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Claudette Colbert
Birth name	Lily Claudette Chauchoin
Born	September 13, 1903 Paris, France
Died	July 30, 1996, age 92 Speightstown, Barbados
Spouse(s)	Norman Foster (1928-1935) Dr. Joel Pressman (1935 – his death in 1968)
Notable roles	Cleopatra in Cleopatra Geraldine 'Gerry' Jeffers in The Palm Beach Story Mrs. Anne Hilton in Since You Went Away
Academy Awards
Best Actress 1934 It Happened One Night

Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 - July 30, 1996) was a motion picture and stage actress.

Colbert was known for a versatility that led to her becoming one of the box-office stars of her era. In 1999, she was ranked as the 12th by the American Film Institute in their list Greatest Female Stars of All Time. As she said to an interviewer, "Audiences always sound like they're glad to see me, and I'm damned glad to see them." ^[2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Early career in theater 3 Establishing her film career 4 Film success 5 Working as an independent performer 6 Later career 7 Return to the stage 8 Other opinions 9 Awards and recognition 10 Personal life 10.1 Marriages 10.2 Bellerive 10.3 Death 11 Filmography 11.1 Features 11.2 Short Subjects 12 Academy Awards 13 Television Work 14 Books 15 External links 16 References

[edit] Early life

Colbert was born Lily Claudette Chauchoin in Paris, France to Georges Claude Chauchoin (1867-1925), a banker, and his wife, the former Jeanne Loew ( -1970). Her family emigrated to the United States when she was three years old and settled in New York City three years later. ^[3]She became an American citizen.

She grew up in Manhattan and attended New York City public schools. She had one brother, Charles, who used the surname Wendling and went on to become his sister's agent. Her mother and grandmother were feuding. Colbert's favorite was her grandmother, Marie, who also lived with the family.^[4]

She studied with speech teacher, Alice Rossetter to overcome a slight lisp at Washington Irving High School. Rossetter encouraged Colbert to audition for a play she had just written. Colbert acted in The Widow's Veil at High School at the age of fifteen.

She then attended the Art Students League of New York, and worked as a stenographer, a salesclerk in womens' clothing, and a tutor, in order to pay her expenses. Colbert attended a party with actress Anne Morrison and was offered a three-line role in Morrison's new play. She appeared on the Broadway stage in a bit part in As You Like It (1923) and in a supporting role in The Wild Westcotts (1923). It was during this event that she adopted the name Claudette Colbert. She gave up her original plan to be a fashion designer to pursue a career in the theater. In those days, actors worth them went for Broadway, not Hollywood.

[edit] Early career in theater

She embarked on a stage career in 1925. Colbert appeared onstage in A Kiss in a Taxi (1925), The Ghost Train (1926), The Pearl of Great Price (1926), The Barker (1927), The Mulberry Bush (1927), La Gringa (1928), Within the Law (1928), Fast Life (1928), Tin Pan Alley (1928), Dynamo (1929) and See Naples and Die (1929). During her early years on stage, she fought against being typecast, but was finally able to savor her first critical success on Broadway in the production of The Barker.

When the Great Depression led to the closure of many theaters, Colbert made her first motion picture appearance in 1927, in Frank Capra's flop For the Love of Mike. This was her only silent film, the first of ten films ^[5] she made for Astoria Studios in Queens, Long Island, New York, and now believed to be a lost film.^[6] Colbert recalled "I had no idea what I was doing, and I should never have played in silent pictures anyway. I wanted to talk!" ^[7] The film was not successful and it was two years before Colbert appeared in another film and her first hit film was The Lady Lies (1929). The Hole in the Wall (1929) co-starring another newcomer, Edward G. Robinson, was also successful. During this time she continued to work in the theater.

[edit] Establishing her film career

In 1930 Colbert signed with Paramount Pictures, who were looking for stage actors who could handle dialogue in the new "talkies" medium. Colbert's voice was highly regarded and her stage training allowed her to use it effectively in film. In addition, Colbert was good at song and was better suited to talking pictures than silent ones.

Some of her early film successes included Manslaughter (1930), in which she replaced Clara Bow and costarred with Fredric March. As a rich girl, jailed for manslaughter, Colbert received positive reviews, with the New York Times writing, "It cannot be denied that Claudette Colbert – given an even chance – is capable of excellent acting." ^[8] She would make a total of four films with March, including Dorothy Arzner's Honor Among Lovers (1931), which fared well at the box-office. She also appeared opposite Maurice Chevalier in the Ernst Lubitsch musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. She eventually moved to Los Angeles. By 1932 she had appeared in some seventeen films, playing diverse roles in approximately four films per year.

