
Death
Goddard was treated for breast cancer, apparently successfully, but the surgery was very invasive and the doctor removed several ribs. She later settled in Ronco sopra AsconaRonco sopra Ascona
Ronco sopra Ascona is a municipality near Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Ronco sopra Ascona is first mentioned in 1264 as Roncha. In 1498 it was mentioned as Ronca de Scona. Ronco sopra Ascona and Ascona a Vicinanza by 1321. The vicinanza had its own statutes by 1369,...
, Switzerland, where she died after a short illness (reportedly emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
) several months before her 80th birthday. She is buried in Ronco cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother.
Family
She had no children during her four marriages but she was stepmother to Charles Chaplin, Jr.Charles Chaplin, Jr.
Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was an American actor and the son of Charlie Chaplin.Chaplin was born in Beverly Hills, California. His mother was Charlie Chaplin's second wife, Mexican-American Lita Grey, and he was the elder brother of actor Sydney Chaplin...
and Sydney Chaplin, sons of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
.
Legacy and Casa Monte Tabor
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(NYU). This was also in recognition of her friendship with the Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
-born politician and former NYU President John Brademas
John Brademas
John Brademas is an American politician and educator originally from Indiana. He served as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 at the conclusion of a twenty-year career as a member of the United States House of Representatives...
. Goddard Hall, an NYU freshman residence hall on Washington Square, is named in her honor.
The villa of Paulette Goddard and Erich Maria Remarque will be probably destroyed in 2012, if the necessary funds (approximately 6 million Swiss francs) are not found to make a cultural center for the peace.
Fictional portrayals
She was portrayed by Diane LaneDiane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
in the 1992 film Chaplin. And she was portrayed by Natalie Wilder in the 2011 play "Puma," written by Julie Gilbert, who had also written the joint biography "Opposite Attraction: The Lives Of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard."
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berth Marks Berth Marks Berth Marks is a 1929 short comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. The story involves Stan and Ollie as two musicians attempting to travel by train to Pottsville... |
1929 | Train passenger | Short subject |
| 1929 | Girl on rum boat | Uncredited | |
| City Streets City Streets (film) City Streets is a 1931 Pre-Code crime film based upon a story written by Dashiell Hammett, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, and starring Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas and Guy Kibbee.-Plot:... |
1931 | Dance extra | Uncredited |
| 1931 | Lingerie salesgirl | ||
| Ladies of the Big House | 1931 | Inmate in midst of crowd | Uncredited |
| 1932 | Blonde at party | Uncredited | |
| Show Business | 1932 | Blonde train passenger | Uncredited, short subject |
| Young Ironsides | 1932 | Herself, Miss Hollywood | Uncredited, short subject |
| Pack Up Your Troubles Pack Up Your Troubles Pack Up Your Troubles is a 1932 Laurel and Hardy film directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey, named after the World War I song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and smile, smile, smile." It is the team's second feature-length picture.... |
1932 | Bridesmaid | Uncredited |
| Girl Grief | 1932 | Student | Uncredited, short subject |
| 1932 | Goldwyn Girl | Uncredited | |
| Hollywood on Parade No. B-1 | 1933 | Herself | Short subject |
| 1933 | Blonde who announces Brodie's jump | Uncredited | |
| Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 | 1933 | Herself | Short subject |
| Roman Scandals Roman Scandals Roman Scandals is a 1933 black-and-white American musical film starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Gloria Stuart, Edward Arnold and David Manners. It was directed by Frank Tuttle.... |
1933 | Goldwyn Girl | Uncredited |
| Kid Millions Kid Millions Kid Millions is an American film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and starring Eddie Cantor.-Plot:The story features Eddie, a kid from Brooklyn, New York,... |
1934 | Goldwyn Girl | Uncredited |
| Modern Times Modern Times (film) Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his iconic Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in... |
1936 | Ellen Peterson – A Gamine | |
| 1936 | Gypsy vagabond | Uncredited | |
| 1938 | Leslie Saunders | ||
| Dramatic School | 1938 | Nana | |
| 1939 | Miriam Aarons | ||
| 1939 | Joyce Norman | ||
| 1940 | Mary Carter | ||
| 1940 | Hannah | ||
| Screen Snapshots: Sports in Hollywood | 1940 | Herself | Short subject |
| North West Mounted Police North West Mounted Police (film) North West Mounted Police is a 1940 American action adventure film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, and Madeleine Carroll. This was DeMille's... |
1940 | Louvette Corbeau | Alternative titles: Northwest Mounted Police, The Scarlet Riders |
| Second Chorus Second Chorus Second Chorus is a Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw, and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen, Hal Borne and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C... |
1940 | Ellen Miller | |
| Pot o' Gold | 1941 | Molly McCorkle | Alternative titles: The Golden Hour, Jimmy Steps Out |
| Hold Back the Dawn Hold Back the Dawn Hold Back the Dawn is a 1941 romantic film in which a Romanian gigolo marries an American woman in Mexico in order to gain entry to the United States, but winds up falling in love with her... |
1941 | Anita Dixon | |
| Nothing But the Truth Nothing But the Truth (1941 film) Nothing But the Truth is a comedy film starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, their third movie together in three years. The movie was directed by Elliott Nugent.... |
