Debra Paget Movies and Career Information

Debra Paget (born August 19, 1933) is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early-1960s in a variety of feature films including Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments and Love Me Tender, the film début of Elvis Presley. Paget was born in Denver, Colorado as Debralee Griffin to show-business parents Frank H. and Margaret Griffin. She took the stage name "Paget" from two of her ancestors, Lord and Lady Paget of England. The family moved from Denver to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Her mother, actress Margaret Griffin, was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. This ambition was realized: Paget's sisters Judith ("Teala Loring") and Lezlie ("Lisa Gaye"), and her brother Frank ("Ruell Shayne") all entered the business as either cast or crew. 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. In the period 1950-1956 she also took part in six original radio plays for Family Theater. During those same years, she read parts in four episodes of