Colbert's career prospects were enhanced when Cecil B. DeMille cast her as the Roman empress Poppaea in his historical epic and Jesse L. Lasky's last great work, The Sign of the Cross (1932), with Fredric March. In one of the scenes, she bathes in a marble pool filled with asses' milk. Later the same year she played in The Phantom President (1932), with Jimmy Durante. Other successes of this period included Tonight Is Ours (1933) with Fredric March and Torch Singer (1933), with Ricardo Cortez.

[edit] Film success

In 1934, Colbert appeared in four films. The first was a Cecil B. DeMille drama, Four Frightened People but it was not a box office success. The other films, Cleopatra in which she played the title role opposite Warren William, Imitation of Life and It Happened One Night were all successful.

Colbert was not the first choice for the role of Ellie Andrews in the Frank Capra romantic comedy, It Happened One Night. She was reluctant to play the role and initially described it the "worst picture in the world". ^{[citation needed]} Miriam Hopkins, Constance Bennett and Margaret Sullavan had each rejected the part, ^[9] as had Myrna Loy who described the script as one of the worst she had read. ^[10] When Bette Davis was unavailable, ^[11] Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, who accepted the part on condition that her salary be doubled to $50,000 and that filming was to be completed within four weeks.^[12]　Filming began in a tense atmosphere; Colbert and her costar Clark Gable agreed that the script was below standard, but soon established a friendly working relationship and admitted that the script was no worse than many of their earlier films. ^[13] Capra recalled Colbert's dissatisfaction with the part, commenting, "Colbert fretted, pouted and argued about her part... she was a tartar, but a cute one." ^[14]

Colbert baulked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to give a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. However, upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!" ^[15] Colbert said, "I just finished the worst picture in the world" in Sun Valley. ^[16]

Capra recalled Colbert's dissatisfaction with the part, commenting, "Colbert fretted, pouted and argued about her part... she was a tartar, but a cute one." ^[17]

Upon completion of the film, commenting later in her life, "Clark and I left wondering how the movie would be received. It was right in the middle of the Depression. People needed fantasy, they needed splendor and glamour, and Hollywood gave it to them. And here we were, looking a little seedy and riding on our bus". ^[18]

Colbert then starred in Imitation of Life (1934), again with Warren William. Of the four films Colbert made in 1934, three of them – Cleopatra, Imitation of Life and It Happened One Night were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, with the latter winning the award. Colbert's versatility was noted, as she was considered to have given effective performances in very diverse roles and the acclaim she received helped establish the most successful phase of Colbert's career. In 1935 and 1936 she was listed in the annual "Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars", which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars that had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year. ^[19]

She spent the rest of the 1930s deftly alternating between romantic comedies and dramas, and found success in both: She Married Her Boss (1935), with Melvyn Douglas; The Bride Came Home (1935), with Fred MacMurray; Under Two Flags (1936), with Ronald Colman; Anatole Litvak's Tovarich (1937), with Charles Boyer, George Cukor's Zaza (1939), with Herbert Marshall; Midnight (1939), in which she replaced Barbara Stanwyck and costarred with Don Ameche; It's a Wonderful World (1939), with James Stewart.

In 1938 she was reported to be the highest paid performer in Hollywood with a salary of $426,924. ^[20]

Lubitsch's stylish comedy Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), with Gary Cooper, her former co-star in His Woman (1931), was another of her successes during these years. Films such as The Gilded Lily (1935), with MacMurray; John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) with Henry Fonda and No Time for Love (1943) with MacMurray; etc. kept fans coming to the theaters and the movie moguls happy. Colbert was a sure drawing card for virtually any film she was in.

[edit] Working as an independent performer

Colbert began working independently in 1940. Preston Sturges' screwball comedy The Palm Beach Story (1942), with Joel McCrea and producer David O. Selznick's Academy Award nominated drama, Since You Went Away (1944), with Jennifer Jones were among her notable films from this period.

