Jetta Goudal was a Dutch-born American stage and film actress. She began her career on stage and gained popularity during the silent film era. Jetta Goudal made her Broadway debut in 1921. Her first film role was in ‘The Bright Shawl (1923)’. Her performance in 1925’s Salome of the Tenements, a film based on the Anzia Yezierska novel about life in New York’s Jewish Lower East Side, earned her high praise.
Life and career
Goudal was born in Amsterdam in 1891 as Juliette Henriette Goudeket, daughter of wealthy, Orthodox Jewish diamond cutter Mozes Goudeket and his wife Geertruida Warradijn. Despite her tall and regal appearance, she began her acting career on stage, traveling throughout Europe with various theater companies. She left World War I-era Europe to settle in New York City in the United States in 1918, hiding her Dutch and Jewish roots. She called herself a Parisienne, writing on an information sheet for the Paramount Public Department that she was born in Versailles on July 12, 1901.
Jetta Goudal made her Broadway debut in 1921 under the stage name Jetta. She accepted a part in the 1922 film ‘Timothy’s Quest’ after encouraging her into film acting. In the years that followed, Goudal appeared in two more Olcott films. In the late 1920s, Goudal starred in several highly successful and acclaimed movies for Cecil B. DeMille and was a top box office draw. In 1928, Goudal appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s ‘The Cardboard Lover, produced by Marion Davies. She starred in ‘Lady of the Pavements’, in 1928 directed by D.W. Griffith, and in 1930, Jacques Feyder directed Goudal in her only French-language film, titled ‘Le Spectre vert’, a Hollywood production.
DeMille broke her contract during filming because she was so difficult to work with, which led Goudal to file a landmark lawsuit against him. While she charged him with breach of contract, he claimed that her diva-like rants over every aspect of production, from costumes to scenery, caused severe delays and financial setbacks for the studio. Ultimately, Goudal won the suit, notably because neither DeMille nor the studio could demonstrate that she cost thousands of dollars–and it set a precedent regarding acting rights versus studio rights. However, her career and reputation were ruined, and she never regained her former glory. Furthermore, her very thick French accent left her with limited options with the arrival of sound.
Personal life
Goudal married art director Harold Grieve in 1930 and retired from the screen permanently three years later. She made her last appearance in a talkie, co-starring with Will Rogers in the Fox Film Corporation production of ‘Business and Pleasure’ in 1932 at the age of forty-one. She and her husband left the Hollywood scene to pursue interior design. They never had children. In the 1960s, Goudal struggled with health problems (heart problems). In 1973, she fell seriously and became disabled. Goudale died in 1985 at the age of 93 and was interred in a private room at the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of the Angel. Her devoted husband was interred next to her upon his death in 1993.
Here are some beautiful photos of Jetta Goudal from her life and career.
