Paulita Sedgwick

Who was Paulita Sedgwick?

Paulita Sedgwick was an artist, actress, and independent filmmaker best known for her performances on stage and roles in several films by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

Paulita Sedgwick was born on 7 December 1943 in Washington, DC, the third of five children of Samuel Cabot Sedgwick and Paula Knipe Sedgwick. The Sedgwick family were well established in Massachusetts, and she was descended from Robert Sedgwick, the first Major General of the Massachusetts Bay Colony under Oliver Cromwell, William Ellery, who was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence, Judge Theodore Sedgwick, famously the first person to successfully plead for the freedom of a female slave, and was related to Catharine Sedgwick, the novelist. She was also a cousin of the actresses Edie Sedgwick and Kyra Sedgwick, and her uncle Ellery Sedgwick was the editor and then owner of The Atlantic magazine.

Sedgwick's father served as a diplomat with the US State Department, and her early years were spent in Haiti, Spain, France, Colombia, Costa Rica, Japan, and the United States. During this time she learned to speak fluent Spanish and began a lifelong interest in travel and foreign cultures. In her teenage years she studied Islamic Art at the University of Madrid in Spain, where she lived with the family of the anti-Francist Dionisio Ridruejo, reportedly drawing the attention of the authorities. Later she attended the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in London, England, lodging with the family of Colonel Sir Piers Bengough.