fbpx
Wikipedia

Carole Lombard

August 21, 2023

Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

Carole Lombard
Lombard in 1940
Born
Jane Alice Peters

(1908-10-06)October 6, 1908
Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
DiedJanuary 16, 1942(1942-01-16) (aged 33)
Mount Potosi, Nevada, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1942
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1931; div. 1933)​
​
(m. 1939)​

Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation at age 16, but mainly played bit parts and was dropped after a year. Her career came close to ending shortly before her 19th birthday when a shattered windshield from a car accident left a scar on her face,[1] but she overcame this challenge and appeared in 15 short comedies for Mack Sennett from 1927 to 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage (1929) and The Racketeer (1929). After a successful appearance in The Arizona Kid (1930), she was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures.

Paramount quickly began casting Lombard as a leading lady, primarily in drama films. Her profile increased when she married William Powell in 1931, but the couple divorced amicably after two years. A turning point in Lombard's career came when she starred in Howard Hawks's pioneering screwball comedy Twentieth Century (1934). The actress found her niche in this genre, and continued to appear in films such as Hands Across the Table (1935; forming a popular partnership with Fred MacMurray), My Man Godfrey (1936), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Nothing Sacred (1937). At this time, Lombard married Clark Gable, and the supercouple gained much attention from the media. Keen to win an Oscar, Lombard began to move toward serious roles at the end of the decade. Unsuccessful in this aim, she returned to comedy in Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) and Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942), her final film role.

Lombard's career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 aboard TWA Flight 3, which crashed on Mount Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a war bond tour. Today, she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy and as an icon of American cinema.

Life and career

Early life and education (1908–1920)

Lombard was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on October 6, 1908, at 704 Rockhill Street.[2] Christened with the name Jane Alice Peters, she was the third child and only daughter of Frederic Christian Peters (1875–1935) and Elizabeth Jayne "Bessie" (Knight) Peters (1876–1942). Her two older brothers, with whom she was close, both growing up and in adulthood, were Frederic Charles (1902–1979) and John Stuart (1906–1956).[3] Lombard's parents both descended from wealthy families and her early years were lived in comfort, with biographer Robert Matzen calling it her "silver spoon period".[4] The marriage between her parents was strained, however,[5] and in October 1914, her mother took the children and moved to Los Angeles.[6] Although the couple did not divorce, the separation was permanent.[5] Her father's continued financial support allowed the family to live without worry, if not with the same affluence they had enjoyed in Indiana, and they settled into an apartment near Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles.[7]

 
Lombard, aged 12, with Monte Blue in her film debut, A Perfect Crime (1921)

Described by her biographer Wes Gehring as "a free-spirited tomboy", the young Lombard was passionately involved in sports and enjoyed watching movies.[8] At Virgil Junior High School, she participated in tennis, volleyball, and swimming, and won trophies for her achievements in athletics.[6] At the age of 12, this hobby unexpectedly landed Lombard her first screen role. While playing baseball with friends, she caught the attention of the film director Allan Dwan, who later recalled seeing "a cute-looking little tomboy ... out there knocking the hell out of the other kids, playing better baseball than they were. And I needed someone of her type for this picture."[9] With the encouragement of her mother, Lombard happily took a small role in the melodrama A Perfect Crime (1921). She was on set for two days,[9] playing the sister of Monte Blue.[10] Dwan later said "She ate it up".[11]

Career beginnings and Fox contract (1921–26)

A Perfect Crime was not widely distributed, but the brief experience spurred Lombard and her mother to seek more film work, and she participated unsuccessfully in several auditions.[12] While appearing as the queen of Fairfax High School's May Day Carnival at the age of 15, Lombard was scouted by an employee of Charlie Chaplin and offered a screen test to appear in his film The Gold Rush (1925). Lombard did not win the role, but the test raised awareness of her promising talent in Hollywood.[13] Her test was seen by the Vitagraph Film Company, which expressed interest in signing her to a contract. Although this did not materialize, the condition that she adopt a new first name (as Jane was considered too dull) lasted with Lombard throughout her career. She selected the name "Carole" after a girl with whom she played tennis in middle school.[14]

In October 1924, shortly after these disappointments, 16-year-old Lombard was signed to a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. Lombard's mother contacted gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who arranged a screen test.[15] According to biographer Larry Swindell, Lombard's beauty convinced studio head Winfield Sheehan to sign her to a $75-per-week contract,[16] and abandoned her schooling to pursue the new career.[14] Fox approved of the name "Carole", but unlike Vitagraph, it disliked her surname. She was renamed Carole Lombard, with the surname adopted from that of a family friend.[17]

Most of Lombard's appearances with Fox were bit parts[14] in low-budget Westerns and adventure films. She later commented on her dissatisfaction with these roles: "All I had to do was simper prettily at the hero and scream with terror when he battled with the villain."[17] However, she enjoyed the other aspects of film work such as photo shoots, costume fittings, and socializing with actors on the studio set. Lombard embraced the flapper lifestyle and became a regular at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where she won several Charleston dance competitions.[18]

In March 1925, Fox awarded Lombard a leading role in the drama Marriage in Transit with Edmund Lowe. Her performance was received well, and a reviewer for Motion Picture News wrote that Lombard displayed "good poise and considerable charm".[19] However, the studio heads were unconvinced that Lombard was leading-lady material, and her one-year contract was not renewed.[20] Gehring has suggested that a facial scar resulting from an automobile accident was a factor in this decision, but the crash occurred nearly two years later on September 9, 1927.[21]