In Since You Went Away, Colbert played a middle aged woman, a mother of two teenaged daughters, trying to keep her family together while her husband was away fighting in World War II. The film marked the first time she played a more mature character; producer David O. Selznick rightly predicted that Colbert would feel threatened by the idea of playing an older character. Selznick had been impressed by Colbert's performance in So Proudly We Hail! (1943) as well as her box-office clout, commenting that "even light little comedies with her have never done under a million and a half." He enlisted the aid of Hedda Hopper in convincing Colbert to accept the part. Hopper later recalled asking her, "You don't expect to be an ingenue all your life, do you?" In addition, Colbert was assured that the film was an important production, and that "Selznick only makes good films". ^[21]

Director John Cromwell later noted that Colbert was "level headed, very professional and with no temperament." However, Selznick expressed frustration with some of her demands. He wrote in a memo that they had rebuilt several sets "because of her refusal to have the right side of her face photographed, on top of which we have to pay her not only a fabulous salary, but also give her two days off a month, which works out to $5000 every four weeks for doing absolutely nothing, and now she's demanding three.... Tell her there's a war on and we all have to make some sacrifices." ^[22]

Released in June 1944, the film became a substantial success and grossed almost 5 million dollars in the United States. The critic James Agee praised aspects of the film, but particularly Colbert's performance, writing "Selznick has given Claudette Colbert the richest, biggest role of her career. She rewards him consistently with smooth Hollywood formula acting, and sometimes – in collaboration with Mr. (Joseph) Cotten – with flashes of acting that are warmer and more mature." ^[23]

[edit] Later career

In addition, Colbert was working with the top directors in the industry: Frank Lloyd, John M. Stahl, Wesley Ruggles, Gregory La Cava, Mitchell Leisen, Woody Van Dyke, Henry King, Mervyn LeRoy and Sam Wood. Also she co-starred with Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Orson Welles, John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon etc.

She appeared in seven films with Fred MacMurray, including her last big hit film was The Egg and I (1947). The film was the twelfth most profitable American film of the 1940s, and one of the most significant commercial successes of Colbert's career. ^[24] On the basis of this success, Colbert was placed for the final time on the "Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars". She had not appeared on the list since 1936. ^[25]

In 1948 Colbert was replaced by Katharine Hepburn in leading role in State of the Union after disagreements with Frank Capra.

In 1949, Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote the part of Margo Channing in All About Eve for Colbert, feeling that she best represented the style of older actress he envisioned for the part. Mankiewicz admired her "sly wit and sense of class" and felt that she would play Margo as an "elegant drunk", who would easily win the support of the audience. Before filming started, Colbert severely injured her back, and although 20th Century Fox postponed the production of All About Eve for two months while she convalesced, she was still not fit enough to take the role. The part brought resounding success to Bette Davis, but years later Mankiewicz commented that he still imagined how effectively Colbert would have embodied the role. Losing the part was a blow for Colbert, and later in life she commented, "I cried for days. Days! I cried for years." ^[26]

Colbert recalled, "I can say immodestly that I'm a very good comedienne. But I was always fighting that image too. I just never had the luck to play bitches. Those are the only parts that ever register really." She was considered for the role Blanche du Bois in the Broadway version of A Streetcar Named Desire but was unable to play it as she was under a film contract at the time.^[27]

By the late 1940s and early 1950s Colbert was not only seen on the screen but the infant medium of television, where she appeared in a number of programs. By the 1950s, her career had begun to wind down; the film in whom she played the leading part last was the western Texas Lady (1955) and her last film was the unpopular Parrish (1961).

From 1936 to 1944, she starred in numerous programs of Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, one of the popular dramatic radio shows at the time. From 1952 to 1954, she went to work in England and France. From 1954 to 1960, she appeared in many television programs, such as Blithe Spirit. She had hard time to let fit live TV programs. She came back to the stage in earnest in 1958.

Colbert recalled "I never thought of my career as the primary thing in my life," and "I looked upon acting as a job, and now, frankly, I regret it. I think of all the things I could have done. I just let parts come to me. I never went after them." ^[28]

[edit] Return to the stage

Colbert returned to the stage in 1951 at the Westport Country Playhouse opposite Noel Coward in his Island Fling. The play, originally written for Gertrude Lawrence, was not a success and lasted for only eight performances.

She returned to Broadway in 1956 to replace Margaret Sullavan in Janus^[29][30]. In 1958, she appeared with Charles Boyer, in the long-running The Marriage Go-Round, which earned her a 1959 Tony Award nomination. This was followed by Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe (1961), which after a try-out in Wilmington, Delaware, lasted for only one performance on Broadway ^[31][32], The Irregular Verb to Love (1963) and, in Miami, Diplomatic Relations (1965) opposite Brian Aherne. Her stage career was interrupted when her husband died in 1968. She returned to work in Fabulous Forties (1972), in Philadelphia, A Community of Two (1974), in Chicago, The Kingfisher (1979) in which she co-starred with Rex Harrison, and for which she won the 1980 Sarah Siddons Award, A Talent for Murder (1981), with Jean-Pierre Aumont and Frederick Lonsdale's Aren't We All? (1985) in which she once again co-starred with Harrison first in London and then on Broadway.

