Trivia of Debra Paget

Trivia of Debra Paget (19 August 1933)

*Paget was enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School when she was 11. Her mother was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. Three of Paget's siblings, Marcia (Teala Loring), Leslie (Lisa Gaye), and Frank (Ruell Shayne), 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.

*She was just out of college when she got her first prominent role in the 1950 western ‘Broken Arrow’, which was a huge success. This was also her first movie with 20th Century Fox. Her leading co-star James Stewart was 41, 26 years older than Debra Paget, who was still only 15 when filming began in early June 1949.

*She received top billing from Fox for her performance in the adventure film ‘Princess of the Nile’ in 1954. Though the film was not a huge success at the box office, Debra's fan mail started flooding.

*She was Elvis Presley's first leading lady.During production of Love Me Tender (1956), Elvis Presley became smitten with Paget, who in 1997 said that he had proposed marriage. However, Elvis and Debra Paget’s relationship was platonic.Reported at that time, Paget choose Howard Hughes as date than Elvis.

*Never auditioned for The Ten Commandments (1956). The part of Lilia was the last of the lead roles to cast. Cecil B. DeMille instinctively asked her one day to report to Paramount to start work.

*Her sensual dance scenes in ‘The Indian Tomb’ (1959) became very popular, and she will always be remembered for them.

*Debra Paget married Ling-Chieh Kung, a wealthy Chinese-American oil industry executive, on April 19, 1962. She retired from acting after her third marriage. Kung was the nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (First Lady of the Republic of China). They had a son together, Gregory Kung, who was the only child of Debra Paget. The couple divorced in 1980.