According to historian Olympia Kiriakou, on the night of the accident, Lombard was on a date with a man named Harry Cooper. As they were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard, Cooper crashed into another car; the windshield shattered and shards of glass cut "Lombard's face from her nose and across her left cheek to her eye."[22] Lombard underwent reconstructive surgery and faced a long recovery period. For the remainder of her career, Lombard learned to hide the mark with makeup and careful lighting.[23] At the time of the accident, Lombard was already under contract with Mack Sennett. In October 1927, Lombard and her mother Bess sued Cooper for $35,000 in damages, citing in the lawsuit that "where she formerly was able to earn a salary of $300 monthly as a Sennett girl, she is now unable to obtain employment of any kind." The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Lombard received $3,000.[24] Although Lombard feared that the accident would end her career, Sennett pledged to help her recover. He afforded her "lucrative film roles and ample publicity", including the nickname "Carole of the Curves". Kiriakou explains, "the nickname simultaneously drew audiences' focus away from her facial scars and worked harmoniously with the physicality and female sensuality that were emblematic of Lombard's performances" in Sennett's films.[24]

Breakthrough and early success (1927–29)

 
Lombard in the comedy short Run, Girl, Run (1928), from her time as a "Mack Sennett girl"

Although Lombard initially had reservations about performing in slapstick comedies, she joined Sennett's company as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties.[25] She appeared in 18 short films (all as Lillian Smith in the Smith Family series) from September 1927 to March 1929,[26] and enjoyed her time at the studio.[27] Lombard's first experiences in comedy provided valuable training for her future comedic work.[28] In 1940, she called her Sennett years "the turning point of [my] acting career".[29]

Sennett's productions were distributed by Pathé Exchange, and the company began casting Lombard in feature films. She had prominent roles in Show Folks and Ned McCobb's Daughter (both 1928),[30] and reviewers observed that she made a "good impression" and was "worth watching".[31] The following year, Pathé elevated Lombard from a supporting player to a leading lady.[32] Her success in Raoul Walsh's picture Me, Gangster (also 1928), with June Collyer and Don Terry in his film debut, finally eased the pressure that her family had been exerting for her to succeed.[33] In Howard Higgin's High Voltage (1929), Lombard's first sound film, she played a criminal in the custody of a deputy sheriff, both of whom are among bus passengers stranded in deep snow.[34] Her next film, the comedy Big News (1929), cast her with Robert Armstrong and was a critical and commercial success.[35] Lombard was reunited with Armstrong for the crime drama The Racketeer, released in late 1929. The review in Film Daily wrote: "Carol Lombard proves a real surprise, and does her best work to date. In fact, this is the first opportunity she has had to prove that she has the stuff to go over."[36]

Paramount contract and first marriage (1930–33)

 
Lombard (left) with Josephine Dunn in Safety in Numbers (1930)

Lombard returned to Fox for a one-off role in the Western The Arizona Kid (1930). It was a big release for the studio, starring the popular actor Warner Baxter, in which Lombard received third billing.[37] Following the success of the film, Paramount Pictures recruited Lombard and signed her to a $350-per-week contract, gradually increasing to $3,500 per week by 1936.[38] They cast her in the Buddy Rogers comedy Safety in Numbers (also 1930), and one critic observed of her work, "Lombard proves [to be] an ace comedienne."[39] For her second assignment, Fast and Loose (also 1930) with Miriam Hopkins, Paramount mistakenly credited the actress as "Carole Lombard". She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name.[40][note 1]

Lombard appeared in five films released during 1931, beginning with the Frank Tuttle comedy It Pays to Advertise. Her next two films, Man of the World and Ladies Man, both featured William Powell, Paramount's top male star.[44] Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met, attracted to his good looks and debonair screen persona,[45] and they were soon in a relationship.[44] The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers: She was 22, carefree, and famously foul-mouthed, and he was 38, intellectual, and sophisticated.[46] Despite their disparate personalities, Lombard married Powell on June 26, 1931, at her Beverly Hills home.[47] Talking to the media, she argued for the benefits of "love between two people who are diametrically different", claiming that their relationship allowed for a "perfect see-saw love".[45]

 
Lombard with her first husband, William Powell

The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame,[47] while she continued to please critics with her work in Up Pops the Devil and I Take this Woman (both 1931).[48] In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star.[49] She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932. No One Man and Sinners in the Sun were not successful,[50] but Edward Buzzell's romantic picture Virtue was well received.[51] After featuring in the drama No More Orchids, Lombard was cast as the wife of a con artist in No Man of Her Own.[51] Her co-star for the picture was Clark Gable, who was rapidly becoming one of Hollywood's top stars.[52] The film was a critical and commercial success, and Wes Gehring writes that it was "arguably Lombard's finest film appearance" to that point.[53] It was the only picture that Gable and Lombard, future husband and wife, made together. There was no romantic interest at this time, however, as she recounted to Garson Kanin: "[we] did all kinds of hot love scenes ... and I never got any kind of tremble out of him at all".[54][note 2]

In August 1933, Lombard and Powell divorced after 26 months of marriage, but they remained very good friends until the end of Lombard's life. At the time, she blamed it on their careers,[56] but in a 1936 interview, she admitted that this "had little to do with the divorce. We were just two completely incompatible people".[48]

She appeared in five films that year, beginning with the drama From Hell to Heaven and continuing with Supernatural, her only horror vehicle. After a small role in The Eagle and the Hawk, a war film starring Fredric March and Cary Grant, she starred in two melodramas: Brief Moment, which critics enjoyed, and White Woman, where she was paired with Charles Laughton.[57]

Lombard was involved romantically with Russ Columbo, the famous crooner killed in a tragic accident in 1934. Lombard had been guiding Columbo's movie and radio career and told Sonia Lee of Mirror magazine in 1934 that they had been engaged. Other press outlets had reported on their relationship earlier that year; Screenland Magazine declared, "the Russ Columbo and Carole Lombard romance is one of Hollywood's most charming."

Success in screwball comedies (1934–35)

 
Lombard in the lobby card for Twentieth Century (1934), considered a pioneering screwball comedy: The film made her a major star.
 