In 1963 she also appeared in television commercials for Maxwell House Coffee, and in 1969 she expressed her intention to write a book entitled "How to Run a House" for her friend Bennett Cerf's Random House Press. This project did not eventuate, Colbert did not write an autobiography.

[edit] Other opinions

Colbert was very particular regarding the way she appeared on screen. She believed that her face was difficult to light and photograph and was obsessed with not showing her "bad" side, the right, to the camera, because of a small bump from a nose broken in childhood. ^[33] In addition, she minded that height of her cheeks were different. Her refusal to be filmed from the right side became well known in Hollywood; Doris Day once quipped, "God wasted half a face on Claudette." ^[34] During the 1930s, she distrusted the new technicolor film process, and feared that she would not photograph well in color. Although she appeared in the technicolor, Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), she preferred to be photographed in black-and-white. ^[35]

She was also sensitive to her age, and later admitted that her transition from young leading actress to the mature roles she later played, was difficult for her. Veronica Lake related that during filming of So Proudly We Hail! (1943), Colbert was angered by a remark made by Paulette Goddard in an interview. Asked which of her costars she preferred, Goddard had replied, "Veronica, I think. After all, we are closer in age". Lake commented that Colbert "flipped" and "was at Paulette's eyes at every moment" and said that they continued their feud throughout the duration of filming. Hedda Hopper described Colbert as the "smartest and canniest" of Hollywood actresses, with a strong sense of what was best for her, and a "deep rooted desire to be in shape, efficient and under control". ^[36]

At the height of her success, Colbert was noted for her dedication to her career. Irene Dunne commented that she lacked Colbert's "terrifying ambition" and noted that if Colbert finished work on a film on a Saturday, she would be looking for a new project by Monday. Hedda Hopper once wrote that Colbert placed her career ahead of everything "save possibly her marriage". ^[37]

[edit] Awards and recognition

She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1936 for Private Worlds, with Charles Boyer, where she played, on the staff at a mental institution and in 1945 for Since You Went Away.

In 1984, Colbert received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In 1987, she starred in the television mini-series titled The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini-series or a Special. In 1988, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV.

In 1984, a building at the old Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York, where she had made her first ten films for Paramount, was renamed in her honour. In 1989, she was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 1991, her career was celebrated by New York University.

During her career, Claudette Colbert appeared in more than sixty films. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6812 Hollywood Blvd.

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Marriages

Colbert married twice. Her first husband was Norman Foster (birth name "Norman Hoeffer"), an actor and later director, whom she married in 1928. She co-starred with him on the stage and in the film, Young Man of Manhattan (1930). They divorced in Mexico in 1935. According to the account of the divorce in the New York Times, published on 31 August 1935, "Some secrecy surrounded the proceedings, for while Mr. Feldman (Colbert's agent) apparently was at liberty to tell of the divorce being granted, he said he could not tell where in Mexico it was obtained." The report further stated that "The Fosters created something of a sensation when they disclosed that they were trying to remain happily married while living in separate homes. But even this experiment apparently failed." ^[38] Foster went on to marry the actress Sally Blane, a sister of Loretta Young.

Four months after her divorce, on 24 December 1935, Colbert married Dr. Joel J. Pressman (1901-1968), a throat specialist and became Mrs. Pressman. Her husband became her best friend. About the mid 1950's, they moved together to Palm Springs, California, where Colbert operated a store for a time before they moved to New York.　Colbert did not have any children.

[edit] Bellerive

Inspired by a visit to Noel Coward's villa in Jamaica, Colbert fell in love with the Caribbean. She spent half of each year at Speightstown, Barbados, from the first half of 1960's, in her vacation home called "Bellerive". There she established a reputation as a hostess. Ronald Reagan was one of her guests during his presidency, as were Kirk Douglas, Jack Benny, Rex Harrison, Slim Keith and Lillian Hellman. The Reagans stayed in the small guest house she had had built on the property for the honeymoon of Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow. However, her registered domicile remained the United States.

[edit] Death

Colbert died at Bellerive at the age of 92, following a series of small strokes during the last two years of her life. She was interred there in the Parish of St. Peter Cemetery beside her husband and mother. A requiem mass was later held at St. Vincent Ferrer church in New York City.

