Paul Bern (December 3, 1889 – September 5, 1932) was a German-born American film director, screenwriter and producer for MGM, where he became the assistant to Irving Thalberg. He helped to launch the career of Jean Harlow, whom he married in July 1932, but two months later he was found dead of a gunshot wound, leaving what appeared to be a suicide note. Various alternate theories of his death have been proposed.