Paula Raymond, 79; MGM Leading Lady in ‘50s, Prolific TV Actress

Paula Raymond, an MGM leading lady and supporting player in the early 1950s who played opposite Cary Grant and other top stars, and later had a prolific career in early television until she was seriously injured in a car accident, has died. She was 79.

Raymond, a West Hollywood resident who had been in ill health for the last year, died Dec. 31 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Sally Carrocino, Raymond’s longtime friend.

A striking brunet who was under contract to Paramount and Columbia before signing with MGM in 1949, Raymond appeared in “Crisis,” a suspense drama, opposite Grant; “Devil’s Doorway,” a western opposite Robert Taylor; “Duchess of Idaho,” a romantic musical comedy starring Van Johnson and Esther Williams; and “The Tall Target,” a crime-drama co-starring Dick Powell.

After leaving MGM, Raymond co-starred in the film for which she is best remembered: “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” the low-budget, 1953 science-fiction classic about a carnivorous dinosaur frozen in the Arctic ice until it is awakened by atomic testing.

“It was the first film I did after leaving MGM, and, compared to the production values of a big studio, it was embarrassing,” Raymond once said. “Of course, the movie was later bought by Warners, was a huge hit and has become an important cult film.”

Raymond also made dozens of guest appearances on television, including “General Electric Theater,” “Perry Mason,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “The Untouchables,” “Have Gun Will Travel,” “Maverick” and “Wyatt Earp.”

“You didn’t turn the television on in the 1950s without seeing this woman -- she worked so frequently,” said Michael Fitzgerald, who interviewed Raymond for his 1999 book “Westerns Women,” co-written with Boyd Magers.

Raymond’s acting career was sidetracked in 1962 when she was involved in a near-fatal car crash that severely damaged her face and required extensive plastic surgery. She returned to work within a year of the accident.

“But that pretty much ended her career,” said Carrocino, who first met Raymond 20 years ago when the actress was working as a secretary.

Raymond was born Paula Ramona Wright in San Francisco. Encouraged by her mother, she studied ballet, music, piano and voice as a child and sang coloratura roles in junior opera productions.

As a teenager, she spent time in Hollywood, where her mother owned property. She made her film debut in 1938 opposite Jane Withers in “Keep Smiling,” a Hollywood-set comedy. Billed as Paula Rae Wright, Raymond played a spoiled child star, complete with Shirley Temple-style blond curls.

Raymond attended Hollywood High School but returned to San Francisco, where she attended college and appeared with theater groups. A wartime marriage to Marine Corps Capt. Floyd Patterson ended in divorce after two years.

To support her young daughter, Raeme, Raymond returned to Hollywood and worked as a secretary and model, which included posing for the cover of True Confessions magazine.

She also relaunched her movie career, working first as an extra. Signed to a contract at Paramount, where she was billed as Rae Patterson, she played small roles in a handful of films.

In 1947, after a year at Paramount, she was signed by Columbia, where, as Paula Raymond, she spent two years appearing in B movies and had her first leading role, in “Challenge of the Range,” a 1949 western with Charles Starrett.

“The films I did at Columbia featured horses, dogs and children; forget the adults,” she told Fitzgerald. “I was just filling space. I was not given many acting roles. I didn’t want to work, but I had a daughter to support. I became an actress because it was the only way I knew to earn a living. I wasn’t trying to be a glamour movie star.”

A guest role on an early television show brought her to the attention of director George Cukor, who gave her a screen test at MGM and a minor role in “Adam’s Rib,” the 1949 comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Signed to a contract with the studio that year, she was given the glamour treatment and requisite publicity push. But despite good reviews for her work, Raymond was released from her MGM contract after less than two years, and thereafter worked independently.

Raymond is survived by a granddaughter.

At her request, donations may be made to the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills.