Paula Drew: Movies & Filmography

Paula Drew, born Tamara Victoria Dubin, was an American multi-talented performer whose career spanned film, television, stage, and commercial work from the mid-1940s through the late 1970s. Born on June 1, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan, to immigrant parents—her father a factory superintendent from Bessarabia and her mother a nurse from Russia—Drew demonstrated artistic inclinations from an early age, beginning to sing seriously at just fourteen years old. After graduating from Fordson High School and taking night classes at Fordson Junior College while working as a secretary, she launched her performance career in Detroit's Civic Opera Company chorus before earning promotion to leading roles. Her early stage work included notable performances in the St. Louis Municipal Opera, where she portrayed Julie in Show Boat and Huguette in The Vagabond King, establishing her credentials as a serious musical theater performer before she ever stepped before a camera.

Drew's transition to Hollywood began after she moved to New York City to study at the prestigious Juilliard School while modeling for the John Robert Powers agency, specializing in sophisticated high-fashion work. Her entertainment career took a pivotal turn when she began dancing at the El Morocco nightclub, where a talent scout discovered her and arranged a Warner Bros. screen test that led to a 1945 contract and her professional name change. Though Warner Bros. dropped her option after several months, she secured another contract through producer Walter Wanger after being spotted working in a Los Angeles drugstore, only to see that opportunity dissolve due to a industry-wide "box-office crash." Her persistence paid off when her screen test resurfaced in 1950, leading to MGM contract and roles in films such as Slightly Scandalous (1946), The Vigilantes Return (1947), Watch the Birdie (1950), and Danger Zone (1951), plus television work on Front Page Detective. In 1954, she relocated to Buffalo, New York, where she became famous as the "Milk for Health" spokesperson for eight years and served on the New York governor's Increased-Use-of-Milk Commission. During this period, she also worked in public relations as vice-president of Nevil Enterprises Inc. and later as secretary to the president of Woldman Drug Stores. She returned to television in the late 1970s, appearing in commercials for Tops Friendly Markets. She eventually married Hyman Eidlitz and moved to Toronto, where she lived until her death on July 30, 2019, at the age of 94.