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Paula Prentiss (née Ragusa; born March 4, 1938) is an American actress. She is best known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are (1960), Man's Favorite Sport? (1964), What's New Pussycat? (1965), Catch-22 (1970), The Parallax View (1974), and The Stepford Wives (1975).
From 1967 to 1968, Prentiss co-starred with her husband Richard Benjamin in the CBS sitcom He & She, for which she received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Before high school, Paula, who grew to , was always the tallest person in class. She attended Lamar High School in Houston.Maxine Mesinger. "Lamar High marks 50th anniversary". Houston Chronicle. August 7, 1987. Retrieved October 13, 2012. In 1958, while studying drama at Northwestern University, she met future husband Richard Benjamin, who impressed her with his sophistication and height (he was taller than she was). While attending Northwestern she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was offered a film contract.
Hutton and Prentiss were also meant to be in Follow the Boys (1963), a Where the Boys Are-style comedy, but he dropped out, and so Prentiss' co-star became Russ Tamblyn.
Howard Hawks cast her as the female lead opposite Rock Hudson in Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) at Universal, her first film outside MGM. Hawks would later say: "Paula Prentiss was good, but she couldn't remember what she was doing from one shot to the next. Her shots never matched."
Prentiss appeared on stage in a production of As You Like It in 1963 at the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park.
She had notable roles in The World of Henry Orient (1964) and In Harm's Way (1965) and made a cameo as herself in Looking for Love (1964). She also had a strong supporting role in What's New Pussycat? (1965) with Peter Sellers. However, on the set of that film she had a nervous breakdown. "One day during shooting," she told People in 1976, "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." She was hospitalized for nine months.
For one season (1967–1968), Prentiss co-starred with her husband, Richard Benjamin, in the CBS sitcom He & She. For her role, Prentiss was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy.
In 1969 she appeared Off-Broadway in the double production, Arf and The Great Airplane Snatch, directed by Benjamin.
Prentiss returned to films as Nurse Duckett in the film adaptation of Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 (1970). She had the female lead in Move (1970) with Elliott Gould and Born to Win (1971) with George Segal. She was one of the leads in Last of the Red Hot Lovers with Alan Arkin. Next, Prentiss was in the Television film film, The Couple Takes a Wife (1972).
She was the female lead in Crazy Joe (1974) and had a small but pivotal part in The Parallax View (1974) with Warren Beatty. She was second lead in The Stepford Wives (1975), alongside Katharine Ross.
In 1976, Prentiss and Benjamin appeared on Broadway in The Norman Conquests. After that, they traveled to Australia to make No Room to Run (1977).
Prentiss was in Having Babies II (1977), Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979), and Top of the Hill (1980). She had a starring role in The Black Marble (1980), but it was not widely seen.
She did Saturday the 14th (1981) with her husband and was in director Billy Wilder's last film, Buddy Buddy (1981), with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. She then made Packin' It In (1983) with her husband and did the made-for-television film, M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983).
Prentiss guest starred on TV shows like Murder, She Wrote and Burke's Law.
Except for brief cameo roles, Prentiss had not appeared in a feature film for more than 30 years, until 2016's I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, a horror film directed by Oz Perkins. It premiered September 10, 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
There is a street named after Prentiss in San Antonio.
Career
Prentiss leapt to fame playing the role of Tuggle in Where the Boys Are (1960). Her co-star was Jim Hutton. The film was a hit and response to Prentiss and Hutton was very favorable, so MGM decided to reteam them in three more comedies, promoting them as a new William Powell and Myrna Loy: The Honeymoon Machine (1961) with Steve McQueen, Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope, and The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962). Paula Prentiss- Biography, Yahoo! They were the two tallest male and female contract players at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Paula Prentiss's commentary track on the DVD for Where the Boys Are
Personal life
Prentiss has been married to actor-director Richard Benjamin since 1961. They have two children, son Ross and daughter Prentiss.
Filmography
Film
1960 Where the Boys Are Tuggle Carpenter Laurel Awards
Nominated—Laurel Awards1961 Pam Dunstan Bachelor in Paradise Linda Delavane 1962 Lt. Molly Blue 1963 Follow the Boys Toni Denham 1964 Man's Favorite Sport? Abigail Page Stella Dunnworthy Looking for Love Paula Prentiss 1965 In Harm's Way Beverly McConnell What's New Pussycat? Liz Bien 1970 Catch-22 Nurse Duckett Move Dolly Jaffe 1971 Born to Win Veronica 1972 Last of the Red Hot Lovers Bobbi Michele 1974 Crazy Joe Anne Lee Carter 1975 Bobbie Markowe 1980 Sgt. Natalie Zimmerman 1981 Saturday the 14th Mary Hyatt Nominated—1981 Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Supporting Actress Buddy Buddy Celia Clooney 1996 Mrs. Winterbourne Nurse Allmeyer Uncredited 2007 Hard Four Sweet Cherrie 2016 I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House Iris Blum
Television
1963 77 Sunset Strip Model Uncredited
Episode: "The Fumble"1967–68 He & She Paula Hollister Main role, 26 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series1972 The Couple Takes a Wife Barbara Hamilton Television film 1977 No Room to Run Terry McKenna Having Babies II Trish Canfield 1979 Friendships, Secrets and Lies Sandy 1980 Top of the Hill Norma Ellsworth Cully Saturday Night Live Co-Host
(with Richard Benjamin) Episode: April 5, 1980
Musical Guest: Grateful Dead 1981 Mr. and Mrs. Dracula Sonia Dracula Unaired pilot 1983 Packin' It In Dianne Webber Television film M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers Lynne Wiley 1992 Murder, She Wrote Leonora Holt Episode: "Incident in Lot 7" 1995 Burke's Law Carla Martinet Episode: "Who Killed the Hollywood Headshrinker?"
External links
Categories: 1938 Births, 20th-century American Actresses, 21st-century American Actresses, Actresses From San Antonio, American Film Actresses, American People Of Italian Descent, American Stage Actresses, American Television Actresses, Catholics From Texas, Living People, Lamar High School Alumni, Northwestern University School Of Communication Alumni, Metro-goldwyn-mayer Contract Players
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