Paulette Goddard

Born in New York City and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career as a child fashion model and performer in several Broadway productions as a Ziegfeld Girl. In the early 1930s, she moved to Hollywood and gained notice as the romantic partner of actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin, appearing as his leading lady in Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). After signing with Paramount Pictures, Goddard became one of the studio's biggest stars with roles in The Cat and the Canary (1939) with Bob Hope, The Women (1939) with Joan Crawford, North West Mounted Police (1940) with Gary Cooper, Reap the Wild Wind (1942) with John Wayne and Susan Hayward, So Proudly We Hail! (1943) (for which she received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Kitty (1945) with Ray Milland, and Unconquered (1947) with Gary Cooper.


Goddard was noted as a fiercely independent woman for her time, being described by one executive as "dynamite".^[11] Her marriages to Chaplin, the actor Burgess Meredith, and the writer Erich Maria Remarque received substantial media attention. Following her marriage to Remarque, Goddard moved to Switzerland and largely retired from acting. In the 1980s, she became a notable socialite. Goddard died in Switzerland in 1990.

Early life[edit]

Goddard was born in New York City, as Marion Levy, the daughter of Joseph Russell Le Vee, the son of a prosperous cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard.^[12][13] Her parents separated and divorced in 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Le Vee, Alta absconded with the child; to avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, including relocating to Canada at one point.^[12] Goddard did not meet her father again until the late 1930s, after she had become famous.^[14] In a 1938 interview published in Collier's, Goddard claimed Le Vee was not her biological father. In response, Le Vee filed a suit against his daughter, claiming that the interview had ruined his reputation and cost him his job, and demanded financial support from her; Goddard admitted her loss in the case in a December 1945 interview with Life, and was forced to pay her father $35 a week.^[14]


Goddard began modeling after her parents' separation, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her mother's paternal uncle Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld.^[12] In 1926, she made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, No Foolin' under the stage name Paulette Goddard.^[15] Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, Rio Rita, which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play The Unconquerable Male, produced by Archie Selwyn.^[16] However, it was a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City.^[16] Soon after, Goddard was introduced to Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, located in Asheville, North Carolina, by Charles Goddard.^[17] Aged 17, considerably younger than James, she married him on June 28, 1927, in Rye, New York. It was a short marriage, and they separated in 1929; Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1932, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000.^[17]