Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert ( , to Jeanne (, with British Channel Islands heritage ), and Georges Chauchoin. Although christened "Émilie", she was called "Lily" after the famous Jersey-born actress Lillie Langtry. Her mother had intended to name her daughter Lily, but the pastor mistakenly chose the baptismal name Émilie, so she was always called Lily in the family. Colbert's brother, Charles, was born in the Bailiwick of Jersey in 1898. Georges owned and managed a chain store of pastry and bonbon shops (more than eleven), and was also a major stockholder of an ink factory in which he suffered business setbacks. Colbert's uncle was living in New York City. Colbert's legal name is formally registered in the U.S. as Lily Claudette Chauchoin. They lived in a fifth-floor walk-up at 53rd Street. Colbert later stated that she was always climbing those stairs until the age of 18. Georges worked as a minor official in the foreign department at First National City Bank, having learnt Channel Island English from her grandmother before she entered public school. Inspired by the latter, Colbert began sketching people's fashion designs.

Colbert studied at Washington Irving High School, which was known for its strong arts program. Her speech teacher, Alice Rostetter, encouraged her to audition for a play Rostetter had written. In 1921, at the age of 17, Colbert made her stage debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in revivals of Rostetter's The Widow's Veil and Aria da Capo by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Her interests, though, still leaned towards painting, fashion design, and commercial art. and appeared on the Broadway stage in a small role in The Wild Westcotts (1923). She had used the name Claudette, instead of Lily, since high school; for her stage name, she added the maiden name (Colbert) of her father's grandmother, after her brother used the surname Wendling, borrowed from their maternal grandmother's maiden name. Her father died in 1925. and worked in a string of mostly short-lived shows in regional theaters such as those in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston and Connecticut in plays such as Leah Kleschna, We've Got to Have Money, The Cat Came Back, High Stakes, and The Marionette Man which enabled her to gain experience in different genres. In 1924 the English actor Leslie Howard met her, was impressed by her ability to speak with both Mid-Atlantic and British accents, and contacted the producer Al Woods to cast her in Frederick Lonsdale's The Fake, but she was replaced by Frieda Inescort before it opened. After signing a five-year contract with Woods, Colbert performed in eleven Broadway productions from 1925 to 1929, while still belonging to a stock company until 1927. During this period she rejected being typecast such as a French maid, earning a reputation from critics for being composed and impressive. Columnists sang the praises of her unconventional beauty and her power to enrapture an audience. Colbert was again acclaimed for The Ghost Train (1926, thriller) and The Pearl of Great Price (also 1926). run for 221 performances on Broadway, and she reprised the role in London's West End. the film did not fare well at the box office. Her earliest films were produced in New York. During appearing nightly in the play See Naples and Die on the stage, she was also the filming of The Lady Lies (also 1929). The film was a box-office success. At this period, many film critics wrote her having potential to be the screen's next big star. which remained screenwriter-director George Abbott's favorite of his own films.

Those previous works had established her position within the studio system that dominated American filmmaking. She sang and played piano/violin in Ernst Lubitsch musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as being a box-office hit and critical success. March was also originally cast as her co-star in His Woman (1931), but was replaced by Gary Cooper. Cooper felt that her acting skills was so far greater than his own.

For the next few years, she portrayed typically the bright women with witty dialogues, in such pictures as Secrets of a Secretary (1931, opposite Herbert Marshall), The Wiser Sex (1932, opposite Melvyn Douglas), and Misleading Lady (1932).

In 1932, she was cast in the wartime drama The Man from Yesterday and the musical comedy film The Phantom President. The latter featured a famous entertainer George M. Cohan, with songs written by Rodgers and Hart. Colbert's career got a further boost when she had the supporting role as the Roman empress Poppaea in Cecil B. DeMille's historical epic The Sign of the Cross (1932), opposite Fredric March and Charles Laughton. In one of the best-remembered scenes of her film career, she bathes nude in a marble pool filled with asses' milk, which gave rise of the modern myth of Cleopatra bathing in milk, since Colbert also played Cleopatra. The film was the highest-grossing picture of the year in the United States.