Lombard made four comedies with Fred MacMurray, beginning with Hands Across the Table (1935).

The year 1934 marked a high point in Lombard's career.[58] She began with Wesley Ruggles's musical drama Bolero, where George Raft and she showcased their dancing skills in an extravagantly staged performance to Maurice Ravel's Boléro.[59] Before filming began, she was offered the lead female role in It Happened One Night, but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts with this production.[60][note 3] Bolero was favorably received, while her next film, the musical comedy We're Not Dressing with Bing Crosby, was a box-office hit.[58]

Lombard was then recruited by the director Howard Hawks, a second cousin,[62] to star in his screwball Twentieth Century [63] which proved a watershed in her career and made her a major star.[64] Hawks had seen the actress inebriated at a party, where he found her to be "hilarious and uninhibited and just what the part needed",[65] and she was cast with John Barrymore.[66] In Twentieth Century, Lombard plays an actress who is pursued by her former mentor, a flamboyant Broadway impresario. Hawks and Barrymore were unimpressed with her work in rehearsals, finding that she was "acting" too hard and giving a stiff performance. The director encouraged Lombard to relax, be herself, and act on her instincts.[67][note 4] She responded well to this tutoring, and reviews for the film commented on her unexpectedly "fiery talent"—"a Lombard like no Lombard you've ever seen".[68] The Los Angeles Times' critic felt that she was "entirely different" from her formerly cool, "calculated" persona, adding, "she vibrates with life and passion, abandon and diablerie".[69]

The next films in which Lombard appeared were Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever (1934), featuring Gary Cooper and the new child star Shirley Temple, and Lady by Choice (1934), which was a critical and commercial success. The Gay Bride (1934) placed her with Chester Morris in a gangster comedy, but this outing was panned by critics.[70] After reuniting with George Raft for another dance picture, Rumba (1935), Lombard was given the opportunity to repeat the screwball success of Twentieth Century.[71] In Mitchell Leisen's Hands Across the Table (1935), she portrays a manicurist in search of a rich husband, played by Fred MacMurray. Critics praised the film, and Photoplay's reviewer stated that Lombard had reaffirmed her talent for the genre.[72] It is remembered as one of her best films,[71] and the pairing of Lombard and MacMurray proved so successful that they made three more pictures together.[73]

Critical recognition (1936–37)

Lombard's first film of 1936 was Love Before Breakfast, described by Gehring as "The Taming of the Shrew, screwball style".[74] In William K. Howard's The Princess Comes Across, her second comedy with MacMurray, she played a budding actress who wins a film contract by masquerading as a Swedish princess. The performance was considered a satire of Greta Garbo and was widely praised by critics.[75] Lombard's success continued as she was recruited by Universal Studios to star in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (1936). William Powell, who was playing the eponymous Godfrey, insisted on her being cast as the female lead; despite their divorce, the pair remained friendly and Powell felt she would be perfect in the role of Irene, a zany heiress who employs a "forgotten man" as the family butler.[76] The film was directed by Gregory LaCava, who knew Lombard personally and advised that she draw on her "eccentric nature" for the role.[77] She worked hard on the performance, particularly with finding the appropriate facial expressions for Irene.[78] My Man Godfrey was released to great acclaim and was a box-office hit. It received six nominations at the 9th Academy Awards, including Lombard for Best Actress.[note 5] Biographers cite it as her finest performance, and Frederick Ott says it "clearly established [her] as a comedienne of the first rank."[80]

By 1937, Lombard was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses,[81] and also the highest-paid star in Hollywood following the deal which Myron Selznick negotiated with Paramount that brought her $450,000, [82] more than five times the salary of the U.S. president.[83] As her salary was widely reported in the press, Lombard stated that 80% of her earnings went in taxes, but that she was happy to help improve her country.[84] The comments earned her much positive publicity, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent her a personal letter of thanks.[85]

Her first release of the year was Leisen's Swing High, Swing Low, a third pairing with MacMurray. The film focused on a romance between two cabaret performers, and was a critical and commercial success.[86] It had been primarily a drama, with occasional moments of comedy,[87] but for her next project, Nothing Sacred, Lombard returned to the screwball genre.[88] Producer David O. Selznick, impressed by her work in My Man Godfrey, was eager to make a comedy with the actress and hired Ben Hecht to write an original screenplay for her.[89] Nothing Sacred, directed by William Wellman and co-starring Fredric March, satirized the journalism industry and "the gullible urban masses". Lombard portrayed a small-town girl who pretends to be dying and finds her story exploited by a New York reporter.[90] Marking her only appearance in Technicolor, the film was highly praised and was one of Lombard's personal favorites.[91]

Lombard continued with screwball comedies, next starring in True Confession (1937), what Swindell calls one of her "wackiest" films, .[92] She played a compulsive liar who wrongly confesses to murder. Lombard loved the script and was excited about the project, which reunited her with John Barrymore and was her final appearance with MacMurray. Her prediction that it "smacked of a surefire success" proved accurate as critics responded positively, and it was popular at the box office.[93]

Dramatic efforts and second marriage (1938–40)

 
Lombard with her second husband, Clark Gable after their honeymoon in 1939

True Confession was the last film Lombard made on her Paramount contract, and she remained an independent performer for the rest of her career.[94] Her next film was made at Warner Bros., where she played a famous actress in Mervyn LeRoy's Fools for Scandal (1938). The comedy met with scathing reviews and was a commercial failure, with Swindell calling it "one of the most horrendous flops of the thirties".[95]

