Debra Paget, "Apprentice Goddess" and '50s Starlet

In its Jan. 1,1951 issue LIFE ran a story entitled “Apprentice Goddesses” about a dozen young actresses that Hollywood was hoping would blossom into the next generation of major movie stars. That hope was certainly fulfilled by one candidate the magazine described as a “busty Bernhardt”— the 22-year-old’s name was Marilyn Monroe. Another pick that turned out well was Debbie Reynolds, then 18 years old.

Also in the group was 17-year-old Debra Paget. LIFE wrote that the movie industry needed young talents like her to become stars to fend off the threat of TV and other competition for the entertainment dollar:

It may be that the old days of movie glamour are gone forever, and that is one more cross Hollywood has to bear in these melancholy days of television and tobogganing receipts. It goes on gamely trying just the same; and if one of the dozen girls in this group lives up to her studio’s hopes—if a Marilyn Monroe really achieves the universal sex appeal of Jean Harlow, if a Debbie Reynolds can dance into as many gay hearts as Ginger Rogers, if a Debra Paget can melt as many sad ones as Janet Gaynor—it will feel that the old system is still strong enough to survive.

Paget did not quite reach the heights of Monroe or Reynolds. But she did make an impression in her time.

Paget, who grew up in Los Angeles, already had several screen credits to her name when LIFE included her in the 1951 story. At the age of 16 she had appeared opposite Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 movie Broken Arrow, playing a Native American girl who marries Stewart. She had also posed for an extensive shoot with LIFE staff photographer Peter Stackpole, though those pictures never appeared in the magazine.

Paget worked steadily in movies for years, and she graduated to leading roles in the mid-1950s. According to her Wikipedia page, in 1954 the only actresses to receive more fan mail than Paget that year were Monroe and Betty Grable.

Among those Paget captivated was Elvis Presley—she played his wife in his first movie, Love Me Tender. Paget claimed to have received a real-life marriage proposal from Presley, and some fans note the resemblance between Paget and Elvis’ future bride, Priscilla Presley.

If you want a sampling of what had Elvis and those those letter writers so entranced, check out Paget’s snake dance scene in the 1959 Fritz Lang movie The Indian Tomb, which in those days was about as racy as Hollywood got.

But Paget never had a major role in the sort of enduring classic that would continue to reintroduce her to new audiences across the decades. The part that most people today might recognize her from was a supporting one—as water girl Lilia in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Next time you see that holiday classic, keep an out eye for the water girl with an appreciation of her place in Hollywood history.

Actress Debra Paget with Jimmy Stewart, her costar in “Broken Arrow,” 1949.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At age 17 actress Debra Paget was touted in LIFE as part of a potential next wave of movie stars.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock