Claudette Colbert
Acting
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.
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
Frank Capra Jr. Remembers: 'It Happened One Night'
Self (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
Parrish
Ellen McLean
One Coat of White
Betsy Gregg
The Comedian
Self (intro)
Blithe Spirit
Ruth Condomine
Texas Lady
Prudence Webb
Daughters of Destiny
Elizabeth Whitefield (segment "Elisabeth")
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Mrs. de Montespan
The Planter's Wife
Liz Frazer
Let's Make It Legal
Miriam Halsworth
Thunder on the Hill
Sister Mary Bonaventure
The Secret Fury
Ellen Ewing
Three Came Home
Agnes Newton Keith
Bride for Sale
Nora Shelley
Family Honeymoon
Katie Armstrong Jordan
Sleep, My Love
Alison Courtland
The Egg and I
Betty MacDonald
The Secret Heart
Lee Addams
Without Reservations
Kit Madden
Tomorrow Is Forever
Elizabeth Hamilton
Guest Wife
Mary Price
Practically Yours
Peggy Martin
Since You Went Away
Mrs. Anne Hilton
So Proudly We Hail
Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson
No Time for Love
Katherine Grant
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6
Herself
The Palm Beach Story
Geraldine 'Gerry' Jeffers
Remember the Day
Nora Trinell
Skylark
Lydia Kenyon
Arise, My Love
Augusta Nash
Boom Town
Betsy Bartlett
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
Drums Along the Mohawk
Lana (Magdelana)
It's a Wonderful World
Edwina Corday
Midnight
Eve Peabody
Breakdowns of 1938
Tatiana (archive footage) (uncredited)
Zaza
Zaza
Hollywood Goes to Town
Self
Bluebeard's 8th Wife
Nicole De Loiselle
Tovarich
Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna Romanov
I Met Him in Paris
Kay Denham
Maid of Salem
Barbara Clarke
Under Two Flags
Cigarette
The Bride Comes Home
Jeannette Desmereau
The Fashion Side of Hollywood
Self
She Married Her Boss
Julia Scott
Private Worlds
Dr. Jane Everest
The Gilded Lily
Marilyn David
Imitation of Life
Beatrice 'Bea' Pullman
Cleopatra
Cleopatra
Hollywood on Parade No. B-10
Self
It Happened One Night
Ellie Andrews
Four Frightened People
Judy Jones
Torch Singer
Sally Trent, aka Mimi Benton
Three Cornered Moon
Elizabeth Rimplegar
I Cover the Waterfront
Julie Kirk
Tonight Is Ours
Princess Nadya
The Sign of the Cross
Empress Poppaea
The Phantom President
Felicia Hammond
Make Me a Star
Claudette Colbert (uncredited)
The Man from Yesterday
Sylvia Suffolk
The Misleading Lady
Helen Steele
The Wiser Sex
Margaret Hughes
His Woman
Sally Clark
Secrets of a Secretary
Helen Blake
The Smiling Lieutenant
Franzi
The House That Shadows Built
(archive footage)
Honor Among Lovers
Julia Traynor
Mysterious Mr. Parkes
Lucy Stavrin
Manslaughter
Lydia Thorne
The Big Pond
Barbara Billings
Young Man of Manhattan
Ann Vaughn
The Lady Lies
Joyce Roamer
The Hole in the Wall
Jean Oliver
For the Love of Mike
Mary