Fools for Scandal was the only film Lombard made in 1938. By this time, she was devoted to her relationship with Clark Gable.[96] Four years after their teaming on No Man of Her Own, the pair had reunited at a Hollywood party and began a romance early in 1936.[97] The media took great interest in their partnership and frequently questioned if they would wed.[98] Gable was separated from his wife, Ria Langham, but she did not want to grant him a divorce.[99] As his relationship with Lombard became serious, Langham eventually agreed to a settlement worth half a million dollars.[note 6] The divorce was finalized in March 1939, and Gable and Lombard eloped in Kingman, Arizona on March 29.[102] The couple, both lovers of the outdoors, bought a 20-acre (8.1 ha) ranch in Encino, California, where they kept barnyard animals and enjoyed hunting trips.[103] Almost immediately, Lombard wanted to start a family, but her attempts failed; after two miscarriages and numerous trips to fertility specialists, she was unable to have children.[104] In early 1938, Lombard officially joined the Baháʼí Faith, which her mother had been a member of since 1922.[105][106]

 
Lombard in an advertisement for Vigil in the Night (1940), which she hoped would bring her an Oscar

While continuing with a slower work-rate, Lombard decided to move away from comedies and return to dramatic roles.[107] She appeared in Made for Each Other (1939), which paired her with James Stewart to play a couple facing domestic difficulties.[108] Reviews for the film were highly positive, and praised Lombard's dramatic effort; financially, it was a disappointment.[109] Lombard's next appearance came with Cary Grant in the John Cromwell romance In Name Only (1939), a credit she personally negotiated with RKO Radio Pictures upon hearing of the script and Grant's involvement.[110] The role reflected her recent experiences, as she played a woman in love with a married man whose wife refuses to divorce. She was paid $150,000 for the film, continuing her status as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, and it was a moderate success.[111]

Lombard was eager to win an Academy Award, and selected her next project—from several possible scripts—with the expectation that it would bring her the trophy.[112] Vigil in the Night (1940), directed by George Stevens, featured Lombard as a nurse who faces a series of personal difficulties. Although the performance was praised, she did not get her nomination, as the sombre mood of the picture turned audiences away and box-office returns were poor.[113] Despite the realization that she was best suited to comedies,[114] Lombard completed the drama They Knew What They Wanted (1940), co-starring Charles Laughton, which was mildly successful.[115]

Final roles (1941–42)

 
Lombard in her final role in To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Accepting that "my name doesn't sell tickets to serious pictures",[116] Lombard returned to comedy for the first time in three years to film Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), about a couple who learns that their marriage is invalid, with Robert Montgomery. Lombard was influential in bringing Alfred Hitchcock, whom she knew through David O. Selznick, to direct one of his most atypical films.[117] It was a commercial success, and audiences were happy with what Swindell calls "the belated happy news ... that Carole Lombard was a screwball once more."[118]

It was nearly a year before Lombard committed to another film, as she focused instead on her home and marriage.[119][note 7] Determined that her next film be "an unqualified smash hit", she was also careful in selecting a new project. Through her agent, Lombard heard of Ernst Lubitsch's upcoming film: To Be or Not to Be (1942), a dark comedy that satirized the Nazi takeover of Poland.[121] The actress had long wanted to work with Lubitsch, her favorite comedy director, and felt that the material—although controversial—was a worthy subject.[122] Lombard accepted the role of actress Maria Tura, despite it being a smaller part than she was used to, and was given top billing over the film's male lead Jack Benny. Filming took place in the fall of 1941, and it was reportedly one of the happier experiences of Lombard's career.[121]

Death

 
Lombard in Indiana, January 1942, shortly before her death in a plane crash

When the U.S. entered World War II at the end of 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother, Bess Peters, and Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler. Lombard raised more than $2 million in defense bonds in a single evening. Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was eager to reach home more quickly and wanted to travel by air. Her mother and Winkler were afraid of flying and insisted that the group follow their original travel plans. Lombard suggested that they flip a coin; they agreed, and Lombard won the toss.[123]

In the early morning hours of January 16, 1942, Lombard, her mother and Winkler boarded a Transcontinental and Western Air Douglas DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) aircraft to return to California.[note 8] After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off at 7:07 p.m. and crashed into Double Up Peak near the 8,300-foot (2,530 m) level of Potosi Mountain, 32 statute miles (51 km) southwest of the Las Vegas airport. All 22 aboard, including Lombard, her mother, Winkler and 15 U.S. Army soldiers, were killed instantly.[125] Lombard was age 33. The cause of the crash was attributed to the flight crew's inability to properly navigate over the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. As a precaution against the possibility of enemy Japanese bomber aircraft coming into American airspace from the Pacific, safety beacons normally used to direct night flights had been turned off, leaving the pilot and crew of the TWA flight without visual warnings of the mountains in their flight path.[126][127] Some of the aircraft crash wreckage remains on Potosi, but it is very difficult to find due to slope and brush.

Aftermath

When The Jack Benny Program aired on January 18, Jack Benny did not attend the live radio broadcast. At its opening, announcer Don Wilson stated Jack would not appear that night, but did not explain why. The show that night did not feature any comedy, just musical numbers. Lombard had been scheduled to appear on the following Sunday's broadcast.[128]

Lombard's funeral was January 21 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. She was interred beside her mother under the name of Carole Lombard Gable. Despite remarrying twice following her death, Gable was interred beside Lombard when he died in 1960.

To Be or Not to Be, Lombard's final film, was in post-production at the time of her death. Allegedly, it has been said that film's producers decided to cut a line in which Lombard's character asks "What can happen on a plane?" out of respect for the circumstances surrounding her death.[129] However, there is no indication that this line existed and was removed posthumously, according to the film's PSA file.[130]

At the time of her death, Lombard had been scheduled to star in the film They All Kissed the Bride; when production started, she was replaced by Joan Crawford.[131] Crawford donated all of her salary for the film to the Red Cross, which had helped extensively in the recovery of bodies from the air crash.

