PAULETTE GODDARD
BIRTH: June 3, 1910
DEATH: April 23, 1990
AGED: 79 years
DIED FROM: Emphysema and heart issues
REAL NAME: Marion Levy
NICKNAME: The Girl On The Crescent Moon, from the Ziegfeld Follies…she was just 13.
MARRIED: 4 times- Edgar James, a rich lumberman. Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith( Jack Lemmon’s dad in “ Grumpy Old Men”) and Erich Maria Remarque( German novelist of “All Quiet On The Western Front”)
AFFAIRS: George Gershwin, Diego Rivera, Clark Gable, Andy Warhol plus others
: never had any. Miscarried a boy when married to Meredith which greatly saddened her, a rare event.
OSCAR NOMINATIONS: “ So Proudly We Hail”
TALENT: Aside from marrying wealthy men, she was very business savvy and grew her wealth. Her charm, making any party or social function better.
KNOWN FOR: her famous jewelry collection. Her fierce independence, intelligence and shrewd business dealings. She was to be The Scarlet O’ Hara in “Gone With The Wind” until Vivien Leigh appeared so that, along with her “leftist leanings”, she lost the part.
This is another actress who was very close to her mom to the point where they were grifters, when Paulette was a teen, getting a hold of money from unsuspecting rich men and pilfering their wallets. Ahh, what sweetness and delight. When her mom and dad separated, it seems that the mom took her daughter all around the States and even into Canada for a while. Years later, it came out that her mother absconded with her daughter so the father would have no ability to see his daughter. After Paulette became a film star, she went on record that she didn’t know her dad and he sued and won the case receiving $35 per week from his daughter. Paulette and her parents would make a great case study wouldn’t they.
Paulette became a Ziegfeld girl after her influential uncle invited her to meet Florenz Ziegfeld and, from there, she met many older, and rich, men. Paulette married a very wealthy man when she was 17 and divorced soon after with a nice settlement in tow. She got into films and met Charlie Chaplin whom she fell for and starred in 2 of his great films, “Modern Times” and “ The Great Dictator”. He was the one who told her to revert back to her brunette hair rather than the popular platinum hair she had which was all the rage back then. I have read that they never married, merely lived together, but also read they married in Mexico, China and on a ship…who knows, but she was a big influence on Chaplin as well and remained good friends with his 2 sons even after Chaplin and her parted company.
She met her 3rd husband Burgess Meredith on the set of “Second Chorus”with Fred Astaire, a film Astaire considered his worst. She did actually hold her own in the dance numbers but it’s not a great movie, neither is “Pot O’ Gold” with Jimmy Stewart. In fact, this is one of the few actresses that Jimmy Stewart did not care for and the feeling was mutual. She was too brash for him and too much needing to be noticed. She thought he was not a great actor…what does she know.
In the later 50s, she married the German novelist, Erich Maria Remarque but they seemed to live in separate rooms and residences. Well, when he died, she inherited his fortune but she knew how to add to it with shrewd business deals. Later she enjoyed being a socialite known for her intelligence, humour and effervescence. She had to deal with breast cancer in the 1970s and recuperated but, due to her cigarette habit, she got emphysema and died of a heart attack.
She was complicated, independent, fun, talented and so much more than just a gold digger, which, I believe, she was, but she knew how to make money on her own and, when she died, she gave 20 million to the New York University to fund an institute devoted to European studies named in Remarque’s honour. Her art collection, partly inherited when Erich died, and her jewelry collection also went on the auction block although I don’t know where the money went to. She was an interesting woman whom I always enjoyed watching on the big screen.
FILMS
1. Modern Times-1936
2. The Women-1939
3. The Cat And The Canary-1939
4. The Ghostbreakers-1940
5. The Great Dictator-1940
6. Northwest Mounted Police-1940
7. Hold Back The Dawn-1941
8. Reap The Wild Wind-1942
9. Kitty-1945
10. Diary Of A Chambermaid-1946
She was beautiful and talented, but she seemed like kind of a dirtbag. Eh, what do I know?
ReplyDeleteBut...Andy Warhol??????????
