Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert was born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France on September 13, 1903 and was brought to the United States as a child three years later. Born Emilie 'Lily' Claudette Chauchoin, she went to high school in New York. She was studying at the Art Students League when, in 1923, she took the name Claudette Colbert for her first Broadway-rolle in "The Wild Westcotts". Her most noteworthy stage vehicle was the "The Barker" in 1927. Her first film was a silent For the Love of Mike (1927), directed by Frank Capra. Made on a shoestring, the movie was a flop, and she vowed that it would be her last film, role: "I only left Broadway when the crash cam. The Depression killed the theater, and the pictures were manna from heaven". She had her first film-success-the next year, however, in The Lady Lies (1929).

Her early bemerkenswerte filme were all box-office-hits and included Cleopatra (1934), in which she played the title role verführerisch. She had her greatest triumph playing a runaway heiress, with enormous charm, opposite Clark Gable in Capra's comedy It Happened One Night (1934), for which she won the Academy Award as Best Actress. By 1938 her keen ability in business made her the highest paid-star in Hollywood. By 1950, though her star had begun to wane. She returned to the stage in 1956 when she replaced Margaret Sullavan during the spring and summer in the comedy "Janus". Personendaten name in other Broadway-produktionen followed, including "The Marriage-Go-Round". Besides the stage, she-did-TV specials and had a supporting role in a bemerkenswerte TV-movie, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987), for which she received a Golden Globe award. In 1989 she was presented with a Life Achievement award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

She married actor Norman Foster in 1928, although they never lived together and were divorced after seven years. She married surgeon Dr. Joel Pressman soon after and remained married until his death in 1968. In latter years she divided her time between an apartment in New York city and a 200-year-old plantation house in Speightstown, Barbados, where she entertained guests such as Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan. She remained on Barbados Island after stroke-her. On July 30, 1996, Claudette died in Speightstown, Barbados. She was 92.