PAULA PRENTISS BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Paula Prentiss was born on March 4th, 1938 in San Antonio, Texas with the birth name Paula Ragusa born to parents, Paulene and Thomas J. Ragusa. She is the older sister of Ann Prentiss who also pursued a career as an actress. Sadly, in 2010 her sister passed away in jail during her nineteen years serving for crimes having to do with battery, and solicitation to commit murder.
After Paula completed high school she enrolled at Northwestern University in the school of drama but initially had goals of pursuing a career as a doctor. When she was scouted by a talent manager her career goals changed and she was signed right away to a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Her forte was in comedy and she was teamed up with comedian, Jim Hutton and became one of America's best female comedians during the 1960's. Some of her more well known film roles were in, "Where the Boys Are" (1960), "Man's Favorite Sport?" (1964), "In Harm's Way" (1965) starring alongside film greats John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, "The Stepford Wives" (1975), "What's New Pussycat?" (1964), "The Black Marble" (1980) and "The Parallax View" (1974).
Along with film acting she also appeared on television in the CBS sitcom, "He & She" (1967-1968) along with her husband. She was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the series. other appearances she has made with her husband throughout her career have been in, "Catch-22" (1970) and "Saturday the 14th" (1981).
Throughout her career in entertainment she was honored by Empire magazine choosing her as, One of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history" in 1995 and her final film roles was in 2007 in, "Hard Four".
Prentiss has married only once to actor and director, Richard Benjamin in 1961 and they have two children and remain married today. Although, she is mostly retired from the industry, she has such a good relationship with Hollywood that the doors are always open to her anytime she wants to take on a new role.
Filmography
2007 Hard Four
1996 Mrs. Winterbourne
1995 Burke's Law
1992 Murder, She Wrote
1983 M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
1983 Packin' It In
1980 Mr. and Mrs. Dracula
1981 Buddy Buddy
1981 Saturday the 14th
1981 Listening Skills
1981 Managing Meetings
1980 The Black Marble
1980 Top of the Hill
1979 Friendships, Secrets and Lies
1978 No Room to Run
1977 Having Babies II
1975 The Stepford Wives
1974 The Parallax View
1974 Crazy Joe
1972 The Couple Takes a Wife
1972 Last of the Red Hot Lovers
1971 Born to Win
1970 Move
1970 Catch-22
1967-1968 He & She
1965 What's New Pussycat
1965 In Harm's Way
1964 Looking for Love
1964 The World of Henry Orient
1964 Man's Favorite Sport?
1963 Follow the Boys
1962 The Horizontal Lieutenant
1961 Bachelor in Paradise
1961 The Honeymoon Machine
1960 Where the Boys Are
