Debra Paget is an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s

Debra Paget born August 19, 1933, is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films, including 20th Century Fox's epic Demetrius and the Gladiators, starring Victor Mature, Jay Robinson and Susan Hayward, a sequel to The Robe. She also appeared in Love Me Tender, the film début of Elvis Presley. Paget was born in Denver, Colorado as Debralee Griffin, one of five siblings born to Frank H. and Margaret Griffin. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Margaret, a former actress, was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. Three of Paget's siblings, Mareta ("Judith Gibson", "Teala Loring"), Lezlie ("Lisa Gaye"), and Frank ("Ruell Shayne") all entered show business. 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. From 1950-56 she 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. Paget's first notable film role was as "Teena Riconti", girlfriend of the character played by Richard Conte, in Cry of the City, a 1948 film noir 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 for Fox was the successful Broken Arrow with James Stewart. Paget played an Indian maiden, Sonseeahray ("Morningstar"), who gives up her life to save Stewart's character. Paget again played an Indian Princess 'Appearing Day' in White Feather (1955) along with Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter and later at MGM replaced Anne Bancroft in The Last Hunt. In 1953, wearing a blonde wig, she auditioned along with, among others, Anita Ekberg and Irish McCalla, for the starring role in Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, which went to McCalla. Paget went on to starring roles in a variety of films. Paget also appeared in "The Ten Commandments" in 1956. In 1958, Paget was married for four months to actor and singer David Street; the marriage was annulled. In 1960, she married Budd Boetticher, a prominent director. They separated after just 22 days, and their divorce became official in 1961. Paget left the entertainment industry in 1964 after marrying Louis C. Kung, a Chinese-American oil industry executive and nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. This third marriage produced a son, Gregory, but ended in divorce in 1980. During production of Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley became smitten with Paget, who in 1997 claimed the singer even proposed marriage. At the time, however, the media reported that she was romantically linked with Howard Hughes and nothing came of this

Gallery for vintage actress Debra Paget