After attending a party with writer Anne Morrison, Colbert was offered a bit part in Morrison's play, and appeared on the Broadway stage in a small role in The Wild Westcotts (1923). Intending to become a fashion designer, she attended the Art Students League of New York, where she paid for her art education by working in a dress shop. Her interests, though, still leaned towards painting, fashion design, and commercial art. In 1919, Colbert made her stage debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in The Widow's Veil at the age of 15. Her speech teacher, Alice Rossetter, encouraged her to audition for a play Rossetter had written. Ĭolbert studied at Washington Irving High School, which was known for its strong arts program. She had hoped to become a painter ever since she had grasped her first pencil. Before Colbert entered public school, she quickly learnt English from her grandmother Marie, and grew up as bilingual speaking both English and French. Georges Chauchoin worked as a minor official at First National City Bank, and the family was naturalized in 1912. Her parents formally changed her legal name to Lily Claudette Chauchoin. Colbert stated that climbing those stairs every day until 1922 made her legs beautiful. They lived in a fifth-floor walk-up at 53rd Street. To pursue more employment opportunities, Colbert and her family, including Marie and Emilie Loew, emigrated to Manhattan in 1906. Marie was willing to help Georges financially, but also encouraged him to try his luck in the U.S. Marie Loew had already been to the U.S., and Georges' brother-in-law (surnamed Vedel) was already living in New York City. While Georges Chauchoin had lost the sight in his right eye and had not settled into a profession, he worked as investment banker, suffering business setbacks. Colbert's brother, Charles Auguste Chauchoin (1898–1971), was also born in the Bailiwick of Jersey. Thus, they were already fluent English speakers before moving to the U.S. Jeanne, Emilie Loew, and Colbert's grandmother, Marie Augustine Loew, were born in the Channel Islands. Īlthough christened "Émilie", she was called "Lily" after Jersey-born actress Lillie Langtry, and because an unmarried aunt of the same name-her maternal grandmother's adopted child, Émilie Loew-was living with the family. Émilie Claudette Chauchoin ( French: ) was born in 1903 in Saint-Mandé, France, to Jeanne Marie ( née Loew 1877–1970) and Georges Claude Chauchoin (1867–1925). In 1999, the American Film Institute named Colbert the 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema. Grenvilles (1987) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award nomination. Colbert's television work in The Two Mrs. Colbert received a Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago theater work in 1980. Her career waned in the early 1960s, however in the late 1970s, it experienced a resurgence in theater. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray, in seven films (1935–1949), and Fredric March, in four films (1930–1933).īy the early 1950s, Colbert had turned from the screen to television and stage work, and she earned a Tony Award nomination for The Marriage-Go-Round in 1959. In all, Colbert starred in more than 60 movies. With her round face, big eyes, aristocratic manner, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert's versatility led to her becoming one of the best-paid stars of the 1930s and 1940s and, in 19, the highest-paid. Colbert's other notable films include Cleopatra (1934) and The Palm Beach Story (1942). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for It Happened One Night (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations during her career. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, she gradually shifted to working as an actress free of the studio system. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Claudette Colbert ( / k oʊ l ˈ b ɛər/ kohl- BAIR born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-American actress.
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