thumb|upright|[[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly and Raymond in Maverick (1961)]]

Paula Raymond (born Paula Ramona Wright; November 23, 1924 – December 31, 2003) was an American model and actress who played the leading lady in numerous films and television series, including Crisis (1950) with Cary Grant. She was the niece of American pulp-magazine editor Farnsworth Wright.

Early years

Raymond was born on November 23, 1924, as Paula Ramona Wright in San Francisco, California. Her father was a corporate lawyer. She attended St. Brigid School. Following her parents' divorce, Raymond and her mother moved to Los Angeles.

As a child, Raymond studied ballet, piano and singing. She was a member of both the San Francisco Opera Company and the San Francisco Children's Opera Company. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1942.

In 1952, she costarred in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. In 1954, she starred as Queen Berengaria in the film King Richard and the Crusaders. She also starred in the 1955 Western The Gun That Won the West.

Raymond also used the screen name of Rae Patterson while working for Paramount Pictures. and the role went instead to Amanda Blake. She said, "I didn't want to play a woman who worked in a saloon, week after week. I have a freckle on my face, and I sometimes put a beauty mark over it. They even put it on Amanda Blake, who finally got the part—although it was put on the opposite side from mine. I wanted them to soften the character but didn't think they’d do it. As it turned out, the character wasn't a trashy woman at all. She was just the type I would have liked to have played."

In 1962, Raymond was a passenger in a car that crashed into a tree on Sunset Boulevard. Her nose was severed by the rearview mirror. After more than a year of extensive plastic surgery and recovery, she returned to acting. In 1977, while working on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, after only three appearances, she accidentally tripped on a telephone cord and broke her ankle, and her character was removed from the show. In 1984, she broke both hips, and in 1994, she broke her shoulder.

In 1944, Raymond married Floyd Leroy Patterson. In 1946, they divorced shortly after the birth of their daughter, Raeme Dorene Patterson. In 1993, Raymond's daughter died.

Death

On December 31, 2003, Raymond died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from a series of respiratory ailments. She was 79. She is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Partial filmography

  • Keep Smiling (1938) - Bettina Bowman
  • Variety Girl (1947) - Variety Girl (uncredited)
  • Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) - Companion (uncredited)
  • Rusty Leads the Way (1948) - Louise Adams
  • Sealed Verdict (1948) - WAC guard for Erika
  • Racing Luck (1948) - Natalie Gunther
  • Blondie's Secret (1948) - Dr. Mason's Nurse (uncredited
  • Challenge of the Range (1949) - Judy Barton
  • Adam's Rib (1949) - Emerald - Kip's Girlfriend (uncredited)
  • Holiday Affair (1949) - Girl at Drinking Fountain (uncredited)
  • East Side, West Side (1949) - Joan Peterson - Bourne's Secretary (uncredited)
  • Crisis (1950) - Helen Ferguson
  • Duchess of Idaho (1950) - Ellen Hallet
  • Devil's Doorway (1950) - Orrie Masters
  • Grounds for Marriage (1951) - Agnes Oglethorpe Young
  • Inside Straight (1951) - Zoe Carnot
  • The Tall Target (1951) - Ginny Beaufort
  • Texas Carnival (1951) - Marilla Sabinas
  • The Sellout (1952) - Peggy Stauton
  • The Bandits of Corsica (1953) - Christina
  • The Story of Three Loves (1953) - Mrs. Campbell (segment "Mademoiselle") (uncredited)
  • City That Never Sleeps (1953) - Kathy Kelly
  • The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - Lee Hunter
  • King Richard and the Crusaders (1954) - Queen Berengaria
  • The Human Jungle (1954) - Pat Danforth
  • The Gun That Won the West (1955) - Mrs. Maxine Gaines
  • The Flight That Disappeared (1961) - Marcia Paxton
  • The Law and Mr. Jones (1961) TV series - Carla Hayes - ep."The Concert"
  • Hand of Death (1962) - Carol Wilson
  • Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969) - Countess Townsend
  • Five Bloody Graves (1969) - Kansas Kelly
  • Mind Twister (1993) - Agnes

Bibliography

References

  • Paula Raymond interview at www.westernclippings.com