Paula Prentiss

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Paula Prentiss, born Paula Ragusa on March 4, 1938, in San Antonio, Texas, is an American actress. She is the elder daughter of Paulene Gardner and Thomas J. Ragusa, a professor. Raised Roman Catholic, she has a younger sister, Ann Prentiss. She grew tall (about 5’10”) and went to Lamar High School in Houston. While studying drama at Northwestern University in 1958, she met her future husband, Richard Benjamin. MGM discovered her there and offered her a film contract.

Prentiss rose to fame in Where the Boys Are (1960) with Jim Hutton. MGM teamed them in several comedies, including The Honeymoon Machine (1961), Bachelor in Paradise (1961), and The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962). She also starred in Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) with Rock Hudson and had a strong role in What’s New Pussycat? (1965). During the filming of Pussycat, she had a nervous breakdown and spent nine months in the hospital. From 1967 to 1968, she co-starred with her husband in the CBS sitcom He & She, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Prentiss continued to act in film and on stage, with roles in Catch-22 (1970), Move (1970), Born to Win (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and The Stepford Wives (1975). She and Benjamin appeared on Broadway in The Norman Conquests (1976). The pair also worked in Australia on No Room to Run (1977). Later credits include Having Babies II (1977), Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979), Top of the Hill (1980), The Black Marble (1980), Saturday the 14th (1981), Buddy Buddy (1981), and TV projects like M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983). After a long break from feature films, she appeared in I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin have two children, Ross and Prentiss. A street in San Antonio is named after her. Film magazines have called her a gifted star and praised her as a potential leading actress early in her career.