Colbert appeared with March for the fourth and final time in Tonight Is Ours (1933). Around that time, she renegotiated her contract with Paramount to allow her to appear in films for other studios. I Cover the Waterfront (1933), based on a then-bestselling novel, was one of the highlights of her early career. Three-Cornered Moon, a pioneering screwball comedy film, reached No. 9 in the National Board of Review Awards in 1933. Her musical voice, a contralto that footnotes list as being coached by Bing Crosby, was also featured in Torch Singer (1933), co-starring Ricardo Cortez and David Manners. Consequently, she was ranked as the year's 13th box-office star. By 1933, she had appeared in 21 films, averaging three per year. She then went on to do an adventure film Four Frightened People (1934). Many of her early films were dramas, with her performances being admired. The film was the 4th-highest-grossing picture of the year in the U.S. and topped the National Board of Review's list, earning an Academy Award for Best Picture. For her role in it, Colbert won a Best Actress Oscar.

In Cleopatra (1934), Colbert took the title role opposite Warren William and Henry Wilcoxon. It was the second highest-grossing picture of that year in the United States. On loan to Universal Pictures for a one-picture deal, she was cast in John M. Stahl's notable melodrama Imitation of Life (1934), which was another box-office success. Those two films also earned Best Picture Oscar nominations in the following year; Colbert is the only actress to date to star in three films nominated for Best Picture in a single year.

The Gilded Lily (directed by Wesley Ruggles) was popular, That success carried over to both films, She Married Her Boss (1935) and The Bride Comes Home (1935). But she earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role in Gregory La Cava's pioneering psychological drama Private Worlds (1935). She starred in Frank Lloyd's adventure film Under Two Flags (1936, featuring Ronald Colman), which also brought her success at the box-office.

In 1936, Colbert signed a new contract with Paramount, making her Hollywood's highest-paid actress. When the studio renewed her contract in 1938, she was again reported to be Hollywood's top-paid actress, with a salary of $426,924. At the peak of her popularity in the late 1930s, she earned $150,000 per film. However, at that period, her representative works were those modern comedies, I Met Him in Paris (1937, as a winter sports enthusiast) she never went on a diet. Her early frequent co-star Fredric March later said, "she was a wonderfully intelligent conversationalist, a really brainy woman." She had a discreet and scandal-free life, and was recognized as the least "actressy" of actresses. In later life, she told, “Actually, I’ve always believed that acting is instinct to start with. You either have it or you don’t. I’m not sure that going to (drama) school can make you a good actor.” This sometimes required movie sets to be redesigned.

Colbert spent the rest of the 1930s deftly alternating between romantic comedies and dramas: George Cukor's Zaza (1938, as a music-hall singer) with Herbert Marshall; and It's a Wonderful World (1939) with James Stewart. From 1934 to 1939, she had appeared in 17 films, averaging more than 2.5 per year.

Midnight (1939) with Don Ameche, directed by Mitchell Leisen and written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, was one of her best comedy films. Colbert preferred a lighthearted, gentle directing style that would inspire spontaneous and inventive acting. She once said, "I know what's best for me—after all", but otherwise offered acting advice to her less experienced co-stars from early in her film career.

Colbert learned about lighting and cinematography and refused to begin filming until she was satisfied that she would be shown to her best advantage. John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk (1939, with Henry Fonda) was her first color film, which was the 10th-grossing picture of the year in the United States. However, she mistrusted the relatively new Technicolor process, and fearing she would not photograph well, preferred thereafter to be filmed in black-and-white. She also exercised strict control over her makeup, hairdo and wardrobe. She also participated in 13 episodes of radio's The Screen Guild Theater, between 1939 and 1952. From 1929 to 1950, she was selected for the Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month, in 30 films.

In 1940, Colbert was offered a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures that would have paid her $200,000 a year; she declined the offer after learning she could command $150,000 per film as a freelance artist. She secured roles in several prestigious films and this period marked the height of her earning power. It won the Academy Award for Best Story, which reflected on her credit with industry financiers. Fifteen her movies received at least one Oscar nomination in any category from 1930 to 1947.

Preston Sturges' The Palm Beach Story (1942) has gained some re-evaluation over the years as a comedic classic, in which she gave one of the best performances of her film career, showcasing mature beauty that speaks of intelligence. She again became the industry's highest-paid star in 1942. in which her performance was less overstated and more effective, no matter how much the film centers her. The epic drama film, led by John Cromwell's sensitively dynamic direction, made almost $5 million at the US box office and was the year's third highest-grossing picture, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance.

Later that year she appeared in the lighthearted Practically Yours alongside Fred MacMurray, with whom she formed a marketable team in a number of films for nearly a decade up to that point. She starred opposite John Wayne in RKO's Without Reservations (1946), which grossed $3 million in the U.S. While working on it, director Mervyn LeRoy described Colbert as an "interesting" lady to work with, recalling her habit of not watching where she was going and constantly bumping into things.

