Jetta Goudal
| Jetta Goudal | |
|---|---|
Publicity photo of Goudal from Stars of the Photoplay (1924)
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| Born |
Julie Henriette Goudeket July 12, 1891 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | January 14, 1985 (aged 93) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | Before 1918–1932 |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Grieve (1930–1985; her death) |
Jetta Goudal (/ˈʒɛtə/; July 12, 1891 – January 14, 1985) was a Dutch-born American actress, successful in Hollywood films of the silent film era.
Goudal was born as Julie Henriette Goudeket in 1891, the daughter of Geertruida (née Warradijn; 1866–1920) and Wolf Mozes Goudeket (1860–1942), a wealthy diamond cutter, in Amsterdam. Her parents were both Jewish, and her father was Orthodox. She had a older sister, Bertha (1888-1945) and a younger brother Willem, who died when he was 4 months old in 1896.
Her father remarried in 1929 to Rosette Citroen (1882-1943)
Tall and regal in appearance, she began her acting career on stage, traveling across Europe with various theater companies.
In 1918, she left World War I-era devastated Europe to settle in New York City in the United States, where she hid her Dutch Jewish ancestry, generally describing herself as a "Parisienne" and on an information sheet for the Paramount Public Department she wrote that she was born at Versailles on July 12, 1901 (shaving 10 years off her age as well), the daughter of a fictional Maurice Guillaume Goudal, a lawyer.
She first appeared on Broadway in 1921, using the stage name Jetta Goudal. After meeting director Sidney Olcott, who encouraged her venture into film acting, she accepted a bit part in his 1922 film production Timothy's Quest. Convinced to move to the West Coast, Goudal appeared in two more Olcott films in the ensuing three years.
Goudal's first role in motion pictures came in The Bright Shawl (1923). She quickly earned praise for her film work, especially for 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. Goudal then worked in the Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky co-production of The Spaniard and her growing fame brought her to the attention of producer/director Cecil B. DeMille.
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