There are times when it’s important to look back on various actors and celebrities and remember what they did for those that came after them, especially when you consider that a lot of those that are in the business today have either modeled themselves after the older actors or used them as inspiration. Paula Prentiss is one of those individuals that some people might remember and others might need a reminder about since she’s been a celebrity for a good amount of time but hasn’t always come up as one of the most popular faces in the industry. Still, considering how long she’s been around and the number of projects she’s worked on it’s still worth mentioning that she has helped out in her own way throughout the years.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Paula was a very tall girl as she grew up, finally stopping at 5’10”, which is quite tall for a woman and made her the tallest person in her class. While it’s easy to be ostracized for just about anything in a school setting Paula never seemed to have that many problems growing up as she graduated high school and then moved on to Northwestern University where she began to study drama and met her husband Richard Benjamin, who was impressive in part because he was actually taller than she was. It was also at Northwestern that she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and offered a film contract, thereby starting her career and bringing her into the industry.
From that point on she kind of made it a point to create a career that she could be proud of and that would deliver her into a great number of roles as she started out with Where The Boys Are, starring opposite Jim Hutton. This film was a hit at the box office and the team of Prentiss and Hutton was extremely popular so MGM made the decision to keep them together for three more movies, all comedies. The studio even promoted them heavily enough that the expectations rose and rose as they continued along, becoming stars almost overnight it seemed as they acted alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood and held their own with several of the biggest contenders in the business. They were the two tallest individuals on the MGM roster as well and kind of stood out in a crowd.
She and Hutton were supposed to appear in a movie titled Follow the Boys, which was another comedy in the style of Where the Boys Are, but Hutton dropped out and Russ Tamblyn had to be brought in to replace him. When she starred with Rock Hudson in Man’s Favorite Sport the director, Howard Hawks, claimed that she was good but didn’t seem able to recall what she was supposed to be doing from one scene to another. Somehow Paula’s shots were never matched and she got things turned around a time or two. Throughout the beginning of her career though Paula was known to be one of the biggest stars around.
At one point in her acting things seemed to be spiraling out of control as she had a nervous breakdown and just couldn’t handle the continued stress of acting. After taking some time off to recoup however she came back and co-starred with her husband, Richard Benjamin, in the CBS show He & She. She earn and Emmy award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy for that one, thereby kind of validating her effort and hard work. Prentiss managed to create a long and storied career that was ultimately quite good to her and allowed her legacy to be carried on. She’s guest-starred in a number of shows and been in several films during her career. At one point though she pulled back from the big screen and didn’t show up in a movie until 2016 in I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Such a long time away from the big screen would almost make a person seem hesitant to come back in some cases, but Prentiss took it in stride and has been acting steadily now throughout the years.
Usually when a person retires for one reason or another a lot of people will jump on the bandwagon either to say they’re done and won’t ever be seen again, or they’ll jump on another bandwagon and beg for the person to come back. Whether anyone ever did this for Paula is unknown, but it is known that she has managed to find her way back more than once over the years. Whether she’s going to stick around for good now is uncertain, but it is known that coming back the business is no doubt influenced by the paycheck, which is hard to deny since people need to get paid, and the love of the craft.
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