Shortly after Lombard's death, Gable, who was inconsolable and devastated by his loss, joined the United States Army Air Forces. Lombard had asked him to do that numerous times after the United States had entered World War II.[citation needed] After officer training, Gable headed a six-man motion picture unit attached to a B-17 bomb group in England to film aerial gunners in combat, flying five missions himself. In December 1943, the United States Maritime Commission announced that a Liberty ship named in her honor would be launched.[132] Gable attended the launch of the SS Carole Lombard on January 15, 1944, the two-year anniversary of Lombard's war bond drive. The ship was involved in rescuing hundreds of survivors from sunken ships in the Pacific and returning them to safety.

In 1962, Jill Winkler Rath, widow of publicist Otto Winkler, filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the $2 million estate of Clark Gable in connection with Winkler's death. The suit was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Rath, in her action, claimed Gable promised to provide financial aid for her if she would not bring suit against the airline involved. Rath stated she later learned that Gable settled his claim against the airline for $10. He did so because he did not want to repeat his grief in court, and subsequently he provided her no financial aid in his will.[133][134]

  •  

    Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Mrs. Elizabeth Peters, mother of Carole Lombard (1939)

  •  

    Irene Dunne and Louis B. Mayer christen SS Carole Lombard while Clark Gable and Mrs. Walter Lang, who was Lombard's secretary, observe.

  •  

    Crypt of Carole Lombard, in the Sanctuary of Trust of the Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Glendale

Legacy

 
Lombard's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Author Robert D. Matzen has cited Lombard as "among the most commercially successful and admired film personalities in Hollywood in the 1930s",[135] and feminist writer June Sochen believes that Lombard "demonstrated great knowledge of the mechanics of film making".[136] George Raft, her co-star in Bolero, was extremely fond of the actress, remarking "I truly loved Carole Lombard. She was the greatest girl that ever lived and we were the best of pals. Completely honest and outspoken, she was liked by everyone".[137]

Historian Olympia Kiriakou identifies Lombard as a progressive, feminist studio-era star. She describes Lombard's politics as "proto-feminist", explaining that "many of her political and social statements pre-date the second-wave feminist movement, yet were very much in line with the second wave's focus," particularly her views about women's roles in the home and workplace.[138] Lombard's independent star persona balanced her femininity and screen glamour with "male business sense".[139] She was described by Photoplay columnist Hart Seymore as the "perfect example of a modern Career Girl", which was based on Lombard's capability to "live by the logical premise that women have equal rights with men."[140] In 1937, Photoplay published an article about Lombard's business acumen entitled "Carole Lombard tells: 'How I Live by a Man's Code'," in which she offers readers rules for how to be successful in business and at home such as ""play fair [with men]...don't burn over criticism - stand up to it like a man."[141] Notably, in the article Lombard tells readers that she "doesn't believe in a man's world," and encourages women to "work - and like it," adding: "All women should have something worthwhile to do, and cultivate efficiency at it, whether it be housekeeping or raising chickens. Working women are interesting women."[141] But as Kiriakou explains, such an article was published in order "to elicit a specific response from the fan magazine readers - namely, to view Lombard's independent star as indistinguishable from the Lombard heroines they saw on screen."[142]

Moreover, according to scholar Emily Carman, Lombard's independent female star persona was able to emerge only when she "attained greater professional autonomy in the mid-1930s," ultimately leading her to become one of the first stars of the studio-era to go freelance.[139] Freelancing gave Lombard more autonomy over her career decisions, and the types of roles she was able to play. Additionally, Lombard was the first Hollywood star to propose profit participation: in 1938, she negotiated with Selznick International Pictures to take a reduced salary of $100,000 in exchange for a 20 percent cut of the distributor's gross of $1.6 to $1.7 million, and subsequent smaller percentages as the gross increased.[143] Carman explains that this contract also included a "no-loan out" clause, the right to employ Travis Banton as her costume designer of choice, as well as all legal rights to her image.[144] Carman concludes that Lombard's strategic business sense and easy-going nature were central to her independent star persona, and the control she maintained over her career was a challenge to the "paternalistic structure" of the studio system.[145]

Lombard was particularly noted for the zaniness of her performances,[146] described as a "natural prankster, a salty tongued straight-shooter, a feminist precursor and one of the few stars who was beloved by the technicians and studio functionaries who worked with her".[147] Life magazine noted that her film personality transcended to real life, "her conversation, often brilliant, is punctuated by screeches, laughs, growls, gesticulations and the expletives of a sailor's parrot".[148] Graham Greene praised the "heartbreaking and nostalgic melodies" of her faster-than-thought delivery, whereas The Independent wrote "Platinum blonde, with a heart-shaped face, delicate, impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lamé, Lombard wriggled expressively through such classics of hysteria as Twentieth Century and My Man Godfrey."[149]

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the 25 greatest American female screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema,[150] and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6930 Hollywood Blvd. Lombard received one Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for My Man Godfrey.[151] Actresses who have portrayed her in films include Jill Clayburgh in Gable and Lombard (1976),[152] Sharon Gless in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980), Denise Crosby in Malice in Wonderland (1985), Anastasia Hille in RKO 281 (1999) and Vanessa Gray in Lucy (2003).[153] Lombard's Fort Wayne childhood home has been designated a historic landmark. The city named the nearby bridge over the St. Mary's River the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge.[147]

