Paul Bern

Born Paul Levy
December 3, 1889
Wandsbek, Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire (present day Hamburg, Germany)
Died September 5, 1932 (aged 42)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by gunshot wound
Resting place Inglewood Park Cemetery
Occupations Screenwriter, director, producer
Years active 1919–1932
Spouse Jean Harlow ​(m. 1932)​
Partner Dorothy Millette ((born Adele Roddy)(1911–1920)

Paul Bern (born Paul Levy; December 3, 1889 – September 5, 1932) was a German-born American film director, screenwriter and producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he became the assistant to producer Irving Thalberg. He helped launch the career of Jean Harlow, whom he married in July 1932; two months later, he was found dead of a gunshot wound, leaving what appeared to be a suicide note. Various alternative theories of his death have been proposed. MGM writer and film producer Samuel Marx believed that he was killed by his ex-common-law wife Dorothy Millette, who jumped to her death from a ferry two days afterward.

Paul Bern was born Paul Levy in Wandsbek, which was then a town in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein (now a district of the city of Hamburg). He was one of six children of Julius and Henriette (née Hirsch) Levy, a Jewish couple. Bern's father worked as a clerk for a shipping company before opening a candy store. In 1898 he decided to move the family to the United States due to the rise of unemployment and anti-Jewish attitudes in Wandsbek. The family eventually settled in New York City. Bern's father died in 1908; his mother drowned herself in 1920, possibly as a threat to keep her beloved son from marrying.