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 by the time she was 16. After her divorce she went to Hollywood in 1931, where she appeared in small roles in pictures for a number of studios. A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond "Goldwyn Girl" in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain. In 1932 she met Charles Chaplin, and they soon became an item around town. He cast her in Modern Times, which was a big hit, but her movie career was not going anywhere due to her relationship with Chaplin. They were secretly married in 1936, but the marriage failed and they were separated by 1940. It was her role as Miriam Aarons in The Women, however, that got her a contract with Paramount. Paulette was one of the many actresses tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but lost the part to Vivien Leigh, and instead appeared with Bob Hope in The Cat and the Canary, a good film but hardly in the same league as GWTW. The 1940s was Paulette's busiest period. She worked with Chaplin in The Great Dictator, Cecil B. DeMille in Reap the Wild Wind and Burgess Meredith in The Diary of a Chambermaid. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in So Proudly We Hail!. In the early 1940s she was one of Paramount's top stars. Tat star faded in the late 1940s, however, and she was dropped by Paramount in 1949. After a couple of "B" movies, she left films and went to live in Europe, where she married German novelist Erich Maria Remarque in the late 1950s. She was coaxed back to the screen once more, although it was the small screen, for the 1972 television movie The Snoop Sisters.
Anna Lucasta (1949): $175,000 + % of profits
Reap the Wild Wind (1942): $35,000
The Lady Has Plans (1942): $5,000/week
Nothing But the Truth (1941): $5,000/week
The Golden Door (1941): $5,000/week
Pot o' Gold (1941): $5,000/week
Second Chorus (1940): $5,000/week
North West Mounted Police (1940): $85,000
The Ghost Breakers (1940): $85,000
The Cat and the Canary (1939): $85,000
The Women (1939): $5,000/week

Left more than US$20 million to New York University on her death. Was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. Her inability to produce a marriage certificate to prove she and Charles Chaplin were married, and the appearance of Vivien Leigh on the scene lost her the part. Was one of the 20 original 'Goldwyn Girls', along with Lucille Ball, Virginia Bruce, Ann Dvorak and Betty Grable. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Had no siblings and no children. Actress Claire Trevor once reminisced on her friendship with Goddard. She said that Goddard was a year older (!) and that they had attended high school and sorority together, and that the guys were "gaga" over the lovely, young Pauline. Measurements: 34-24 1/2-34 (measured in January 1941) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Due to her donation of an estimated twenty million dollars, New York University named a residence hall after her. Paulette Goddard Hall is located at 79 Washington Square East in New York City. NYU's Tisch School of the Arts also named it's main staircase after her and awards several scholarships to students in her honor. Is portrayed by Diane Lane in Chaplin and by Gwen Humble in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War Screenwriter Anita Loos was Paulette's best friend. She reportedly based the character of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Paulette.