Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (
June 3,
1905 –
April 23,
1990) was an
Oscar-nominated
American actress. A former child
fashion model and
Ziegfeld 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.
Paulette Goddard's birth name is believed to have been
Pauline Marion Levy; she was an only child, born in Whitestone Landing,
Queens,
Long Island,
New York to a
Jewish father and a
Protestant mother.
She became a fashion model as a teenager, and a member of the
Ziegfeld Follies at the age of 13 or 14 in 1924. She attended Washington Irving High School in Manhattan at the same time as Claire Wemlinger, who would become acclaimed Oscar-winning actress
Claire Trevor. Trevor related that the boys were gaga over Pauline and that Goddard was a year older (!) than she, but both women appear to have actually been born the same year (1910).
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.
In 1929 she went to Hollywood after signing a contract with
Hal Roach Studios, and appeared in small parts of several films over the next few years, starting with
Laurel & Hardy short subjects.
At
Samuel Goldwyn Productions, she also joined other such future notables as
Betty Grable,
Lucille Ball and
Jane Wyman as "Goldwyn Girls" with Cantor in films such as
The Kid from Spain,
Roman Scandals and
Kid Millions.
In 1932, she met
Charlie Chaplin in person, 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. [
1]
Their marital status was and has remained a source of controversy and speculation; Chaplin stated in his 1964 autobiography that they were married in China in 1936, but in private he claimed that they were never legally married, except in common law. Regardless, they dissolved the union amicably in 1942, and Chaplin agreed to a generous divorce settlement. [
2]
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) which starred
Joan Crawford,
Norma Shearer, and
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, and a Technicolor screen test, lost the part to
Vivien Leigh. It is believed that questions regarding her marital status with Chaplin, in that era of morals clauses, may have cost her the role. [
3]
Nonetheless, 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.
She starred with Chaplin again in his 1940 film
The Great Dictator. She also made three comedies with Bob Hope:
The Cat And The Canary,
The Ghost Breakers, and
Nothing But The Truth. She also starred in
Hold Back the Dawn, three
Cecil B. DeMille epics,
North West Mounted Police,
Reap the Wild Wind and
Unconquered, and
The Diary of a Chambermaid with
Burgess Meredith, whom she eventually married and divorced. One of her best-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical
Star Spangled Rhythm in which she sang a comic number "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with her contemporary sex symbols,
Dorothy Lamour and
Veronica Lake. She was often paired with leading men at Paramount such as
Ray Milland (in
Reap the Wild Wind,
Kitty,
The Lady Has Plans and
The Crystal Ball) and
Fred MacMurray (in
Standing Room Only,
Suddenly It's Spring, and
The Forest Rangers.)
She was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1944 for
So Proudly We Hail!, and had some successful roles after that, but her career faded in the late 1940s. 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. In 1964 she made a comeback attempt in films with a supporting role in the Italian film
Time of Indifference.
Goddard was married to actor
Burgess Meredith from 1944 to 1949. In 1958 she married the author
Erich Maria Remarque. They remained married until his death in 1970.
Goddard was treated for breast cancer, apparently successfully, although the surgery was very invasive and the doctor had to remove several ribs. She later settled in
Ronco,
Switzerland, where she died a few months before her 80th birthday following a short battle with
emphysema.
In her will, she left US $20 million to
New York University (NYU), due to her friendship with Indiana-born politician and former NYU President
John Brademas. Goddard Hall, an NYU freshman residence hall on Washington Square, is named for her.
She is buried in Ronco cemetery, where her late husband,
Erich Maria Remarque, is also buried.
Berth Marks (1929) (short subject)
The Locked Door (1929)
City Streets (1931)
The Girl Habit (1931)
Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject)
The Mouthpiece (1932)
Show Business (1932) (short subject)
Young Ironsides (1932) (short subject)
Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)
Girl Grief (1932) (short subject)
The Kid from Spain (1932)
Roman Scandals (1933)
Kid Millions (1934)
Modern Times (1936)
The Bohemian Girl (1936)
The Young in Heart (1938)
Dramatic School (1938)
The Women (1939)
The Cat and the Canary (1939)
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
The Great Dictator (1940)
North West Mounted Police (1940)
Second Chorus (1940)
Pot o' Gold (1941)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
Nothing But the Truth (1941)
The Lady Has Plans (1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Forest Rangers (1942)
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
The Crystal Ball (1943)
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
Standing Room Only (1944)
I Love a Soldier (1944)
Duffy's Tavern (1945) (Cameo)
Kitty (1945)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) (also producer)
Suddenly, It's Spring (1947)
Variety Girl (1947) (Cameo)
Unconquered (1947)
An Ideal Husband (1947)
On Our Merry Way (1948)
Hazard (1948)
Bride of Vengeance (1949)
A Yank Comes Back (1949) (short subject)
Anna Lucasta (1949)
The Torch (1950) (also associate producer)
Babes in Bagdad (1952)
Vice Squad (1953)
Sins of Jezebel (1953)
Paris Model (1953)
Charge of the Lancers (1954)
A Stranger Came Home aka
The Unholy Four (USA) (1954)
Time of Indifference (1964)
*
Paulette Goddard at Classic Actresses*
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Paulette Goddard# Although there is much inconsistency among published sources about Goddard's year of birth, the
U.S. Census taken on
April 15,
1910, shows her parents living in Manhattan and still childless; and the U.S. Census taken on
January 1,
1920, shows Paulette Goddard (as Pauline G. Levy), age 9, living with her parents in
Kansas City, Missouri.At the time of her death officials in Switzerland, where she died, listed her birthdate as 1905.
