Debra Paget (b. August 19, 1933) is an American actress and entertainer who made a name for herself in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films including Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments and Love Me Tender, the film debut of Elvis Presley.

Early life and career

Debra Paget was born in Denver, Colorado to show-business parents. Her birth name was Debralee Griffin; she later took the stage name of Paget from two of her ancestors, Lord and Lady Paget of England. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Her mother, actress Margaret Griffin, was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. This ambition was realized: Paget's sisters Judith ("Teala Loring") and Lezlie ("Lisa Gaye"), and her brother Frank ("Ruell Shayne") all entered the business as either cast or crew. ^*

Paget had her first professional job at age 8, and acquired some stage experience at 13 when she acted in a 1946 production of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800041590/bio In the period 1950-1956 she also took part in six original radio plays for Family Theater. During those same years, she read parts in four episodes of Lux Radio Theater, sharing the microphone with such actors as Burt Lancaster, Tyrone Power, Cesar Romero, Ronald Colman, and Robert Stack. The latter set included dramatizations of two of her feature films. [http://www.originaloldradio.com/debra_paget_collection.html

Paget's first notable film role was as "Tina Riconti" in Cry of the City, a 1948 crime drama directed by Robert Siodmak. Fresh out of high school in 1949, she acted in three other films before being signed by 20th Century-Fox. ^*

Her first vehicle under Fox was 1950's Broken Arrow, a film that James Stewart credits with reviving his acting career after World War 2. (Stewart served in the Air Force reserve, rising to the rank of Major General.) Paget played an Indian maiden who gives up her life to save Stewart's character. A box office success, the film was good for her career too. She went on to starring roles in a variety of films, appearing along with such durable actors as James Stewart, Richard Basehart, Michael Rennie, Cornel Wilde, Raymond Massey, Vincent Price, Charleton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anthony Quinn, Edward G. Robinson, Joseph Cotten, Robert Wagner and Donald Crisp.

Selected film roles

Belles on their Toes

Released in 1950, Cheaper by the Dozen is based on the real-life story of efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth and his large family. Belles on Their Toes is the 1952 sequel starring Robert Arthur, Jeanne Crain and Myrna Loy. Paget replaced Patti Bailey as "Martha Gilbreth", the third oldest daughter, in the well-regarded comedy.

House of Strangers

In this film from early in her career, Paget plays "Maria Domenico", a largely decorative role. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the 1948 film noir classic stars Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, and Richard Conte as the chief members of the turbulent Monetti family. (The film is also known as East Side Story.)

Princess of the Nile

Set in A.D. 1249, this 1954 film stars Paget in dual roles as Shalimar, an Egyptian princess striving to rid her country of its Bedouin conquerors, and as Taura the dancing girl. Via a secret underground canal, the regal princess swims to the seedy establishment in town where as the fiery Taura, she plies her terpsichorean wares -- and is a cunning spy against the forces of evil, as personified by Michael Rennie who plays the Bedouin bad guy. The Technicolor production also features Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Ansara, Jack Elam, and Lee van Cleef. It is typical action-adventure fare, notable chiefly for Taura's energetic dance numbers which the Hays Office, following its prohibition of suggestive dancing, reportedly trimmed.

White Feather

A sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans distinguishes this 1955 film from most others of its period. It shares that quality with Paget's earlier Broken Arrow. It tells the story of the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s. Here she plays "Appearing Day", the daughter of a chief. Like Paget's character in Broken Arrow, Appearing Day falls in love with a white cavalry officer; unlike in the earlier film, she does not die as a result, but weds her paramour. Robert Wagner is the cavalry officer here. Jeffrey Hunter and Hugh O'Brian play Indian braves.

Seven Angry Men

This 1955 historical drama stars Raymond Massey reprising his role in Santa Fe Trail as the abolitionist John Brown. Jeffrey Hunter portrays Owen, Brown's eldest son. Paget is "Elizabeth Clark", Owen's love interest. Although the performances of all three actors are generally praised, reviews of the film are mixed. ^* *

The Haunted Palace

Vincent Price stars in this 1963 horror film, which was Debra Paget's last feature film. Lon Chaney, Jr. also makes one of his last screen appearances. Roger Corman directs. Though it is billed as based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe, and was filmed in the middle of Corman's "Poe cycle", the film actually owes much more to the writing of H. P. Lovecraft. Paget is "Ann Ward", one of the residents of the New England village menaced by Price when his spirit returns to possess the body of a visiting descendant and seek revenge on the descendants of those who burned him at the stake. ^*

Leaving the studio system

The Hollywood studio system dominated American feature film production in the first half of the 20th century. Under it, actors signed exclusive contracts to make films for a major studio such as Fox. In return, they were slated for a specific number of films and could count on appearing with some of the top stars of the day in films produced with at least reasonable competence. Thus, actors just starting out could be sure of getting experience and exposure.

