Tony Fontana , Other Works Born Lily Claudette Chauchoin, she went to high school in New York. Claudette Colbert was born in Paris and brought to the United States as a child three years later. I eat three meals a day, but if I'm working in a play, I need four meals a day for additional energy. In their first film together, he was especially impressed with her improvisation of a tightly blocked comedy scene where she prepared a meal aboard a yacht during a storm. It's so different now. She doesn't bore him with her petty ills. Claudette Colbert's age 114 years (at death) & Zodiac Sign Virgo, nationality American (by birth) & Race/Ethnicity is White. Any actress must. True a woman has to be good looking to start with, but it is the way she frames her beauty that does the trick. Is one of five French actors to have received an Academy Award. Her early notable films were all box-office hits and included Cleopatra (1934), in which she played the title role enticingly. That somebody was looking for an Italian type to play the ingénue in a film and I might do? I never thought of movies, God knows, until the 1929 crash. [on her acceptance speech at the Lincoln Center Film Society gala in her honor] Once you've said thank you, there's nothing more to say: the others are saying it. [on the Motion Picture Production Code] They were so strict in the old days. [after having been asked to write her autobiography] Books written by actresses are for the birds. Appearances in other Broadway productions followed, including "The Marriage-Go-Round". Some women think if you don't expect too much you won't be let down. She wasn't real keen on the film industry, but with an extreme scarcity in theatrical roles, she had no choice but to remain. They have the same enemy--the mother. Graduated from Washington Irving High School in New York City in 1923. But they're near miracles. The film was a success and later that year she had another hit entitled The Hole in the Wall (1929). I have been in the Claudette Colbert business longer than anybody. The others in chronological order are: She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6812 Hollywood Blvd. She swam twice daily in the ocean for 30 minutes. Publicity Listings Her "New York Times" obituary gave more insight into her professionalism: "She could appear worldly and sophisticated yet down to earth, and this quality, combined with acute attention to camera angles, lighting and other professional details, helped her to sustain a remarkably durable career that encompassed more than 60 films and many stage appearances". Of all the marriages I've seen where the husband has love for his wife after 15 years, the wife has the ability to make him laugh. Welcome to my blog. She was studying at the Art Students League when, in 1923, she took the name Claudette Colbert for her first Broadway role in "The Wild Westcotts". Recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation in 1986. Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? |  Her final appearance before the cameras was in a TV movie, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987). If you have any advice/complain, please feel free to contact us. Height: 5' 4½" (1.64 m) She was popular leading lady in Hollywood films, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in It Happened One Night, and received two other Academy Award nominations. Was nominated for Broadway's 1959 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Marriage-Go-Round". She was 92. In 1932 Claudette played the evil Poppeia in Cecil B. DeMille's last great work, The Sign of the Cross (1932), and once again was cast with March. I always had the feeling on the screen, and I never lost it, that I'd never given my best performance. [In 1981, on the early deaths of her young co-stars in Tomorrow is Forever, Richard Long and Natalie Wood] Dick, poor Dick, and now our little Natalie. She made her Broadway debut in 1923 in the stage production of "The Wild Wescotts". She did it in one take. One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). - IMDb Mini Biography By: Once an entire set had to be rebuilt so she would not have to show her right side, resulting in some cameramen calling the right side of her face "the dark side of the moon". New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. The Depression killed the theater, and the pictures were manna from heaven". Hi, This is Arefin Emon. Claudette Colbert's full body measurements are 31 in (81 cm) - 36B (US) / 80B (EU) B (US) - 25 in (64 cm) - 33 in (86 cm) . Pg. Saint-Mandé, Seine [now Val-de-Marne], France, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Working with DeMille opened up a whole other field; they realized I could look sexy. Her first film was a silent For the Love of Mike (1927), directed by Frank Capra. I sleep well, eat well, and have only one drink a day. The adornment of beauty was both an art and a science with Cleopatra and it was the beginning of all that has made her famous to this day. In 1944 she starred as Anne Hilton in Since You Went Away (1944). However, her drawing power was fading somewhat as new stars replaced the older ones. First up, Claudette was charming and radiant in Cecil B. DeMille's spectacular Cleopatra (1934). If they want you, you want to do it. After a series of strokes, Claudette divided her time between New York and Barbados. Regards. Denny Jackson, Screenwriter Allan Scott was one of Claudette Colbert's biggest fans after working with her on Skylark (1941) and So Proudly We Hail! Again, although she didn't win, Claudette picked up her third nomination for Best Actress.By the late 1940s and early 1950s she was not only seen on the screen but the infant medium of television, where she appeared in a number of programs. She died there three years later. Biography in: "American National Biography". However, it was as Ellie Andrews, in the now famous It Happened One Night (1934), that ensured she would be forever immortalized. And I would make a naughty face at her and say, "No, I don't.". Back then, everything had to be symbolic. You have entered an incorrect email address! She married actor Norman Foster in 1928, although they never lived together and were divorced after seven years. My mother used to say, "Claudette, don't you want to be pretty when you grow up?" During her career, Colbert starred in more than sixty movies. Unfortunately, it was a box-office disaster. It also resulted in Claudette being nominated for and winning the Oscar that year for Best Actress. Height: 5' 4½" (1.64 m) Mini Bio (3) ... Claudette Colbert was born in Paris and brought to the United States as a child three years later. In 1981, in her seventh decade in show business, "New York Times" critic Frank Rich, praising her performance in the Broadway flop "A Talent for Murder", called her 'a lady of piquant, irrepressible, ever-so-amusing common sense", with "her big Betty Boop eyes, curly light hair" and "her low, one-of-the-boys voice, effortlessly hurling asides like pool balls into every pocket of the house. As he could not show what they can now, DeMille had to figure out ways to make people imagine what was going on. [1979] Today, with everyone trying to be so sophisticated and tongue in cheek, something is taken away. The performance was exquisite. An interview in 1980 mentioned that she, [Editor Rob: I had him at that mark...I looked again and found Joel himself actually claimed 6ft 3], CelebHeights.com © Rob Paul 2004-2020. It was during this event that she adopted the name Claudette Colbert.When the Great Depression shut down most of the theaters, Claudette decided to make a go of it in films. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, Colbert gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. And really, there's nothing like that wonderful feeling of facing your audience.