Paulette Goddard Books

Plain Pauline Marion Levy humble beginnings poor as poor became Paulette Goddard Beautiful, Sexy, Glamorous, Enchanting, Inspiring and Exciting. Charlie Chaplin's Famous Gamine in Modern Times and The Great Dictator, Paulette went on to get the Hollywood nod by being Oscar Nominated for best supporting actress for the wisecracking seductive nurse in So Proudly We Hail 1943. Paulette Goddard was never one to give up so full of life and charm, a great traveller, a free Spirit with wit and intelligence to capture the heart of genius. This book is about Paulette Goddard's Adventurous Life.

I actually read this book in one go which means I throughly enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. Colourful is the best way for me to describe this. Although her film work is documented and looked into and talked about as we go through her life, the main focus I felt was on her marriages, men and party lifestyle. There's also a lot of factual information going on. It must be a difficult task to put something together on this woman; more of a challenge, trying to discover who exactly Paulette Goddard was. It fascinated me that all through her life she never gave anyone the correct answer just toyed with her answer. Even her date of birth and birthplace stated as 3 June 1910, Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York, USA is really still a question mark to everyone including the FBI who started to investigate her during the 1930's. Paulette was a master of deceiving the press, friends and generally playing the Hollywood game. In life no one was given a straight answer it baffled all and made her more intriguing. Paulette was a very smart Woman.

There's two thing's I caught on quick about Paulette Goddard she lifted the Spirit in her men and her life was never a boring one. Her Four husbands are just starters, 1927-1931 Edward, Edwin or Edgar James? Very Rich, if Paulette had her way later in life, she would have forgotten she was married to this one, maybe if it wasn't for the nice divorce settlement. Next up 1936-1942 Charlie Chaplin genius, Paulette played a brilliant game with the press, giving them the run around for years about marriage were they, weren't they? Paulette lifted him from his loneliness; Modern Times was the result. Living with a genius was never easy, although they kept their friendship at a distant later on they had much respect for one another. 1944-1949 Burgess Meredith remarkable actor they were well suited and went into many business enterprises together. 1958-1970 his death, Author Enrich Maria Remarque (All Quiet on the Western Front) another incredible mind, Paulette had finally met her match, Paulette recalls this moment in her life 'all we needed was each other'. George Gershwin wanted to marry her, Clark Gable dated her; Diego Rivera painted her calling her Shimmering spirit, inner fire. Her party scene circles, H.G Wells, Aldous Huxley, Harry Hopkins, Jock Whitney, The king of Yugoslavia, Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir, John Steinbeck, William Saroyan and Stravinsky in later years Andy Warhol and the list goes on. With her men came Furs, Jewels and famous Works of Art, Paulette response "I never give anything back"

All exploits are explained Rumours that spun out of control. The truth about the Paulette/Chaplin marriage. The real reason she didn't get the part in Gone with the Wind. The feud with director Cecil B. DeMille becomes clear. The famous under the table moment at Ciro's with a Director all nicely covered with help from the FBI files.

Paulette came into this world a mystery and wanted to remain one on the way out when asked in the 70's if she was going to write her story `why would I do that I'm still living it' `I'm a free spirit' She was around 66 at the time. If Paulette wanted to see a place she'd just hop on a bus and go there, Paulette had a tendency to do things on a whim her whole life. On her passing so went with her all her secrets. This book was published before she died. So to finish the Story, Paulette Goddard battled breast cancer successfully but sadly died in her home in Ronco Switzerland a few months before her 80th birthday on 23rd April 1990 following a short battle with emphysema. Paulette was buried in Ronco cemetery in Switzerland, next to her late husband Enrich Maria Remarque.

Paulette had no children and was an extremely wealthy woman, toward the end of her life she gave generous endowments to the New York University School of the Arts. They named a residence hall on Washington Square after her and award several scholarships to students in her honor.

Although I clearly throughly enjoyed this, Few have really attempted a piece on this lady. I would love someone like David Stenn to give his written account in a Biography for this star bringing this up to date. What a beautiful Shinning light this woman was.

A.Bowhill

As a Goddard fan, I looked forward to some new insights into her life. But this book doesn't satisfy. It's mostly a rehash of the other information printed about her, with long, rambling paragraphs about people she associated with during her Hollywood days and after. The main problems with this book (besides the fact that it commits the unforgivable sin -- for a movie star bio, at least -- of not including one photograph! -- are the poor writing style and terrible production value. An example of the latter is that you encounter the first of many (many) typos in the fifth line on page one, where the authors recount how Goddard's grandparents moved to Salt Lady City. Later on we learn that Goddard's last husband "because a U.S. citizen" -- maybe he "became" one? The writing is fairly annoying too, with certain words being overused -- one of which is "unique." As well as being overused,the authors make the mistake of using modifiers for it, such as "most unique," "very unique," and "quite unique." Professional writers should know that something is either unique, or it is not. It cannot be a little unique, or a lot unique.

There are also many errors that any fan of Goddard notices right away: the name of Ray Milland's character in "Kitty" is given as "March," although it is "Marcy," actress Vera Zorina's first name is listed as "Zera," actress Eva Gabor's name is listed as "Ava," Goddard's 1940 film "The Ghost Breakers" is referenced as "The Ghost Catchers." You get the idea.

In the end, I enjoyed the book after I got out some paper and a pen to keep track of all these factual, grammatical and typographical errors. Thankfully, I was reading a library copy. You are warned.