Appropriately enough for a lady who so effortlessly radiated cosmopolitan elegance, Colbert was born in Saint-Mandé, Seine, France. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1906, and Colbert later became a naturalized citizen. Originally intending to become a fashion designer, Colbert began a career on the Broadway stage in 1923, when a chance encounter at a party led to her being offered a small role in a play.
In 1928, Colbert was offered a contract with Paramount. A string of mostly undistinguished films followed, brightened by a lively supporting role in the Best Picture-nominated 1931 musical, The Smiling Lieutenant, in which Colbert held her own against the charming Maurice Chevalier and the notoriously scene-stealing Miriam Hopkins. The film which propelled Colbert to stardom (and notoriety) was Cecil B. DeMille's epic, The Sign of the Cross (1932), in which Colbert's Roman empress Poppea famously bathes in asses' milk.
PUBLICITY STILL FOR THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932)
1934 proved to be a banner year for Colbert; she starred in no less than three films nominated for Best Picture Oscars: the original version of Imitation of Life; another DeMille epic, in the title role of Cleopatra; and a loan-out to the low-budget Columbia Studios, It Happened One Night.
CLARK GABLE & CLAUDETTE COLBERT IN IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
Neither Colbert nor her co-star, Clark Gable (on loan from MGM) wanted to do the Frank Capra-directed comedy; particularly since the production values seemed much seedier when compared to the famed Paramount and Metro gloss they were accustomed to. To everyone's astonishment, the film was a huge success, inaugurating the "screwball comedy" trend; and swept the Academy Awards, winning in all five major categories, including Best Actress for Colbert.
Now one of the biggest stars in the business, Colbert continued as a Paramount contract star until 1940, when she began freelancing. It was an unusual move at the time, but such was Colbert's popularity and marketability (to say nothing of her canny business sense), that this period marked some of her greatest success as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses. She culminated this period with David O. Selznick's Since You Went Away (1944), a wartime drama in which Colbert, for the first time, played a "mature" part; read: an older woman with a teenaged daughter. Colbert earned some of the finest reviews of her career, and a final Oscar nomination as Best Actress.
The late 1940's and 1950's began an inevitable decline in Colbert's film career; she began concentrating on television, lending a sophisticated flair to the then-fledgling medium, and in 1958, she returned to Broadway in The Marriage-Go-Round. She was nominated for a Best Actress Tony Award. Colbert continued her stage career well into the 1980's; a brief return to film as Troy Donahue's mother in the sudsy, critically-reviled Parrish (1961) was unsuccessful, but a supporting turn in the 1987 TV miniseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles proved that Claudette Colbert was still formidable: her icy portrayal was nominated for an Emmy, and won her a Golden Globe.
Following a series of debilitating strokes in 1993, Colbert retired to her home in Barbados, where she remained until her death in 1996. Regarded as the epitome of poise and class, Claudette Colbert combined the sophistication of a Park Avenue socialite with the no-nonsense, practical wisdom of an independent working gal. She could play femmes fatales in historical epics, self-sacrificing mothers in weepy melodramas and heiresses on the lam in screwball comedies, and do it all with dignity, style and charm to spare. Happy Birthday, Claudette Colbert! We absolutely adore you.
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