Paulette Goddard, the gamin star of more than 40 films of the 1930s and ‘40s, died Monday at her home in southern Switzerland.
Probably best known for her appearances opposite Charlie Chaplin in “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator,” she was believed to be 84 but reports of her age varied by as much as 15 years.
“Any woman who would tell her age would tell anything,” she said as long ago as 1936.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, said Pia DellaMora, a municipal employee in Ronco, Switzerland, where the actress had her villa. A household member told the Associated Press that Miss Goddard had been ill briefly but offered no specifics.
Her husbands included a wealthy lumber industrialist, and actors Chaplin (although their secretive, puzzling 1936 marriage in China was revealed only at their 1942 divorce hearing in Mexico) and Burgess Meredith. Her last marriage was to novelist Erich Maria Remarque who died in 1970.
She had lived almost exclusively in Europe in luxurious retirement since her 1958 marriage to Remarque, author of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” returning only occasionally to the United States for a small TV role in the 1970s and to promote her husband’s last novel, “Shadows in Paradise,” published after his death.
Born Marion Levee in Whitestone, N.Y., she began her career in a Florenz Ziegfeld revue because her uncle prevailed on his friend Ziegfeld to try her in a small role in “Rio Rita.”
She married industrialist Edgar James while supposedly still in her teens but went to Reno in 1931 to divorce him, and continued West to Hollywood where she was cast as a Goldwyn Girl in “The Kid From Spain.”
Unlike most film stars of the day, Miss Goddard was tanned and athletic--addicted to tennis and long walks. She was viewed by her fans as saucy and mischievous but by Hollywood executives as a hard-boiled business woman who carefully invested her film earnings.
In 1940, her father sued her, complaining the $300 a month support she gave him was inadequate. In his suit, he claimed she had $5,000 a week to spend on “whims.”
Miss Goddard responded that it was because he had failed to keep up the $10 weekly alimony awarded her mother after her parents’ divorce that she was forced to go to work at such an early age.
She developed a penchant for expensive gems (most of them gifts from the men in her life) which she supposedly kept in an old cigar box. In 1947, she insured her diamonds, emeralds and rubies for $500,000, an extraordinary figure for that time.
(Some of her jewels, including a necklace with 50 diamonds, are being sold this week by Sotheby’s, said a spokeswoman for the New York City auction house. In 1979, she sold for $3.1 million her collection of 30 Cezanne, Renoir and Monet paintings.)
Over the years Miss Goddard appeared in such movies as Cecil B. De Mille’s “Northwest Mounted Police,” in which she played a tempestuous half-breed siren, and in his “Unconquered,” in which she bathed in a barrel.
She also starred in “The Women,” “Hold Back the Dawn,” “Reap the Wild Wind,” “Star Spangled Rhythm,” “So Proudly We Hail,” “Kitty,” “Duffy’s Tavern,” “Diary of a Chambermaid” and “Suddenly It’s Spring.”
She was reported to be a leading candidate for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” but the part eventually went to Vivien Leigh.
Her last screen role was as Claudia Cardinale’s mother in the 1964 Italian film “Time of Indifference.”
ACTRESS REMEMBERED--Death removes yet another star of Hollywood’s Golden Years. F1
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FAQs
She also starred in "The Women," "Hold Back the Dawn," "Reap the Wild Wind," "Star Spangled Rhythm," "So Proudly We Hail," "Kitty," "Duffy's Tavern," "Diary of a Chambermaid" and "Suddenly It's Spring."
What is Paulette Goddard famous for? ›
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.
Who was the most famous actor in the 1930s? ›
Who is the most popular movie star of the 1930s? James Stewart tops our list. Known for playing everyday men with real-life problems, James Stewart appeared in some of the most popular films of all-time in his over 50-year career. Other great 1930s male actors include Carey Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and Henry Fonda.
What happened to actress Paulette Goddard? ›
She retired from the film world for good. On 23 April 1990, she died of emphysema and heart failure in Ronco, Switzerland, at the age of 79.
What was the first name of the 1930s actress Miss Goddard? ›
Paulette Goddard was a child model who debuted in "The Ziegfeld Follies" at the age of 13. She gained fame with the show as the girl on the crescent moon, and was married to a wealthy man, Edgar James, by the time she was 17.
What is Goddard famous for? ›
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945) is considered the father of modern rocket propulsion. A physicist of great insight, Goddard also had a unique genius for invention. It is in memory of this brilliant scientist that NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was established on May 1, 1959.
Was Paulette Goddard a natural blonde? ›
Not only did he persuade her to forget this dodgy deal, but also to revert her hair color to its natural brunette - Paulette had become a Hollywood platinum blonde, possibly in a bid to win her more parts from studios.
Who was the biggest star of the 1930s? ›
Biggest stars of the 1930's
- Bela Lugosi. Actor. ...
- Charles Chaplin. Writer. Actor. ...
- James Cagney. Actor. Director. ...
- Fredric March. Actor. Soundtrack Inherit the Wind (1960) ...
- Miriam Hopkins. Actress. Soundtrack Trouble in Paradise (1932) ...
- Leslie Howard. Actor. Producer. ...
- Lionel Barrymore. Actor. Director. ...
- Clark Gable. Actor.
The glamorous studio portraits of the Thirties and Forties present British stars who were the idols of millions throughout the world: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, James Mason, Margaret Lockwood.
Who was the comedy star of the 1930s? ›
Kinda before my time, but I'll try: Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, The 3 stooges, Charlie Chaplin, WC Fields, Groucho Marx (I know there are more but…) Wow, just start watching some of the great classic comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s. The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Powell and Loy, etc.
In 1958, Goddard remarried for the final time to writer Erich Maria Remarque, who was twelve years her senior. Wealthy from shrewd investments, she largely retired from acting and moved with him to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland, where she lived with Remarque in his villa Casa Monte Tabor.
How old was Paulette Goddard when she married? ›
Paulette Goddard was a child model who debuted in "The Ziegfeld Follies" at the age of 13. She gained fame with the show as the girl on the crescent moon, and was married to a wealthy man, Edgar James, by the time she was 17.
How old was Charlie Chaplin when he married Oona? ›
When Charlie Chaplin married Oona O'Neill in June 1943, he at last found true happiness, and it seems they had both found their soul mates, despite the fact that Oona was only 18, and Charlie was 53.
Who was the missing actress in the 1940s? ›
Jean Elizabeth Spangler (September 2, 1923 – disappeared October 7, 1949) was an American actress who appeared in bit parts in several Hollywood films in the late 1940s. She garnered public attention for her mysterious disappearance in late 1949.
Who was the American child actress in the 1930s? ›
Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney: Hollywood's Child Stars of the 1930s.
What was Halle Berry's first name at birth? ›
Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, though her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry in 1971. Berry's parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith Ann, who is Caucasian, was a psychiatric nurse.
How did Robert Goddard become famous? ›
In addition to building and launching the first liquid-fueled rocket, Goddard also was the first to put scientific instruments on a rocket. Among his other inventions was the concept of using gyroscopes to stabilize rockets, and steering rockets by using moveable vanes to deflect exhaust gas.
What is Liza Goddard famous for? ›
Liza Goddard was born on January 20, 1950 in Smethwick, Sandwell, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Doctor Who (1963), Woof! (1989) and The Intruders (1969).