It was a system that worked well, at first, for Paget; she had beauty and talent, and her early Fox films did well, so the studio bolstered her film career. However, by the mid-50s it was clear to Fox executives that she could not carry a film on her own. Also, in 1955 she broke the exclusivity clause of her contract: White Feather was not a Fox film. The studio dropped her contract; 1957's The River's Edge was the last film she made for Fox.

After that, Paget's career began to decline. She was typically cast in "exotic" roles such as South Sea Island maidens or middle-eastern harem girls. She travelled to Germany in 1959 to join the cast of Fritz Lang's two-film adventure saga (called in America Journey to the Lost City) in a role that recalled her Shalimar/Taura of Princess of the Nile. Like the Egyptian epic, "Lost City" is remembered chiefly for her energetic dance scenes. She acted in a pair of films shot in Italy. Her final feature film was The Haunted Palace, a 1963 horror film directed by Roger Corman for American International Pictures.

Paget had done television work, both comedy and drama, throughout her career. Her last performance in this medium was a December 1965 episode of Burke's Law. She retired from entertainment in 1965, after marrying a wealthy Chinese-American oil executive.

Paget turned to Christianity. She hosted her own show, An Interlude with Debra Paget on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), a Christian network, in the early 90's, and also was involved in Praise the Lord. She comes out of retirement occasionally to appear on TBN as a guest. [http://www.geocities.com/showbizfamily/ Currently, she lives in or near Houston, Texas where her sisters Meg and Lezlie Gae (stage name: Lisa Gaye) also reside.

Marriages and other relationships

In 1958, Paget was married for four months to actor and singer David Street; the marriage was annulled. She married Budd Boetticher, a prominent director, in 1960. They separated after 22 days, and their divorce became official in 1961. (In his later years, Boetticher ascribed the failure of his marriage to Paget to the daunting difficulties he encountered when he went to Mexico to make a film about the life of his friend, legendary bullfighter Carlos Arruza.) ^* * Paget left the entertainment field in 1964 after marrying Louis C Kung, a Chinese-American nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek who was successful in the oil industry. This third marriage produced a son, Greg. Kung and Paget were divorced in 1980.

Paget was involved with Elvis Presley, her co-star in Love Me Tender. She claimed in a 1997 interview that he had wanted to marry her. She reportedly also kept company with Howard Hughes. [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800041590/bio

Currently (as of June 2005) she is married to Jeffrey F. Berg, a retired engineering consultant. Berg is a Cornell University graduate (MEng '80, MBA '81) and has been active in volunteer work for the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell. The Johnson School named its laboratory The Debra Paget and Jeffrey Berg Business Simulation Laboratory. ^*

Trivia

• During the year after Princess of the Nile was released, the fan mail for Debra Paget received at 20th Century-Fox was topped only by that for Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. ^*

• She tried out for the title role in the 1955 TV series Sheena: Queen of the Jungle but lost out to Irish McCalla. [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0047771/

• In 1987, the Motion Picture & Television Fund presented Paget with its Golden Boot Award. This award is presented to actors, writers, directors and stunt crew who "have contributed so much to the development and preservation of the western tradition in film and television." [http://www.mptvfund.org/events/gba.htm

• Paget's mother was herself an actress with 124 films to her credit. Born September 14, 1894 in Colorado Springs, she had several stage names and was credited as "Patricia Palmer" in her later films, but most commonly went by the name of Margaret Gibson. She died of a heart attack October 21, 1964 in Hollywood. On her deathbed, she reportedly confessed to murdering actor-director William Desmond Taylor. ^*

Dramatic Presentations

Feature films

TV Appearances

• THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR (Season 5, Episode 9) – Herself
  Original Air Date: 28 November 1954

• THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR (Season 5, Episode 20) – Herself
  Original Air Date: 13 March 1955

• The 20th Century-Fox Hour: "Gun in His Hand" (dir. Lewis Allen) – "Mary Conners"
  4 April 1956 (Season 1, Episode 13)

• The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956 (as herself, in a skit with Elvis Presley) ^*

• CLIMAX!: "The Man Who Lost His Head" – "Maria"
  Original Air Date: 26 July 1956 (Season 2, Episode 40)

• CLIMAX!: "Carnival at Midnight" – "Natalie"
  Original Air Date: 3 January 1957 (Season 3, Episode 12)

• Premiere Performance (1957 series) Alternated as host with Jeffrey Hunter

• CIMARRON CITY: "The Beauty and the Sorrow" – "Margaret"
  Original Air Date: 7 February 1959 (Season 1, Episode 18)

