Debralee Griffin was born in 1933 to a family that had some showbiz background. By age 14, Debra got a 20th Century-Fox contract; she took her stage name-- Debra Paget-- from Lord and Lady Paget of England, her ancestors. For the next 5 years, Debra would be cast as Hawaiian girls, Indian girls and such. In late 1953, Debra took a gamble-- she told 20th Century-Fox executives she wanted bigger parts, or she might go to another movie studio. Debra got her first starring part playing the title role of "Princess of the Nile" (1954). Her gamble paid off: in 1954, Debra got more fan mail
… More than any other 20th Century-Fox actress, except for Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.
Her movie career was on the way up, and Debra was cast in the big-budget "A" movie "Demetrius and the Gladiators" (1954).
However, 20th Century-Fox went back to casting Debra as an Indian Girl in the movie "White Feather" (1955); Debra went to MGM, and got cast as the Indian Girl in "The Last Hunt" (1956). Debra went to Paramount Studios, and got a part in the big-budget "A" movie "The Ten Commandments" (1956). She went back to 20th Century-Fox, and got cast beside Elvis Presley in his first movie, "Love Me Tender" (1956). But a long-term contract with 20th Century-Fox did not materialize; by the end of the decade, Debra was working for Paramount, Warner Bros., and European studios (the movies were dubbed in English, and distributed in America by AIP).
Debra married singer/actor David Street in January 1958, but they got divorced in April 1958. She married director Budd Boetticher in March 1960, and got divorced in August 1961. (They were in Mexico to film the biography of bullfighter Carlos Arruza; instead, Boetticher fell in love with Mexican actress Elsa Cárdenas, who became his next wife.)
By the 1960s, Debra wound up appearing in low-budget "B" movies by AIP, such as "Tales of Terror" (1962) and "The Haunted Palace" (1963). These low-budget horror movies are fun, and we fans love them, but they were considered kind of end-of-the-line for former horror film masters such as Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Debra, being young and beautiful, had other options-- Debra married a millionaire, Louis C. Kung, in 1964 and retired from acting. They had one child, and divorced in 1980.
Even though she hasn't made a movie in over 40 years, films with the lovely Debra Paget still show up on cable TV regularly. She is a fan favorite.
