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| Birth Name(s) : Marion Pauline Levy |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Erich Maria Remarque (1958-1970) |
| Profession:
N/A |
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Full Paulette Goddard Biography
It was Charles Goddard who helped his niece to find jobs as a fashion model, and with the Ziegfeld Follies as a teen 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.
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 also changed her first name to Paulette and took her mother's maiden name (which also happens to be her favorite uncle Charles's last name) as her own last name. She married an older, wealthy businessman Edgar James in 1926 or 1927 and moved to North Carolina to be a socialite, but divorced him in 1930 and received a huge divorce settlement.Goddard modeling cotton stockings during World War II, when nylon was widely unavailable.
In 1929 she came to Hollywood with her mother 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 and began an eight-year personal and cinematic relationship with him. Chaplin bought Goddard's contract from Roach Studios and cast her as a street urchin opposite his Tramp character in the 1936 film Modern Times, which made Goddard a star. During this time she lived with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home.
Their actual marital status was and has remained a source of controversy and speculation. During most of their time together, both remained silent on the matter. At the premier of The Great Dictator in 1940, Chaplin first introduced Goddard as his wife. The couple split amicably soon afterward, and Goddard allegedly obtained a divorce in Mexico in 1942, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. For years afterward, Chaplin stated 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. It is almost certain that Chaplin was attempting to limit further damage to Goddard's career by making this claim.from the trailer for The Women
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 many auditions, and a Technicolor screen test, lost the part to Vivien Leigh. It has been suggested that questions regarding her marital status with Chaplin, in that era of morals clauses, may have cost her the role.
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 turning point in the careers of both actors.
Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his 1940 film classic The Great Dictator, and then 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 contemporary sex symbols, Dorothy Lamour, and Veronica Lake.
She received her only Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, in 1944 for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). During filming of So Proudly We Hail! (1943), a rift occurred between Claudette Colbert and Goddard when Colbert overheard a remark made by Goddard in an interview. Asked which of her costars she preferred, Goddard had replied, "Veronica, I think. After all, we are closer in age". Veronica Lake commented that Colbert "flipped" and "was at Paulette's eyes at every moment" and said that they continued their feud throughout the duration of filming. Goddard (33 at the time) was actually closer to Colbert's age (40) than Veronica Lake's (24). Her most successful film was Kitty (1945), where she played the title role. In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), she starred opposite Meredith, by then her husband.
Goddard was married to actor Burgess Meredith from 1944 to 1949. She suffered a miscarriage while married to him. She had no children. 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 sopra Ascona, Switzerland, where she died a few months before her 80th birthday, following a short battle with emphysema. She is buried in Ronco cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother.
There is much inconsistency among published sources regarding Goddard's birth year, largely due the documents recording her death incorrectly reporting a birth year of 1905. However, U.S. Census documents dated April 15, 1910, show her parents living in Manhattan and childless. January 1, 1920 Census documents show Pauline G. Levy, age 9, living with her parents in Kansas City, Missouri. |
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