Actors

Paula Raymond

Paula Raymond

American leading woman of films and television in the 1950s, whose career was hampered by injuries. Raised in San Francisco, Paula Raymond studied music, dance, and opera as a child. She made her film debut as a child by chance in Keep Smiling (1938) during a visit to Los Angeles. She remained to attend Hollywood High School and to appear in local theater productions. She returned to San Francisco for studies at San Francisco Junior College and, while there, entered into a brief marriage. Divorced, she came back to Hollywood and modeled. Although contracted to Paramount in 1947, she was released without working there and signed instead with Columbia. She made numerous television appearances and low-budget features before MGM signed her and began placing her in more important projects, starting with Adam's Rib (1949). Despite good notices and some successful films, she was eventually released from her contract. She made several unimportant pictures as a freelancer, then left the industry in 1955. She worked a number of non-film related jobs under a variation of her married name, then returned to acting in 1958. She had a long string of success in television, including State Trooper (1956), Mike Hammer (1958), Yancy Derringer (1958), Peter Gunn (1958), and others. This string of successes was shattered in a 1962 car crash. She was very nearly killed and had severe facial damage, requiring massive plastic surgery. Her beauty miraculously recovered, she managed to return to acting within a year and appeared occasionally into the 1970s. A series of subsequent falls injured her repeatedly, and she moved into business interests, though remaining an actor at heart.
Paula Rhodes

Paula Rhodes

Paula was born in Deerlodge, Montana, but spent most of her pivotal years in St. Louis, Missouri. She survived the awkward glasses/braces/acne years thanks in large part to a healthy sense of humor and the ability to laugh at herself. She then went on to study at the University of Missouri, where she majored in Journalism and minored in having a marvelous college experience. She even spent a semester living/studying in London where she fell in love with collecting stamps in her passport. Once back, she agreed to amuse her friends, against her parents' wishes, by entering a pageant. As they announced her name as the winner of first the Miss Junior Missouri, and a few weeks later, the Miss Junior America title one could clearly hear her father exclaim, "WHAT?!" from the audience. However, he was less shocked that she managed to parlay the win into an internship for an acting coach in NYC who was one of the judges. It was during that internship that the pursuit of acting as a profession became less of the pipe dream it had seemed to her in Missouri. She took up internships with a talent agency, casting director, and an advertising agency, determined to learn the business side of all things film. During these NYC years she began to study under acclaimed acting coach, Susan Batson and really got to raise her own bar. Susan called one rainy January Wednesday and told Paula that she had to get to LA for an audition that Friday. This was the catalyst she needed, and after weeks of callbacks and hustling up meetings, Paula had decided that she needed to learn to drive again and make the move to the West Coast permanent. It turned out to be a good decision, as since arriving she's been able to pay her bills doing what she loves. You can now see her in films, on TV, popular web series, in over a dozen national commercials, hear her voice in cartoons, and see her producing skills at work in multiple productions.