Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress and dancer who appeared in many films during The Golden Age of Hollywood.
Often making background appearances and cameos, she is best remembered for starring alongside her then-husband Charlie Chaplin in his movies Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940) and for her roles in George Cukor's The Women (1936) and Mitchell Leisen's Kitty (1945). Goddard also earned a nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance in the World War II drama So Proudly We Hail! (1942), but didn't win.
Other things that Goddard is well known for include being one of Fred Astaire's dance partners, her multiple marriages (including to the aforementioned Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and All Quiet on the Western Front author Erich Maria Remarque), and her comic number (along with Veronica Lake and Dorothy Lamour) in the all-star musical Star Spangled Rhythm. She was also in the final running for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and was devastated when she lost to Vivien Leigh.
Goddard's acting career began on stage in many Ziegfeld Follies as a dancer. When she arrived in Hollywood in 1929, she started appearing as extras in MGM films, you might have noticed her in the background of some Laurel and Hardy films. It wasn't until Modern Times that Goddard got lead roles in films. She also made numerous guest appearances on radio (often in adaptations of movies) and later television. Her final role was in a 1972 episode of the NBC Mystery Movie program The Snoop Sisters.
After her retirement from acting Goddard moved to Switzerland, where she devoted the last twenty years of her life to collecting art and being a socialite at many high-profile events, usually wearing a lot of jewelry.
Goddard on TV Tropes:
- Modern Times (1936)
- The Cat and the Canary (1939)
- The Great Dictator (1939)
- The Women (1939, 1955) note
- The Ghost Breakers (1940)
- Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
- Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
- So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
- An Ideal Husband (1947)