1941 | Gwen Saunders | |
| 1942 | Sidney Royce | ||
| Reap the Wild Wind Reap the Wild Wind Reap the Wild Wind is a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post, which was the basis for the 1942 film starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, and Susan Hayward, and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, his second picture to be filmed in... |
1942 | Loxi Claiborne | Alternative title: Cecil B. DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind |
| 1942 | Celia Huston Stuart | ||
| Star Spangled Rhythm Star Spangled Rhythm Star Spangled Rhythm is a 1943 all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flimsy storylines, and with the specific intent of entertaining the... |
1942 | Herself | |
| 1943 | Toni Gerard | ||
| So Proudly We Hail | 1943 | Lt. Joan O'Doul | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
| Standing Room Only | 1944 | Jane Rogers/Suzanne | |
| I Love a Soldier | 1944 | Evelyn Connors | |
| Duffy's Tavern Duffy's Tavern Duffy's Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks , concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast.... |
1945 | Herself | |
| Kitty Kitty (1945 film) Kitty is a 1945 film, a fictional costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall , with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg. It stars Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Constance Collier, Patric Knowles, Reginald Owen, and... |
1945 | Kitty | |
| 1946 | Célestine | Producer (Uncredited) | |
| Suddenly, It's Spring | 1947 | Mary Morely | |
| Variety Girl Variety Girl Variety Girl is an all-star movie musical produced by Paramount Pictures. Numerous Paramount contract players and directors make cameos or perform songs, with particularly large amounts of screen time featuring Bing Crosby... |
1947 | Herself | |
| Unconquered Unconquered Unconquered is a 1947 adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount. The film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the time of Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around... |
1947 | Abigail "Abby" Martha Hale | |
| 1947 | Mrs. Laura Cheveley | Alternative title: Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband | |
| On Our Merry Way On Our Merry Way On Our Merry Way is an American comedy film, produced by Benedict Bogeaus and Burgess Meredith, and released by United Artists. At the time of its release, King Vidor and Leslie Fenton were credited with its direction, although the DVD lists John Huston and George Stevens, who assisted with one of... |
1948 | Martha Pease | |
| Screen Snapshots: Smiles and Styles | 1948 | Herself | Short subject |
| Hazard | 1948 | Ellen Crane | |
| Bride of Vengeance | 1949 | Lucretia Borgia | |
| Anna Lucasta | 1949 | Anna Lucasta | |
| 1949 | Herself | Uncredited, short subject | |
| 1950 | María Dolores Penafiel | Associate producer, alternative title: Bandit General | |
| Babes in Bagdad | 1952 | Kyra | |
| Vice Squad Vice Squad (1953 film) Vice Squad is a 1953 police procedural film starring Edward G. Robinson as a police captain with the Los Angeles Police Department and Paulette Goddard as one of his informants. The movie was directed by Arnold Laven.... |
1953 | Mona Ross | Alternative title: The Girl in Room 17 |
| Sins of Jezebel Sins of Jezebel Sins of Jezebel is a 1953 film based on the Biblical story of Jezebel, the Phoenician princess whose influence corrupted King Ahab of Israel in the mid 9th century BC.-Cast:*Paulette Goddard as Jezebel*George Nader as Jehu*Eduard Franz as Ahab... |
1953 | Jezebel Jezebel Jezebel may refer to:* Jezebel, wife of King Ahab*Jezebel, in the Book of Revelation 2:20 a prophetess in the church of Thyatira* Jezebel , starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda* Jezebel , a blog aimed at women... |
|
| Paris Model | 1953 | Betty Barnes | Alternative title: Nude at Midnight |
| Charge of the Lancers Charge of the Lancers Charge of the Lancers is a 1954 American war film directed by William Castle and starring Paulette Goddard, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Richard Wyler... |
1954 | Tanya | |
| 1954 | Angie | Alternative title: The Unholy Four | |
| Time of Indifference | 1964 | Mariagrazia | Alternative titles: Les Deux Rivales, Gli Indifferenti |
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Herself | 2 episodes | |
| Ford Theatre Ford Theatre Ford Theatre was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts... |
1953 | Nancy Whiting | 1 episode |
| Sherlock Holmes | 1954 | Lady Beryl | 1 episode |
| Producers' Showcase Producers' Showcase Producers' Showcase is an American anthology television series that was telecast live during the 1950s in compatible color by NBC. With top talent, the 90-minute episodes, covering a wide variety of genres, aired under the title every fourth Monday at 8 p.m. ET for three seasons, beginning October... |
1955 | Sylvia Fowler | 1 episode |
| 1955 | Herself | 1 episode | |
| 1957 | Rachel | 1 episode | |
| On Trial | 1957 | Dolly | 1 episode |
| Ford Theatre | 1957 | Holly March | 1 episode |
| Adventures in Paradise Adventures in Paradise Adventures in Paradise is an American television series which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962. It starred Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. The show was created by James Michener... |
1959 | Mme. Victorine Reynard | 1 episode |
| What's My Line? What's My Line? What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations.... |
1959 | Guest panelist | 1 episode |
| 1961 | Mrs. Harris | TV movie | |
| 1972 | Norma Treet | TV movie. alternative title: Female Instinct |
External links
- Photographs and literature
- Paulette Goddard at GlamourGirlsoftheSilverScreen.com
- Paulette Goddard portrait gallery NY Public Library (Billy Rose collection)
- Modern Mechanix: Paulette Goddard runs a bicycle repair shop between filming site dedicated to Paulette Goddard