Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 — July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France, she was brought to the United States as a child three years later and went to high school in New York. While studying at the Art Students League when, in 1923, she took the name Claudette Colbert for her first Broadway role 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 came. 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 notable films were all box-office hits and included Cleopatra (1934), in which she played the title role enticingly. 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". Appearances in other Broadway productions followed, including "The Marriage-Go-Round". Besides the stage, she did TV specials and had a supporting role in a notable 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 and a 200-year-old plantation house in Speightstown, Barbados, where she entertained such guests as Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan. She remained on Barbados Island after her stroke. On July 30, 1996, Claudette died in Speightstown, Barbados. She was 92.

Known For: Acting

Born: Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France, 1903-09-13

Died: 1996-07-30

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1927	For the Love of Mike	Mary	50
2	1929	The Hole in the Wall	Jean Oliver	52
3	1929	The Lady Lies	Joyce Roamer	50
4	1930	Young Man of Manhattan	Ann Vaughn	55
5	1930	The Big Pond	Barbara Billings	57
6	1930	Manslaughter	Lydia Thorne	55
7	1931	Honor Among Lovers	Julia Traynor	57
8	1931	The House That Shadows Built	(archive footage)	70
9	1931	The Smiling Lieutenant	Franzi	69
10	1931	Secrets of a Secretary	Helen Blake	55
11	1931	His Woman	Sally Clark	35
12	1932	The Wiser Sex	Margaret Hughes	60
13	1932	The Misleading Lady	Helen Steele	0
14	1932	The Man from Yesterday	Sylvia Suffolk	48
15	1932	Make Me a Star	Claudette Colbert (uncredited)	55
16	1932	The Phantom President	Felicia Hammond	55
17	1932	The Sign of the Cross	Empress Poppaea	62
18	1933	Tonight Is Ours	Princess Nadya	0
19	1933	I Cover the Waterfront	Julie Kirk	51
20	1933	Three Cornered Moon	Elizabeth Rimplegar	57
21	1933	Torch Singer	Sally Trent, aka Mimi Benton	52
22	1934	Four Frightened People	Judy Jones	62
23	1934	It Happened One Night	Ellie Andrews	78
24	1934	Cleopatra	Cleopatra	61
25	1934	Imitation of Life	Beatrice 'Bea' Pullman	70
26	1935	The Gilded Lily	Marilyn David	65
27	1935	Private Worlds	Dr. Jane Everest	60
28	1935	She Married Her Boss	Julia Scott	70
29	1935	The Fashion Side of Hollywood	Self	60
30	1935	The Bride Comes Home	Jeannette Desmereau	48
31	1936	Under Two Flags	Cigarette	60
32	1937	Maid of Salem	Barbara Clarke	59
33	1937	I Met Him in Paris	Kay Denham	53
34	1937	Tovarich	Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna Romanov	62
35	1938	Bluebeard's Eighth Wife	Nicole De Loiselle	70
36	1938	Hollywood Goes to Town	Self	70
37	1938	Zaza	Zaza	43
38	1938	Breakdowns of 1938	Tatiana (archive footage) (uncredited)	50
39	1939	Midnight	Eve Peabody	73
40	1939	It's a Wonderful World	Edwina Corday	64
41	1939	Drums Along the Mohawk	Lana (Magdelana)	64
42	1940	Hollywood: Style Center of the World	Self	55
43	1940	Cavalcade of the Academy Awards	Self (archive footage)	65
44	1940	Boom Town	Betsy Bartlett	69
45	1940	Arise, My Love	Augusta Nash	63
46	1941	Skylark	Lydia Kenyon	65
47	1941	Remember the Day	Nora Trinell	66
48	1942	The Palm Beach Story	Geraldine 'Gerry' Jeffers	70
49	1942	Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6	Herself	60
50	1943	No Time for Love	Katherine Grant	66
51	1943	So Proudly We Hail	Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson	55
52	1944	Since You Went Away	Mrs. Anne Hilton	65
53	1944	Practically Yours	Peggy Martin	0
54	1945	Guest Wife	Mary Price	62
55	1946	Tomorrow Is Forever	Elizabeth Hamilton	61
56	1946	Without Reservations	Kit Madden	62
57	1946	The Secret Heart	Lee Addams	63
58	1947	The Egg and I	Betty MacDonald	70
59	1948	Sleep, My Love	Alison Courtland	64
60	1948	Family Honeymoon	Katie Armstrong Jordan	57
61	1949	Bride for Sale	Nora Shelley	60
62	1950	Three Came Home	Agnes Newton Keith	67
63	1950	The Secret Fury	Ellen Ewing	54
64	1951	Thunder on the Hill	Sister Mary Bonaventure	65
65	1951	Let's Make It Legal	Miriam Halsworth	63
66	1952	The Planter's Wife	Liz Frazer	62
67	1954	Daughters of Destiny	Elizabeth Whitefield (segment "Elisabeth")	40
68	1954	Royal Affairs in Versailles	Mrs. de Montespan	68
69	1955	Texas Lady	Prudence Webb	54
70	1956	Blithe Spirit	Ruth Condomine	80
71	1961	Parrish	Ellen McLean	54
72	1994	That's Entertainment! III	(archive footage)	70
73	1997	The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender	Self (archive footage)	52
74	1999	Frank Capra Jr. Remembers: 'It Happened One Night'	Self (archive footage)	63
75	2003	Complicated Women	Self (archive footage)	67

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1950	Robert Montgomery Presents		56
2	1950	What's My Line?	Self - Mystery Guest	69
3	1950	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Self	68
4	1950	The Jack Benny Program	Claudette Colbert	78
5	1953	General Electric Theater	Edith Miller	63
6	1953	The Oscars	Self	71
7	1953	Letter to Loretta	Self - Guest Host	65
8	1954	Climax!		33
9	1954	Climax!	Dr. Jane Everest	33
10	1954	Climax!	Sister Cecilia	33
11	1956	Telephone Time		63
12	1956	The Steve Allen Show	Self - Guest	56
13	1956	The Steve Allen Show	Self - Party Host	56
14	1956	Playhouse 90		76
15	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Lucy Bradford	55
16	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Beth Brayden	55
17	1957	Suspicion	Edith Miller	59
18	1978	The Kennedy Center Honors	Self	74
19	1987	The Two Mrs. Grenvilles	Alice Grenville	43

Claudette Colbert

Film

Television