That year, Tomorrow Is Forever was one of the best dramatic performances of her film career, For a psychological drama The Secret Heart (1946), her co-star June Allyson later wrote, Colbert "gave me the moral support and acting tips that made a world of difference." and Colbert's popularity during 1947 led her to place 9th in Quigley's "Top Ten Money-Making Stars Poll". Next came Douglas Sirk's suspense film Sleep, My Love (1948, with Robert Cummings), produced by Mary Pickford. By 1949, she still ranked as the 22nd-highest box-office star.

Colbert appeared with MacMurray for the seventh and final time in Family Honeymoon (1949), which was a commercial hit. Bride for Sale (1949), in which she played part of a love triangle that included Robert Young and George Brent, was well-reviewed and modestly successful. and brought her to win the Laurel Awards for Best Dramatic Performance (Female). While Colbert still looked like a young woman, She said, "I'm a very good comedienne, but I was always fighting that image, too." In later life, Colbert said, "I just never had the luck to play bitches." She then did two French films, Daughters of Destiny (1954, segment "Elizabeth" in the trilogy) and Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954, in a small role). The latter was a letdown for her with its heavy-handed and ponderous direction;

In 1954, Colbert turned down a million-dollar broadcast deal with NBC-TV, Also, she garnered praise from television critics in special productions such as The Guardsman (1955), and Blithe Spirit (1956). A monthly information series The Women (for which she was host in 1959) did well enough.

One of her best TV roles was as a Seattle's widow on One Coast of White (1957), co-starring Paul Henreid.

In 1957, she was cast as Lucy Bradford, wife of schoolteacher Jim Bradford (Jeff Morrow), in the Blood in the Dust episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. In the story, Jim refuses to back down when a gunman orders him to leave town, and Lucy is distressed because Jim hasn't fired a weapon since he was in the Civil War. In the show's 1960 episode So Young the Savage Land, she played Beth Brayden, who becomes disillusioned with her rancher-husband Jim (John Dehner) when he turns to violence to protect their property. Around 1960, she said that American audiences are much harder to entertain nowadays. With so much free (TV) theater coming into the home they have become critics.

In 1956, Colbert hosted the 28th Academy Awards ceremony. She returned to Broadway to replace Margaret Sullavan in Janus that year. but Colbert received little attention, and she directed her agent to end any further attempts to generate interest in her as a TV actress. Even at this period, she still looked younger than her actual age. In the same year, another of her plays, Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe run for only two performances. and A Talent for Murder (1981). She served as the narrator in the BBC TV series Yesterday's Witness episode Sylvia of Sarawak (1972). and the television miniseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987, in a supporting role). The latter, based on the bestselling novel, In her comedies, she invariably played shrewd, self-reliant women; unlike many of her contemporaries, though, she rarely engaged in physical comedy. Her characters were more likely to be observers and commentators.

Personal life In 1928, Colbert married actor and director Norman Foster, with whom she co-starred in the Broadway show The Barker. Their marriage remained a secret for many years while they lived in separate homes. The latter disliked Foster and reputedly did not allow him into the home.

Colbert and Foster divorced in 1935 in Mexico.

On Christmas Eve, 1935, Colbert married Dr. Joel Pressman, who eventually became a professor and chief of the head and neck surgery department of UCLA Medical School. She gave him a Beechcraft airplane as a present. They purchased a ranch in northern California,

Colbert's mother made her brother serve as his sister's agent for a time. The marriage lasted 33 years, until his death from liver cancer in 1968.

Final years and death For years, Colbert divided her time between her Manhattan apartment and her vacation home in Speightstown, Barbados, West Indies. After that, the widow and second wife of her brother, moved from Florida to Barbados to live with Colbert.

Colbert was a long-time friend of Nancy Reagan, whom she first met in 1950, Colbert's other celebrity friends included Kirk Douglas, Jack Benny, Slim Keith, Lillian Hellman, Frank Sinatra, and Mia Farrow.

Colbert suffered a series of small strokes during the last three years of her life. She died in 1996 in Barbados at the age of 92, and they became good friends in 1970. 1960 Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 6812 Hollywood Blvd. 1980 Sarah Siddons Award The Kingfisher 1984 Film Society of Lincoln Center Lifetime Achievement Award 1985 Drama Desk Awards Drama Desk Special Award Aren't We All? 1987 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress

1988 Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress in a Series 1989 Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award 1990 San Sebastián International Film Festival Donostia Award 1999 American Film Institute Greatest Female Stars 2010 Online Film & Television Association Film Hall of Fame