Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929. She appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the
Laurel and Hardy short film
Berth Marks (1929) and
George Fitzmaurice's drama
The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce from James, Goddard and her mother briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood. Upon her return, Goddard signed her first film contract with producer
Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a
Goldwyn Girl in
Whoopee! (1930). She also appeared in
City Streets (1931),
Ladies of the Big House (1931), and
The Girl Habit (1931) for Paramount,
Palmy Days (1931) for Goldwyn, and
The Mouthpiece (1932) for Warners. However, Goddard and Goldwyn did not get along, and she also began work for
Hal Roach Studios in 1932, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years. Chaplin sent her to local acting teacher
Neely Dickson at the Hollywood Community Theater to, in Dickson's words, "give her a polish." It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his next box office hit,
Modern Times (1936). Her role as "The Gamin," an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes
The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews,
Frank S. Nugent of
The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". By December 1938, Selznick had narrowed the choices to Goddard and
Vivien Leigh, who won the role after the two completed the only
Technicolor screen tests for the role. Goddard's losing out on the role was attributable to several factors. Notably, the head of Selznick's publicity department Russell Birdwell had strong misgivings about Goddard, writing, "Briefly, I think she is dynamite that will explode in our very faces if she is given the part." During this time, Selznick lent Goddard to
MGM for two films:
Dramatic School (1938) and the all-female ensemble
The Women (1939). The first, with
Luise Rainer, received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. However,
The Women – directed by Cukor following his firing from
Gone with the Wind – was one of the year's most successful films. Of her role as Miriam Aarons, film critic
Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. Fun."
1939–49: Paramount ,
Bob Hope, Goddard and
John Beal in
The Cat and the Canary (1939) In 1939, Goddard signed a contract with
Paramount Pictures and was promptly teamed with comedian
Bob Hope for the
horror comedy film
The Cat and the Canary (1939). The film became a turning point for both their careers, and they were promptly reteamed for
The Ghost Breakers (1940) and
Nothing but the Truth (1941), both of which also featured
Willie Best. She was also cast for the musical comedy
Second Chorus opposite
Fred Astaire,
Artie Shaw, and future husband
Burgess Meredith. Astaire later described it as "the worst film I ever made" while Shaw admitted the film made him reconsider an acting career. In September 1939, Chaplin also began production on his next film
The Great Dictator (1940) in which Goddard again co-starred alongside him as Hannah. The film was released the following year to critical and audience acclaim. However, it would also be her final film with Chaplin, as their marriage fell apart soon after. In 1940, Goddard made the
Cecil B. DeMille Western film
North West Mounted Police opposite
Gary Cooper and
Madeleine Carroll. The film, her first dramatic role for Paramount, became one of the year's top-ten grossing films. She also starred in another musical comedy ''
Pot o' Gold'' opposite
James Stewart, which was released the following year. Stewart expressed similar feelings toward his film as Astaire, while Goddard's biographer Julie Gilbert claimed Goddard did not like Stewart's acting, reportedly saying "anyone can gulp". Her other film for 1941, romantic drama
Hold Back the Dawn with
Charles Boyer and
Olivia de Havilland, received positive reviews. '' (1943) In 1942, Goddard gave one of her better-remembered film appearances in the variety musical
Star Spangled Rhythm, in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with
Dorothy Lamour and
Veronica Lake. The studio also began to pair her with
Ray Milland. Her first pairing with Milland,
The Lady Has Plans, was panned by critics and had a tepid box office performance. However, she quickly reunited with him and DeMille for the
adventure film Reap the Wild Wind. The film, which also co-starred
John Wayne and
Susan Hayward, saw Goddard in a Scarlett O'Hara-type role and became the studio's best-grossing film for the year. Their third film,
The Crystal Ball, was bought by
United Artists – a studio co-founded by Chaplin – and released the following year to tepid box office receipts. That same year, Goddard headlined
So Proudly We Hail! with
Claudette Colbert and
Veronica Lake. Her performance as Lt. Joan O'Doul, a nurse serving in the
Battle of the Philippines, earned Goddard a nomination for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the
16th Academy Awards. She reteamed with her co-star in that film,
Sonny Tufts, in
I Love a Soldier the following year with less successful results. In May 1944, Goddard renegotiated her contract with Paramount to make two films per year over a seven-year period. The first film under this deal, costume drama
Kitty, reunited her with Milland. The film required Goddard to learn a cockney accent, for which she was coached by Connie Lupino, mother of actress
Ida Lupino. The film was released the following year, becoming her most successful film for the studio. She also made a cameo as herself in the ensemble comedy ''
Duffy's Tavern, based on the popular radio show. Akin to Star Spangled Rhythm
, the film featured several Paramount contract players in cameos as themselves. In 1946, she starred in The Diary of a Chambermaid'' opposite her husband
Burgess Meredith; the couple also produced the film for
United Artists. In 1947, she starred in two box office disasters: the
historical epic Unconquered, which reunited her with Cooper and DeMille; and the comedy
An Ideal Husband, which she made in Britain for
Alexander Korda. Although one of the year's highest-grossing films,
Unconquered had a large budget – further inflated by going past its shooting schedule – that caused it to lose money for Paramount. The film's story was also criticized, though Goddard and Cooper received positive reviews for their performances. During production of the film, Goddard and DeMille clashed on the set over Goddard's reluctance to do a dangerous stunt.
An Ideal Husband suffered from behind-the-scenes difficulties that included a crew strike over Goddard using her personal, Swedish-born hairdresser over an English one. Besides for Britain, the film severely underperformed at the box office, being pulled in the United States with several other British films due to a boycott by the pro-Zionist group
Sons of Liberty over British policies in the
Palestine Mandate. The following year, Goddard reunited with Meredith in a segment of the comedy film
On Our Merry Way, which he also produced. However, that same year, Meredith was placed on the
Hollywood blacklist after an investigation by the
House Un-American Activities Committee (Chaplin would also later be added to the blacklist). Goddard was paired with
MacDonald Carey in two films for Paramount,
Hazard (1948) and
Bride of Vengeance (1949); and was loaned to
Columbia Pictures for the
film noir Anna Lucasta. However, all three of the films lost money, and she left the studio in 1949.
1950–58: Freelance and television After leaving Paramount and divorcing Meredith, Goddard headlined the Mexican-American film
The Torch (1950), also serving as an associate producer. The following year, she made her television debut in an episode of
Four Star Revue. Her roles in films such as film noir
Vice Squad opposite
Edward G. Robinson, and the biblical character
Jezebel in
Sins of Jezebel failed to attract the attention of her earlier work. Her last starring film role was in the film noir
A Stranger Came Home in 1954, which
The New York Times deemed "A third-rate British-made whodunit," and said "A few more fly-by-nights like this Lippert presentation... and the still-shapely Miss Goddard may find herself collecting the pieces of a career"; That same year, Goddard guest starred as Lady Beryl on the second episode of
Sherlock Holmes starring
Ronald Howard (son of
Leslie Howard) as Holmes. She continued appearing in
summer stock and on television, guest starring on episodes of
Adventures in Paradise,
The Errol Flynn Theatre,
The Joseph Cotten Show, and
The Ford Television Theatre. ==Later life==