Filmography

Main article: Carole Lombard filmography

References

Notes

  1. ^ In her lifetime, the media reported that Lombard added the extra "e" to Carol at the advice of a numerologist.[40] She denied this to Garson Kanin, saying, "That's a lot of bunk."[41] Some of the Mack Sennett shorts had already used the spelling "Carole", but this is thought to have been an accident.[40] Her name was not consistently billed and reported with this spelling until 1930.[42] She legally changed her name to "Carole Lombard" in 1936.[43]
  2. ^ At the time, Lombard was married to Powell (and told Kanin she was "on my ear about a different number at that time")[54] while Gable was married to Ria Langham and having an affair with Joan Crawford.[55]
  3. ^ It Happened One Night  became a major success and won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Claudette Colbert in the role that Lombard would have played.[61]
  4. ^ Hawks recalled, "She acted like a schoolgirl ... and she was stiff, she would try to imagine a character and then act according to her imaginings instead of being herself." When he felt that Lombard had overcome this in a scene, he said to Barrymore, "you've just seen a girl that's probably going to be a big star, and if we can just keep her from acting, we'll have a hell of a picture."[67]
  5. ^ At the Academy Awards ceremony, Lombard was announced as the nominee with the second-highest number of votes. The award went to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld.[79]
  6. ^ Gable had to give Langham $350,000 in cash plus additional property, leading to a total settlement worth more than half a million.[100] The expense of the divorce contributed to Gable's agreement to portray Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.[101]
  7. ^ Rumors at this time stated that Gable and Lombard were experiencing marital difficulties; in 1941, they put their home up for sale, but soon took it off the market, which was taken as evidence that they had separated and then reconciled. Lombard was also eager to get pregnant, but had difficulty conceiving.[120]
  8. ^ The Douglas DST or Douglas Sleeper Transport was an airliner with either 24 passenger seats in daytime operation or fitted out with 16 sleeper bunks in the cabin.[124]

Citations

  1. ^ "How Carole Lombard's career was almost over before it began". www.thehistorypress.co.uk. The History Press.
  2. ^ Indiana, Birth Certificates, 1907–1940
  3. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 19.
  4. ^ Matzen 1988, p. 1; Gehring 2003, p. 19.
  5. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 23.
  6. ^ a b Ott 1972, p. 16.
  7. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 25.
  8. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 20.
  9. ^ a b Gehring 2003, pp. 27–28.
  10. ^ Ott 1972, p. 17.
  11. ^ Matzen 1988, p. 5.
  12. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 29.
  13. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 39–41.
  14. ^ a b c Matzen 1988, p. 6.
  15. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 44–45.
  16. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 40.
  17. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 46.
  18. ^ Matzen 1988, p. 6; Gehring 2003, p. 47.
  19. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 18, 49.
  20. ^ Matzen 1988, p. 6; Ott 1972, p. 19.
  21. ^ Kiriakou, Olympia (2020). Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 18. ISBN 9781501350733.
  22. ^ Kiriakou, Olympia (2020). Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 18. ISBN 9781501350733.
  23. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 48–50.
  24. ^ a b Kiriakou, Olympia (2020). Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 19. ISBN 9781501350733.
  25. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 53–54.
  26. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 55–60.
  27. ^ Ott 1972, p. 20; Gehring 2003, p. 53.
  28. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 57–58; Ott 1972, p. 20.
  29. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 59.
  30. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 61.
  31. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 65–66.
  32. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 65.
  33. ^ "Carole Gets Her Own Way". Silver Screen. May–October 1934. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  34. ^ Ott 1972, p. 22.
  35. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 65; Ott 1972, p. 22.
  36. ^ Ott 1972, p. 72.
  37. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 68–69.
  38. ^ Ott 1972, p. 23.
  39. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 77.
  40. ^ a b c Gehring 2003, pp. 78–79.
  41. ^ Kanin 1974, p. 59.
  42. ^ Ott 1972, p. 46.
  43. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 205.
  44. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 83.
  45. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 85.
  46. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 83; Matzen 1988, p. 11.
  47. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 87.
  48. ^ a b Ott 1972, p. 24.
  49. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 90–91.
  50. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 91.
  51. ^ a b Ott 1972, p. 25.
  52. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 197; Gehring 2003, p. 98.
  53. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 97–100, 102 (for quote).
  54. ^ a b Kanin 1974, p. 61.
  55. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 101.
  56. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 92–93.
  57. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 102, 105.
  58. ^ a b Gehring 2003, p. 110.
  59. ^ Ott 1972, p. 26.
  60. ^ MacBride 2000, p. 303.
  61. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 103.
  62. ^ Hawks 2005, p. 147.
  63. ^ Ott 1972, p. 26; Gehring 2003, p. 111.
  64. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 121, 123; Ott 1972, p. 28.
  65. ^ Bogdanovich 2012, p. 466.
  66. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 118.
  67. ^ a b Ott 1972, p. 27.
  68. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 120–121.
  69. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 117.
  70. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 122–123.
  71. ^ a b Ott 1972, p. 28.
  72. ^ Ott 1972, p. 133; Gehring 2003, p. 127.
  73. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 127.
  74. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 135.
  75. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 136–137.
  76. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 93–95, 132.
  77. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 133, 137, 139.
  78. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 140.
  79. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 168.
  80. ^ Ott 1972, p. 29; Gehring 2003, pp. 140–142.
  81. ^ Haver 1980, p. 214; Swindell 1975, p. 220.
  82. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 201.
  83. ^ Ott 1972, p. 9.
  84. ^ Haver 1980, p. 214.
  85. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 232.
  86. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 153.
  87. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 154–156.
  88. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 158.
  89. ^ Haver 1980, pp. 214–215.
  90. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 30, 148–149.
  91. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 154, 161–162.
  92. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 226.
  93. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 163–166; Swindell 1975, pp. 225, 228.
  94. ^ Ott 1972, p. 30.
  95. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 237; Gehring 2003, pp. 174–175.
  96. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 236–237; Gehring 2003, p. 173.
  97. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 191–194.
  98. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 200, 205; Gehring 2003, p. 168.
  99. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 199, 213.
  100. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 238.
  101. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 180.
  102. ^ Gehring 2003, p. 184.
  103. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 31–32.
  104. ^ Flemming, E.J. (2015). The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine. McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 9780786454952.
  105. ^ Matzen, Robert (December 25, 2014). "The Weaver". Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  106. ^ Mazlum, Vargha. "Documentary: Carole Lombard". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  107. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 175, 181.
  108. ^ Ott 1972, pp. 158–159.
  109. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 246; Gehring 2003, pp. 181–183, 189; Ott 1972, p. 160.
  110. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 252–253.
  111. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 188–189; Swindell 1975.
  112. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 258, 260.
  113. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 261.
  114. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 190, 200; Swindell 1975, pp. 261, 271.
  115. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 272.
  116. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 274.
  117. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 279.
  118. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 280.
  119. ^ Swindell 1975, p. 283.
  120. ^ Swindell 1975, pp. 284–287.
  121. ^ a b Swindell 1975, pp. 290–291.
  122. ^ Gehring 2003, pp. 215–216.
  123. ^ Kulzer, Dina-Marie. "Carole Lombard: Lovable Madcap." Classic Hollywood Bios.
  124. ^ "Sleeping Car of the Air Has Sixteen Sleeping Berths". Popular Mechanics, January 1936.
  125. ^ s. "Carole Lombard killed in plane crash". History.com. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  126. ^ Cohen 1991, p. 347.
  127. ^ "Clark Gable joins search for plane wreckage holding fate of Carole Lombard and 21 others". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. United Press. January 17, 1942. p. 1.
  128. ^ "Radio Day by Day". The Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania). January 20, 1942. p. 17. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  129. ^ Brooks Brooks 2006, p. 104.
  130. ^ "CONTENTdm". digitalcollections.oscars.org. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  131. ^ Ford 2011, p. 41.
  132. ^ "Tribute to Carole Lombard" (December 29, 1943).The Stars and Stripes, p. 4.
  133. ^ "Widow Gets Zero". Variety 226.10 (May 2, 1962): 5.
  134. ^ "Woman Suing Gable Estate For $100,000". The Hartford Courant. August 18, 1961.
  135. ^ Matzen 1988.
  136. ^ Sochen 1999, p. 95.
  137. ^ Yablonsky 2000, p. 95.
  138. ^ Kiriakou, Olympia (2020). Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 177. ISBN 9781501350733.
  139. ^ a b Carman, Emily (2008). "Independent Stardom: Female Film Stars and the Studio System of the 1930s". Women's Studies. 37 (6): 585. doi:10.1080/00497870802205175. S2CID 144459922.
  140. ^ Carman, Emily (2008). "Independent Stardom: Female Film Stars and the Studio System of the 1930s". Women's Studies. 37 (6): 609. doi:10.1080/00497870802205175. S2CID 144459922.
  141. ^ a b Seymore, Hart (June 1937). "Carole Lombard tells: "How I Live By A Man's Code". Photoplay: 12.
  142. ^ Kiriakou, Olympia (2020). Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 182. ISBN 9781501350733.
  143. ^ Carman, Emily (2015). Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System. University of Texas Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781477307311.
  144. ^ Carman, Emily (2015). Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System. University of Texas Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781477307311.
  145. ^ Carman, Emily (2015). Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System. University of Texas Press. p. 4. ISBN 9781477307311.
  146. ^ Balio 1995, p. 276; Mitchell 2001, p. 16.
  147. ^ a b Gordon, Jim (May 1, 2005). . The Post-Tribune. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014 – via HighBeam Research (subscription required).
  148. ^ "The Screwball Girl". Life. October 17, 1938. p. 50. ISSN 0024-3019.
  149. ^ Koenig, Rhoda (June 24, 2005). "The Queen of Comedy". The Independent. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  150. ^ "America's greatest legends" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  151. ^ Shearer 2006, p. 533.
  152. ^ Erens 1988, p. 361.
  153. ^ Gallo, Phil (May 1, 2003). "Review:'Lucy'". Variety. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

