Paulette Goddard

At 79 years old, Paulette Goddard physical status not available right now. We will update Paulette Goddard's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Film career

Goddard first appeared in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (1929) and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her exile from James, Goddard, and her mother briefly travelled around Europe before returning to Hollywood. Goddard completed her first film with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee. (1930): A.k.a. She appeared in City Streets (1931), Ladies of the Big House (1931), and The Girl Habit (1931) for Warners (1932). However, Goddard and Goldwyn did not get along, and she started working for Hal Roach Studios in 1932, appearing in a number of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years.

Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin in 1998, a relationship that attracted significant attention from the media. According to Modern Times (1936), Chaplin cast her as Goddard's leading lady in his next box office appearance. Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times characterized her role as "The Gamin," an orphanage girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes the Tramp's companion, her first credited film appearance and primarily positive reviews.

Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin had other projects in mind with Goddard as a co-star, but Goddard feared that the public would lose notice if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She began a life with David O. Selznick and appeared in The Young in Heart (1938). Selznick, who was ecstatic with Goddard's appearance in the film, was well-chosed to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Selznick and director George Cukor knew that Goddard would need training to be effective in the role, but that she kept the choices narrowed down to Goddard and Vivien Leigh, who performed the first Technicolor screen tests for the role. The reason for Goddard's inability on the position was due to several factors. Russell Birdwell, Selznick's public relations manager, had serious reservations about Goddard, writing, "Briefly, I believe she is dynamite that will explode in our very faces if she were to perform." Selznick's biographer Joyce Milton argued that signing Goddard to a deal that could conflict with her pre-existing Chaplin studio employment, she was also concerned about legal issues.

Selznick lent Goddard to MGM for two films during this period: Dramatic School (1938) and The Women (1939), both a male ensemble. The first, directed by Luise Rainer, received poor reviews and failed to find a following. However, The Women, directed by Cukor following his departure from Gone with the Wind, was one of the year's most well-received films. Miriam Aarons, film critic Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a standout." It's fun!"

Goddard signed a Paramount Pictures film in 1939 and was immediately joined by comedian Bob Hope for the horror comedy The Cat and the Canary (1939). The film was a turning point for both their lives and they were reteamed for The Ghost Breakers (1940) and Nothing but the Truth (1941), both of which also included Willie Best. She appeared in Fred Astaire's musical comedy Second Chorus as well as future husband Burgess Meredith. Astaire later described it as "the worst film I ever made," although Shaw admitted that the film made him reconsider an acting career. Chaplin began production on his next film, The Great Dictator (1940), in which Goddard co-starred alongside him as Hannah. The film was released the following year to critical and audience acclaim. However, it would also be her last film with Chaplin, as their union broke soon after.

Goddard made the Cecil B. DeMille Western film North West Mounted Police opposite Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll in 1940. The film, Paramount's first dramatic role, became one of the year's top ten grossing films. She also appeared in another musical comedy Pot o' Gold opposite James Stewart, which was released the following year. Stewart expressed similar feelings toward his film as Astaire, but Goddard's biographer Julie Gilbert said Goddard did not like Stewart's acting, "anyone can gulp." Hold Back the Dawn, Charles Boyer's 1941 romantic drama, received rave reviews.

Goddard made one of her best-remembered film appearances in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm, in which she performed "A Sweater, a Sarong" and a Peek aboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake in 1942. Ray Milland was also paired in the studio with her. Her first match with Milland, The Lady Has Plans, was sluggish by critics and had a mediocre box office appearance. However, she and DeMille were reunited with him and DeMille for the adventure film Reap the Wild Wind. Goddard appeared in a Scarlett O'Hara-type film for the year, as well as Susan Hayward. United Artists, a Chaplin-founded studio, purchased Crystal Ball, a balloon film, and the following year was a disappointing box office revenue. So Proudly We Hail was published in the same year as Goddard's headline So Proudly We Hail! Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake were among Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. At the 16th Academy Awards, Goddard's appearance as Lt. Joan O'Doul, a nurse serving in the Battle of the Philippines, earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She resurfaced in I Love a Soldier, alongside her co-star Sonny Tufts the following year, but with less successful results.

Goddard renegotiated her Paramount film contract in May 1944 to produce two films a year for the first time over a seven-year period. Kitty, the first film under this contract, reunited her with Milland. For the film, Goddard had to learn a cockney accent, for which she was coached by Connie Lupino, mother of actress Ida Lupino. The film was released the following year, becoming the studio's most popular film. She appeared in The Diary of a Chambermaid opposite her husband Burgess Meredith the following year; the couple also made the film for United Artists.

She appeared in two box office tragedies in 1947, including the acclaimed epic Unconquered, which reunited her with Cooper and DeMille; and the comedy An Ideal Husband, which she produced in Britain for Alexander Korda. Despite being one of the year's most popular films, Unconquered's budget was still inflated by going beyond its shooting schedule, causing it to miss money for The film's plot was also mocked, but Goddard and Cooper's performances were lauded. Goddard and DeMille clashed on the set over Goddard's reluctance to do a risky stunt during filming. An Ideal Husband suffered from behind-the-scenes challenges that included a crew attack on Goddard using her personal, Swedish-born hairdresser over an English one. Besides for the United Kingdom, the film greatly underperformed at the box office, being pulled in the United States with several other British films due to a boycott by the radical Zionist organisation Sons of Liberty over British policies in the Palestine Mandate. Goddard reunited with Meredith in a segment of the comedies film On Our Merry Way, which he also produced, later this year. Meredith was also placed on the Hollywood blacklist in the same year as a result of an investigation carried out by the House Un-American Activities Committee (Chaplin would later be added to the blacklist). In two films for Paramount, Hazard (1948) and Bride of Vengeance (1949), Goddard was paired with MacDonald Carey; and, in 1949, he was loaned to Columbia Pictures for the film noir Anna Lucasta. However, all three of the films lost money, and she left the studio in 1949.

Goddard, a retired Paramount and divorcing Meredith, appeared in The Torch (1950), where he also served as an associate producer. In an episode of Four Star Revue, she made her television debut the following year. Her roles in films including film noir opposite Edward G. Robinson and Jezebel's biblical tale Sins of Jezebel failed to capture her earlier work's fascination. "A third-rate British-made whodunit," she said, and "Most likely fly-by-nights like this one would remain"; "Most charming Miss Goddard" may find herself collecting the pieces of a career; in the second episode of Sherlock Holmes starring Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard) as Holmes. She continued to appear in summer stock and television, as guest starring on episodes of Adventures in Paradise, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre.

Source