Colbert, Claudette (1903-1996)
Colbert, Claudette (1903-1996)
The vivacious, Parisian-born Claudette Colbert was one of America's highest-paid and most popular actresses during her sixty-year career on stage, films, and television. Her popular "screwball comedies" enchanted movie audiences, and her classic performance as the fleeing heiress in It Happened One Night (1934) earned her an Academy Award. Although she continued to star in comedies, she was also an Oscar-nominee for the dramatic film Since You Went Away (1944). Her most talked-about scene was the milk bath in The Sign of the Cross. In the 1950s she returned to Broadway, and, still active in her eighties, starred in a television miniseries in 1987. She was honored with an award for lifetime achievement at Kennedy Center in 1989.
—Benjamin Griffith
Further Reading:
Everson, William K. Claudette Colbert. New York, Pyramid Publications, 1976.
Parish, James Robert. The Paramount Pretties. New Rochelle, New York, Arlington House, 1972.
Quinlan, David. The Illustrated Directory of Film Stars. New York, Hippocrene, 1982.
Quirk, Lawrence J. Claudette Colbert: An Illustrated Biography. New York, Crown, 1985.
Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. New York, Crown, 1970.