• WAGON TRAIN: "The Marie Dupree Story" – "Marie Dupree"
  Original Air Date: 19 March 1958 (Season 1, Episode 25)

• WAGON TRAIN: "The Stagecoach Story" – "Angela DeVarga"
  Original Air Date: 30 September 1959 (Season 3, Episode 1)

• RIVERBOAT: "The Unwilling" – "Lela Candida"
  Original Air Date: 11 October 1959 (Season 1, Episode 5)

• THE MAN AND THE CHALLENGE: "Invisible Force" – "Liza Dantes"
  Original Air Date: 17 October 1959 (Season 1, Episode 6)

• THE DUPONT SHOW WITH JUNE ALLYSON: "No Place to Hide" – "Eve Barnes"
  Original Air Date: 21 December 1959 (Season 1, Episode 13)

• JOHNNY RINGO: "East is East" – "Agnes St. John"
  Original Air Date: 7 January 1960 (Season 1, Episode 14)

• THE MILLIONAIRE: "Millionaire Mara Robinson" – "Mara Robinson"
  Original Air Date: 26 April 1960 (Season 6, Episode 31)

• TALES OF WELLS FARGO: "Man of Another Breed" – "Kate Timmons"
  Original Air Date: 2 December 1961 (Season 6, Episode 10)

• RAWHIDE: "Incident in the Garden of Eden" (1960) – "Laura Ashley"
  Original Air Date: 17 June 1960 (Season 2, Episode 31)

• RAWHIDE: "The Hostage Child" (1962) – " Estuella Briscoe"
  Original Air Date: 9 March 1962 (Season 4, Episode 22)

• BURKE'S LAW: "Who Killed Eleanora Davis?" – "Juliet"
  Original Air Date: 20 December 1963 (Season 1, Episode 13)

• BURKE'S LAW: "Who Killed Wimbledon Hastings?" – "Helen Harper"
  Original Air Date: 3 February 1965 (Season 2, Episode 20)

Radio Plays

Family Theater

• 1950-11-29 "The Clown" – Debra Paget, Stephen Dunn
• 1952-01-23 "The Thinking Machine" – Donald O'Connor, Debra Paget
• 1953-02-11 "The Indispensable Man" – Lisa Gaye, Robert Stack, Debra Paget
• 1953-12-09 "The Legend of High Chin Bob" – Debra Paget, Walter Brennan
• 1955-07-27 "Fairy Tale" – Debra Paget, Jack Haley
• 1956-11-07 "Integrity" – Debra Paget, Cesar Romero

Lux Radio Theater

• 1951-01-22 "Broken Arrow" – Burt Lancaster, Deborah Paget
• 1952-09-22 "I'll Never Forget You" – Tyrone Power, Debra Paget, Michael Pate
• 1952-12-22 "Les Miserables" – Ronald Colman, Debra Paget, Robert Newton
• 1953-04-20 "Deadline USA" – Dan Dailey, Debra Paget, William Conrad

References

Family notes by Debra Paget's niece

A short Yahoo! biography of Paget

Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs

The Debra Paget Collection at Radio of Yesteryear

Star Pulse biography of Paget

[http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0048602/usercomments IMDB users' comments on ?Seven Angry Men

New York Times film reviews

IMDB users' comments on The Haunted Palace

Ride Lonesome: "The Career of Budd Boetticher"

Crossing the Line: "Budd Boetticher (1916-2001)"

The Johnson School alumni newsletter for June, 2005

Elvis' Women

IMDB page on Sheena: Queen of the Jungle

IMDB biography for "Patricia Palmer"

External links

• Elvis' Women: Debra Paget

• An essay on Paget's lack of "star quality"

• IMDB pages for Debra Paget

• Yahoo! biography of Paget

• Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs

See also

• Budd Boetticher and the Westerns of Ranown {sic}

• The Studio System

• The Formation of Twentieth Century-Fox

Print sources

Articles

• Wandworth, James, "Ready for love", Motion Picture and Television Magazine (USA), July 1953, Vol. 85, Issue 6, pp. 38-39 & 73-74

• Weaver, Tom, "First Maid in the Moon", Starlog (USA), April 1998, Issue 249, pp. 63-67

• Weaver, Tom, "Working in the B's", Classic Images (USA), September 2002, Issue 327, pp. 65-68

• Kinchlow, Ben, "Praise the Lord", TBN Newsletter (USA), 2001, Vol. 28, Issue 9

Books

1933 births | Living people | American actors | American film actors | American radio actors | American television actors | Western movie actresses | People from Denver

Debra Paget | Debra Paget