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Paula Raymond Profile
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| (Paula Ramona Wright) |
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| 23 November 24 | is born in San Francisco, California. Her father is a distinguished attorney; her grandfather is famous pioneer magazine editor Farnsworth Wright. Her mother’s maiden name is Martin. |
| is raised in San Francisco and studies music, dance, and opera as a child |
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| ? | becomes a member of the San Francisco Opera Ballet and the San Francisco Children's Opera Company |
| 37 | by chance, she makes her film debut as a child during a visit to Los Angeles |
| ? | studies pre-law at Hollywood High School and San Francisco Junior College. Her attorney father wants his only child to follow in his footsteps. |
| ? | returns to San Francisco for studies at San Francisco Junior College and has a brief marriage |
| ? | appears in a television short seen by George Cukor, MGM director. Cukor's impressed by the sincerity of her voice and by her eyes. He recommends her for a test at the studio. |
| ? | is put under contract at MGM because of her close resemblance to Myrna Loy. When asked if other people say she looks like Myrna, she says, "I've bee hearing it ever since I was 10 years old." |
| 38 | debuts in Keep Smiling |
| 44 | marries Marine Captain Floyd Leroy Patterson |
| 13 March 46 | her daughter, Raeme Doreen, is born in Los Angeles |
| ? | divorces Patterson. Patterson will die at age 73 in 1986 in Los Angeles. |
| ? | starts modeling under the name of Rae Patterson |
| 47 | returns to Hollywood and signs with Paramount, Columbia, and, finally, MGM. Paul Stewart directs her screen test, a scene from Night and Day, at Paramount. |
| 49 | develops a crush on James Mason, with whom she stars in East Side, West Side |
| September 49 | is MGM’s new find. The press notes that, in fact, she's Rae Patterson, a former Paramount stock girl. |
| 50 | has some problems with director Anthony Mann while filming The Devil's Doorway. He wants to get her into bed. |
| December 50 | marriage rumors trail her and Richard Anderson, both on MGM's Stars of Tomorrow list |
| March 51 | will star with James Whitmore in Come Again Another Time |
| September 51 | her escort at the Mocambo is Mike McCausland. He's with a Los Angeles morning newspaper. |
| December 51 | she and her long-time admirer, Mike McCausland, don't date anymore |
| April 52 | is bounced at MGM. She gets her notice after touring the States, reciting the wonders of Movietime U.S.A. |
| August 52 | columnist Hedda Hopper reports that Paula was signed for the lead in The Monster from Beneath the Sea, which Mutual Productions will make as a sort of modern King Kong |
| Mid-August 52 | meets Eddie LeBaron, the football star, at a Hollywood charity football game. Columnist Jimmy Fidler reports "love at first sight." |
| Early September 52 | Fidler thinks that she and LeBaron are hot prospects for a runaway marriage |
| October 52 | advertises for Sunbeam, Better Baked Bread |
| Fall 53 | is the frequent date of producer Bert Friedlob, estranged husband of actress Eleanor Parker |
| October 53 | is seen dining at the Luau with Friedlob |
| 54 | her costar in King Richard and the Crusaders, George Sanders, tries to seduce her |
| May 54 | columnist Erskine Johnson writes that she holds the key to George Sanders' heart. He advises to "watch this romance!" |
| January 55 | like Wanda Hendrix, Martha Vickers, and Mary Beth Hughes, she has become a "has-been" by Hollywood standards and is now involved in a television renaissance |
| 55 | declines a role in Battle Cry. Dorothy Malone gets the part. |
| ? | leaves the industry and works in several jobs under a variation of her married name |
| 58 | returns to acting |
| 3 July 58 | she, Allison Hayes, and four other models guest on the "Vendetta in Venice" episode of Ray Milland's "Markham" TV series |
| ? | turns down the role of Kitty Russell on "Gunsmoke." Amanda Blake gets the part. |
| August 59 | is a one-woman movie production company operated on a shoestring. Her first production is a documentary film that she makes for the American Friends Services Committee about the place of the American Indian in modern society. As for her future she says: "I hope I end up better than I started out." |
| November 59 | her professional mailing address is ABC, 1539 North Vine Street, Hollywood 28, California |
| 60 | dates her co-star in Shotgun Slade, Scott Brady, who tries to back her up to the kitchen sink while her mother's upstairs |
| c. 60 | Bill O’Connor dies on the last day of shooting of “Wyatt Earp.” Hugh O’Brian gives a party on Saturday night to take her mind off it. Afterwards, he takes her home and wants her to play with his “ding-ding.” |
| is near the Salton Sea area, California, to film a documentary on the plight of the American Southwestern Indians |
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| May 60 | confesses "I wasn't happy with my career and when my long-term contract at MGM was over I decided to go to USC. Among other things I studied cinematography. Being busy is the best beauty tonic I know." |
| 20 August 62 | is driven down Sunset Boulevard by her friend, Gloria Beutel, who loses control of the car and hits a tree. The rear view mirror crushes and takes her nose off completely. The car overturns six or eight times, and she is pulled out seconds before it explodes. |
| End August 62 | her fiancé, Robert Harris, tells columnist Harrison Carroll that the bandages were removed from the lower part of her nose, which was almost obliterated and had to be reconstructed by a plastic surgeon. "The nostrils look alright," he says. "The bridge still is bandaged, but the doctor declares it could be fixed in a later operation." Gloria Beutel's worst injury is a deep gash under the chin. Some muscles were cut. |
| even after five-and-a-half hours of plastic surgery, a slight disfigurement remains |
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| 63 | her beauty recovered, she returns to acting |
| January 63 | is seen at the Villa Nova with Robert Harris |
| 22 November 65 | marries aircraft executive H. Leslie Williams in Los Angeles. He's 61; she's 40. |
| 9 May 66 | Williams files for divorce in Los Angeles charging her with cruelty. He's 61; she's 41. |
| 67 | films Blood of Dracula's Castle at a real castle in Indio, California |
| 77 | gets a role on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives," but, due to a telephone cord wound around her left foot, she falls and breaks her leg badly and has to leave the show |
| 5 February 93 | as Raeme Doreen Cash, her daughter dies at age 46 in Los Angeles, California |
| 99 | works on her book I Was Born Right, Where Did I Go Wrong, or The Misadventures of a Dumb Dame |
| 03 | is a resident of West Hollywood |
| is in bad health |
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| 31 December 03 | dies at age 79 of respiratory ailments, after a long illness, in West Hollywood, California. She is survived by a granddaughter. |
| 10 January 04 | her best friend, Sally Carrocino, reports her death to the press |
| Sources: Westerns Women by Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald, Screen Sirens Scream! by Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell, Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen, The Progress, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Oakland Tribune, The Daily Register, Council Bluffs Iowa Nonpareil, The Zanesville Signal, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, The Monessen Daily Independent, Nevada State Journal, Gazette and Bulletin, The Era, Redlands, Statesville Record & Landmark, Sunday Times Signal, The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, The Chronicle-Telegram, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: Screen Sirens Scream! by Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell Westerns Women by Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald | |
| Links: Filmography Brian's Drive-In Theater: Paula Raymond | |