Bibliography

  • Balio, Tino (1995). Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930–1939. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20334-1.
  • Bogdanovich, Peter (2012). Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with ... Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-81745-7.
  • Brooks, Patricia; Brooks, Jonathan (2006). Laid to Rest in California: A Guide to the Cemeteries and Grave Sites of the Rich and Famous. Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 978-0-7627-4101-4.
  • Carman, Emily (2015). Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1477307816.
  • Carr, Larry (1979). More Fabulous Faces: The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Dolores del Río, Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0-385-12819-3.
  • Cohen, Stan (1991). V for victory: America's home front during World War II. Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-929521-51-0.
  • Erens, Patricia (1988). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. p. 361. ISBN 0-253-20493-3.
  • Ford, Peter (2011). Glenn Ford: A Life. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-28153-3.
  • Gehring, Wes D. (2003). Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado. Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-167-0.
  • Haver, Ronald (1980). David O. Selznick's Hollywood. London: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd. ISBN 0-394-42595-2.
  • Hawks, Howard (2005). Howard Hawks: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-833-3.
  • Kanin, Garson (1974). Hollywood. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-37575-2.
  • Matzen, Robert D. (1988). Carole Lombard: A Bio-bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-26286-9.
  • MacBride, Joseph (2000). Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-26324-9.
  • Mitchell, Deborah C. (2001). Diane Keaton: Artist and Icon. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1082-8.
  • Ott, Frederick W. (1972). The Films of Carole Lombard. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0-8065-0278-6.
  • Shearer, Benjamin F. (2006). Home Front Heroes [Three Volumes]. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-04705-3.
  • Sochen, June (1999). From Mae to Madonna: Women Entertainers in Twentieth-century America. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2112-4.
  • Swindell, Larry (1975). Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard. New York: William Morrow & Company. ISBN 978-0-688-00287-9.
  • Yablonsky, Lewis (2000). George Raft. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-01003-5.

