Paula Vernay has the distinction of being Hollywood’s first actress of Persian descent, which caught the interest of filmmakers who’d later find it difficult to cast her in anything noteworthy. She was born with the name Parvaneh Morewedge on June 7, 1933 in Tehran, Iran to a prominent family. Her father was a lawyer and her mother a former princess of a defunct monarchy. Paula herself found success as a teenager in skiing where she won several championships throughout Iran. That came to a halt after marrying a man named Robert Verdier on September 3, 1947. They had a son named Robert the following year.
The union didn’t last, as Paula yearned to leave Iran and its oppression. This coupled with her father being marked for assassination, they left for Hollywood where Paula hoped to be a star. Her family found immense success, particularly her brother Parviz Morewedge who is a renowned scholar, diplomat, and professor at Baruch College. It was impressive how well Paula knew how to market herself to the public. Her modeling in print advertisements and evenings with actors Rush Adams and Fernando Lamas made headlines. Hugh O’Brian, who’d later star in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp became very serious about her. While dining at Ciro’s, they discussed starring in a film together which would be set in Iran.
Hugh spends weeks shopping for scripts that would turn Paula into a star. It wasn’t until after they broke up that Hugh lost interest in the idea and abandoned it altogether.
Although she had a great start by appearing in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Son of Sinbad (1955), and an episode of Passport to Danger, her career was riddled with inconsistencies as she nor her agent knew how to approach it. She used stage names like PaVanne, Laura PaVanne, Laura Sadia, Paula Verdier, Paula Verany, and La PaVanne. Her entire career became centered on publicity to keep things going. She would waltz into Ciro’s weekly in a different -and very eccentric- outfit usually with a gold or leopard pattern, In fact, she once reportedly spent $1,000 on an evening gown. Her goal was to get into the newspapers. She later switched agents, hiring Russell Birdwell to handle her publicity. Only the most in-depth film buffs would remember him as the one who commissioned Jane Russell’s legendary billboard of The Outlaw (1943).
Unfortunately he didn’t do nearly enough for Paula as he took his 10% commission while failing to deliver on promises like introducing her to filmmaker Cecil B. Demille. She’d later sue him for $17,500, which was settled out of court. Paula became a citizen on February 25, 1955, and started her own brand of apparel the following year. While at a convention for designers, she met -and married- Sig Brandriss. That marriage would end in divorce. While on campus at the University of California, Los Angeles, Paula met student and soon-to-be producer Dean Hargrove. They enjoyed a decade of marriage until their divorce on October 10, 1978. According to Dean, he never knew of his ex-wife’s career as an actress.
After their divorce, Paula ventured into investing. She was a business-savvy person who built connections in Hollywood, New York City, and Iran. She facilitated agreements in oil and gold. It started well, but she found a lot of people taking advantage of her good nature. She was broke by the 1980s, forced to live with her brother in an apartment in New York City where she sewed garments to earn a living. It was sad to see someone of a once-prominent Persian family barely earning enough to feed herself, but she did what she had to do to survive until bad turned to worse. While visiting her ailing father at a hospital, she collapsed and was diagnosed with lung cancer. She never left that hospital, dying on November 29, 1988 at the age of 58. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park where some of the greatest stars in Hollywood were laid to rest. Her son, who was renamed Robert Hargrove, is a producer himself and carries the family’s torch with successes on television like Smallville, Hunter, and MacGyver.
50s
Wendy