Most of Colbert's estate, estimated at $3.5 million and including her Manhattan apartment and villa in Barbados, was left to a friend, Helen O'Hagan (1931—), a retired director of corporate relations at Saks Fifth Avenue, whom Colbert had met in 1961 on the set of the actress's last film.^[39][40][41] The villa was later purchased by David Geffen.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Features

For the Love of Mike (1927) (silent film) The Lady Lies (1929) The Hole in the Wall (1929) Young Man of Manhattan (1930) The Big Pond (1930) (a French version was also filmed with the same cast) Manslaughter (1930) Mysterious Mr. Parkes (1930) (French version of the 1930 film Slightly Scarlet) Honor Among Lovers (1931) The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) Secrets of a Secretary (1931) His Woman (1931) The Wiser Sex (1932) Misleading Lady (1932) The Man from Yesterday (1932) The Phantom President (1932) The Sign of the Cross (1932) Tonight Is Ours (1933) I Cover the Waterfront (1933) Three-Cornered Moon (1933) Torch Singer (1933) Four Frightened People (1934) Cleopatra (1934) It Happened One Night (1934) Imitation of Life (1934) The Gilded Lily (1935) Private Worlds (1935) She Married Her Boss (1935) The Bride Comes Home (1935) Under Two Flags (1936) Maid of Salem (1937) I Met Him in Paris (1937)

Tovarich (1937) Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) Zaza (1939) Midnight (1939) It's a Wonderful World (1939) Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) Boom Town (1940) Arise, My Love (1940) Skylark (1941) Remember the Day (1941) The Palm Beach Story (1942) No Time for Love (1943) So Proudly We Hail! (1943) Since You Went Away (1944) Practically Yours (1944) Guest Wife (1945) Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) Without Reservations (1946) The Secret Heart (1946) The Egg and I (1947) Sleep, My Love (1948) Family Honeymoon (1949) Bride for Sale (1949) Three Came Home (1950) The Secret Fury (1950) Thunder on the Hill (1951) Let's Make It Legal (1951) The Planter's Wife (1952) Daughters of Destiny (1954) (segment "Elisabeth") Texas Lady (1955) Royal Affairs in Versailles (1957) (short version of production in 1954) Parrish (1961)

[edit] Short Subjects

• Hollywood on Parade (1932)
• Make Me a Star (1932) (Cameo)
• Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933)
• The Hollywood You Never See (1934)
• The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935)
• Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
• Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
• Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 6 (1942)
• Garabatos Claudette Colbert (1944) (Animation)

[edit] Academy Awards

Nominations:

• 1936 - Best Actress in Private Worlds
• 1945 - Best Actress in Since You Went Away

Awards
Preceded by Katharine Hepburn for Morning Glory	Academy Award for Best Actress 1934 for It Happened One Night	Succeeded by Bette Davis for Dangerous
Preceded by Bob Hope and Thelma Ritter 27th Academy Awards	"Oscars" host 28th Academy Awards (with Jerry Lewis and Joseph L. Mankiewicz)	Succeeded by Jerry Lewis 29th Academy Awards

[edit] Television Work

• The Claudette Colbert and Basil Rathbone Show (1951)
• The Dark, Dark Hours (1954)
• The Royal Family (1954)
• The White Carnation (1954)
• The Guardsman (1955)
• Magic Formula (1955)
• While We're Young (1955)
• Private Worlds (1955)
• The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia (1955)
• A Pattern of Deceit (1955)
• The Colgate Comedy Hour (1955) Presenter
• Blithe Spirit (1956)
• After All These Years (1956)
• The 28th Annual Academy Awards (1956) Host
• The Steve Allen Show (1956) (1958) (1958) Guest
• What's My Line? (1956) (1959) Guest
• One Coat of White (1957)
• Novel Appeal (1957)
• Blood in the Dust (1957) (1959)
• General Motors 50th Anniversary Show (1957)
• The Last Town Car (1958)
• Welcome to Washington (1958)
• The Bells of St. Mary's (1959)
• The 13th Annual Tony Awards (1959) Presenter
• So Young the Savage Land (1960)
• The American Film Institute Salute to Frank Capra (1982)
• The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1982) (1989)
• The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987)

[edit] Books

• Claudette Colbert ( A Pyramid illustrated history of the movies ), William K. Everson, Pyramid Publications (1976)
• Claudette Colbert : An Illustrated Biography, Lawrence J. Quirk, Random House Value Publishing (1985)

[edit] External links

• Claudette Colbert at the Internet Movie Database
• Claudette Colbert at the Internet Broadway Database

[edit] References