Early Life and Career
Paget was born in Denver, Colorado as Debralee Griffin, one of five siblings born to Frank H. and Margaret Griffin. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Margaret, a former actress, was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. Three of Paget's siblings, Mareta ("Judith Gibson", "Teala Loring"), Lezlie ("Lisa Gaye"), and Frank ("Ruell Shayne") all entered show business.
Paget had her first professional job at age 8, and acquired some stage experience at 13 when she acted in a 1946 production of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. From 1950-56 she took part in six original radio plays for Family Theater. During those same years, she read parts in four episodes of Lux Radio Theater, sharing the microphone with such actors as Burt Lancaster, Tyrone Power, Cesar Romero, Ronald Colman, and Robert Stack. The latter set included dramatizations of two of her feature films.
Paget's first notable film role was as "Teena Riconti", girlfriend of the character played by Richard Conte, in Cry of the City, a 1948 film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. Fresh out of high school in 1949, she acted in three other films before being signed by 20th Century-Fox. Her first vehicle for Fox was the successful Broken Arrow with James Stewart. Paget played an Indian maiden, Sonseeahray ("Morningstar"), who gives up her life to save Stewart's character.
Paget again played an Indian Princess 'Appearing Day' in White Feather (1955) along with Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter and later at MGM replaced Anne Bancroft in The Last Hunt. In 1953, wearing a blonde wig, she auditioned along with, among others, Anita Ekberg and Irish McCalla, for the starring role in Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, which went to McCalla. Paget went on to starring roles in a variety of films. Paget also appeared in "The Ten Commandments" in 1956.
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