Yup, Warhol! Yeah...I think she had daddy issues
DeleteBurgess Meredith was Penguin on the Batman TV series, too.
ReplyDeleteYup, that he was
DeleteI had heard of her, but in passing. She seems like an interesting character with a troubled childhood. Yikes. She'd make for an interesting biopic.
ReplyDeleteShe would actually. I liked her in her films but it was a brief career.
DeleteAgain, all kinds of info I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great bday. Bday wishes on Friday's post.
Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com
That's sweet Sandra.. thank you. It was a nice time.
DeleteWhile she’s nowhere near my top 10 I am a fan of good ol’ Paulette. She was definitely on the rapacious side, but we cannot all be Polly Purebread and we are all shaped by our families and childhood and her acquisitiveness fits right in with what you describe! She certainly put it to a more useful purpose than many in the same situation.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t say she was a great actress, but she was a good one, especially where comedy was concerned. It’s now unthinkable for anyone else to have played Scarlett except Vivien Leigh, so perfect is her reading of the role but Paulette really was thisclose to getting it. I have to say having seen her screen tests that while she would not have embarrassed herself, I don’t think her grasp on that complex Southern belle was anywhere near Vivien’s. It is difficult to tell everything from tests of course, she had worked with Cukor before (in The Women) and she bloomed under his direction. Still the right choice was made.
Her heyday was brief and when she fell it was into some real claptrap (Babes in Bagdad…yikes!!) But she landed in velvet once she left films and during her time at the top she made some very enjoyable pictures. I’ve managed over the years to see all her films, except for a bit in a Charlie Ruggles comedy called “The Girl Habit” (some day!). About two handfuls of them are subpar but that still leaves about two dozen worth seeing. However, for a major star she surprisingly only has one real classic, The Women, on her sheet. Part of that might be the fact that for most of her career she was a Paramount girl and had to compete against first Carole Lombard & Miriam Hopkins, eventually Veronica Lake and always Claudette Colbert (they apparently did NOT get along) for the top roles.
My top ten of her films in order:
1. Kitty (1945)-Her biggest spotlight role. Teamed with Ray Milland, he was a frequent costar, they were most sympatico.
2. The Women (1939)
3. Standing Room Only (1944)
4. The Lady Has Plans (1942)
5. So Proudly We Hail (1943)-Paulette, Veronica & Claudette all in one room….the sparks flew!!
6.Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
7. Suddenly, It’s Spring (1947)-She made several films with Fred MacMurray including this and Standing Room, they paired well.
8. Reap the Wild Wind (1942)-A big DeMille seafaring spectacle with Paulette, Milland, John Wayne and a fast rising Susan Hayward.
9. I Love a Solider (1944)
10. Modern Times (1936)
Hi Joel....I wanted to spotlight someone who seems to have gone by the wayside. I agree with all you wrote here and, boy, did she have daddy issues..thanks mom. I think she is one who got along with men much more than women. I haven't seem nay of her films but want to.
ReplyDeleteI would say she was in 3 classics..The Women, where Rosalind Russell bit her and left a mark bit they remained friends. Modern Times and The Great Dictator which, I have a feeling, you hate.
I place The Women at the top and she is one of my favourite characters in this film. Modern times, The Great Dictator, Kitty, Ti Each Their Own and Reap the Wild Wind. I still have to see the others but I so want to see her I some of that dreck. Hope you get a chance to look at my post today.
Hi Birgit,
DeleteYou're right about the Chaplin films, my mistake it would be three classics. She's terrific in those but Chaplins are so much about him I tend to forget the rest of his castmates, except Jack Oakie who is splendid in Great Dictator. Actually I don't hate The Great Dictator at all, I wouldn't say it's a favorite of mine but it's an excellent film and I admire Charlie's audacity in undertaking the project.
Even with Gypsy Rose Lee as her costar I'd advise against Babes in Bagdad unless you are in the mood for a real bottom of the barrel watch but some of Paulette's lesser offerings aren't nearly as bad. Both Bride of Vengeance and Sins of Jezebel are so backlot silly they are good for a laugh. Anna Lucasta is overbaked melodrama but with some appeal. Hazard is a slight, minor comedy but painless.