Paula Prentiss

Overview

Born
March 4, 1938 · San Antonio, Texas, USA
Birth name
Paula Ragusa
Height
1.76 m

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Relatives

Trademarks

Husky & sultry voice and laugh.
Her height

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#91).
She and Jim Hutton were in five movies together: Ces folles filles d'Ève (1960), Branle-bas au casino (1961), L'Américaine et l'Amour (1961), La guerre en dentelles (1962), and Amour toujours (1964).
Mother, with Richard Benjamin, of son Ross Benjamin and daughter Prentiss Benjamin.
Chosen by Cannes Film Festival as one of the "500 Names that Made Cannes".
Older sister of Ann Prentiss (born 27 November, 1939 ... died 12 January, 2010).

Quotes

One day during shooting [Quoi de neuf Pussycat ? (1965)], I just climbed up the ropes to the catwalk and started walking the beams. Very loudly and clearly I called down to everyone on the set, 'I'm going to jump.' A French technician grabbed me, and there I was, hanging by one arm.

[After transfer to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York]: It was horrendous. You're crazy because they say you're crazy. It was especially horrible because I couldn't figure out how to do what they wanted me to so I could get out.
He & She (1967) was worth it after what we'd been through. By working together we learned to live with each other again.

It took me a long time to find myself and I'm still looking around corners to see if I'm there. I used to wonder, why does Dick love me? After the baby [Ross Benjamin] was born, I could turn around and see it in myself.
Before I had the baby [Ross Benjamin] I felt lonely going to work. Now I have deeper, more generous feelings. I feel whole, like a human being.
[on valuing her identity more than box-office success]. "I always kept a close . . . touch for what I really like. It's very easy to lose it, because sometimes it's ignored, who you are, so you begin to play other people's games. I didn't ever do that. Too big a loss if I had done that. To lose yourself-you don't want that. That's too scary".
[About her psychological crisis while shooting "What's New Pussycat?" in Paris"]. "I was away from Dick, it was a very congenial group of people-to put it lightly!-and it's just what happened. A bit of a breakdown! I guess there was part of me that wondered, 'What's that like, if you go that far?' And then I knew."