Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert, professional name of Lily Claudette Chauchoin (1903-1996), American stage and film actress, born in Paris and educated in New York. She made her Broadway debut in 1925. In 1928 she appeared in See Naples and Die and Dynamo. In the same year she appeared in London in The Barker. From 1930 onward she performed almost exclusively in films, many of them romantic comedies, and became one of the screen's most popular leading ladies. Her many films include The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Skylark (1941), and So Proudly We Hail (1943). For her performance in It Happened One Night (1934) she won an Academy Award. In 1958 she returned to Broadway in the comedy The Marriage-Go-Round. This was followed by The Irregular Verb to Love (1963), The Kingfisher (1978), A Talent for Murder (1981), and Aren't We All? (1985). In 1987 she was persuaded to co-star with Ann-Margret in the television film The Two Mrs Grenvilles. Colbert died in 1996.