External links

  • Carole Lombard at IMDb
  • at the TCM Movie Database  
  • Carole Lombard at Virtual History
  • Carole Lombard at Indiana Historical Bureau

August 21, 2023
carole, lombard, born, jane, alice, peters, october, 1908, january, 1942, american, actress, particularly, noted, energetic, often, beat, roles, screwball, comedies, 1999, american, film, institute, ranked, lombard, 23rd, list, greatest, female, stars, classic. Carole Lombard born Jane Alice Peters October 6 1908 January 16 1942 was an American actress particularly noted for her energetic often off beat roles in screwball comedies In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema Carole LombardLombard in 1940BornJane Alice Peters 1908 10 06 October 6 1908Fort Wayne Indiana U S DiedJanuary 16 1942 1942 01 16 aged 33 Mount Potosi Nevada U S Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale California U S OccupationActressYears active1921 1942Political partyDemocraticSpousesWilliam Powell m 1931 div 1933 wbr Clark Gable m 1939 wbr Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne Indiana but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother At 12 she was recruited by director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime 1921 Eager to become an actress she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation at age 16 but mainly played bit parts and was dropped after a year Her career came close to ending shortly before her 19th birthday when a shattered windshield from a car accident left a scar on her face 1 but she overcame this challenge and appeared in 15 short comedies for Mack Sennett from 1927 to 1929 and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage 1929 and The Racketeer 1929 After a successful appearance in The Arizona Kid 1930 she was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures Paramount quickly began casting Lombard as a leading lady primarily in drama films Her profile increased when she married William Powell in 1931 but the couple divorced amicably after two years A turning point in Lombard s career came when she starred in Howard Hawks s pioneering screwball comedy Twentieth Century 1934 The actress found her niche in this genre and continued to appear in films such as Hands Across the Table 1935 forming a popular partnership with Fred MacMurray My Man Godfrey 1936 for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Nothing Sacred 1937 At this time Lombard married Clark Gable and the supercouple gained much attention from the media Keen to win an Oscar Lombard began to move toward serious roles at the end of the decade Unsuccessful in this aim she returned to comedy in Alfred Hitchcock s Mr amp Mrs Smith 1941 and Ernst Lubitsch s To Be or Not to Be 1942 her final film role Lombard s career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 aboard TWA Flight 3 which crashed on Mount Potosi Nevada while returning from a war bond tour Today she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy and as an icon of American cinema Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 Early life and education 1908 1920 1 2 Career beginnings and Fox contract 1921 26 1 3 Breakthrough and early success 1927 29 1 4 Paramount contract and first marriage 1930 33 1 5 Success in screwball comedies 1934 35 1 6 Critical recognition 1936 37 1 7 Dramatic efforts and second marriage 1938 40 1 8 Final roles 1941 42 2 Death 2 1 Aftermath 3 Legacy 4 Filmography 5 References 5 1 Notes 5 2 Citations 5 3 Bibliography 6 External linksLife and career EditEarly life and education 1908 1920 Edit Lombard was born in Fort Wayne Indiana on October 6 1908 at 704 Rockhill Street 2 Christened with the name Jane Alice Peters she was the third child and only daughter of Frederic Christian Peters 1875 1935 and Elizabeth Jayne Bessie Knight Peters 1876 1942 Her two older brothers with whom she was close both growing up and in adulthood were Frederic Charles 1902 1979 and John Stuart 1906 1956 3 Lombard s parents both descended from wealthy families and her early years were lived in comfort with biographer Robert Matzen calling it her silver spoon period 4 The marriage between her parents was strained however 5 and in October 1914 her mother took the children and moved to Los Angeles 6 Although the couple did not divorce the separation was permanent 5 Her father s continued financial support allowed the family to live without worry if not with the same affluence they had enjoyed in Indiana and they settled into an apartment near Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles 7 Lombard aged 12 with Monte Blue in her film debut A Perfect Crime 1921 Described by her biographer Wes Gehring as a free spirited tomboy the young Lombard was passionately involved in sports and enjoyed watching movies 8 At Virgil Junior High School she participated in tennis volleyball and swimming and won trophies for her achievements in athletics 6 At the age of 12 this hobby unexpectedly landed Lombard her first screen role While playing baseball with friends she caught the attention of the film director Allan Dwan who later recalled seeing a cute looking little tomboy out there knocking the hell out of the other kids playing better baseball than they were And I needed someone of her type for this picture 9 With the encouragement of her mother Lombard happily took a small role in the melodrama A Perfect Crime 1921 She was on set for two days 9 playing the sister of Monte Blue 10 Dwan later said She ate it up 11 Career beginnings and Fox contract 1921 26 Edit A Perfect Crime was not widely distributed but the brief experience spurred Lombard and her mother to seek more film work and she participated unsuccessfully in several auditions 12 While appearing as the queen of Fairfax High School s May Day Carnival at the age of 15 Lombard was scouted by an employee of Charlie Chaplin and offered a screen test to appear in his film The Gold Rush 1925 Lombard did not win the role but the test raised awareness of her promising talent in Hollywood 13 Her test was seen by the Vitagraph Film Company which expressed interest in signing her to a contract Although this did not materialize the condition that she adopt a new first name as Jane was considered too dull lasted with Lombard throughout her career She selected the name Carole after a girl with whom she played tennis in middle school 14 In October 1924 shortly after these disappointments 16 year old Lombard was signed to a contract with the Fox Film Corporation Lombard s mother contacted gossip columnist Louella Parsons who arranged a screen test 15 According to biographer Larry Swindell Lombard s beauty convinced studio head Winfield Sheehan to sign her to a 75 per week contract 16 and abandoned her schooling to pursue the new career 14 Fox approved of the name Carole but unlike Vitagraph it disliked her surname She was renamed Carole Lombard with the surname adopted from that of a family friend 17 Most of Lombard s appearances with Fox were bit parts 14 in low budget Westerns and adventure films She later commented on her dissatisfaction with these roles All I had to do was simper prettily at the hero and scream with terror when he battled with the villain 17 However she enjoyed the other aspects of film work such as photo shoots costume fittings and socializing with actors on the studio set Lombard embraced the flapper lifestyle and became a regular at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub where she won several Charleston dance competitions 18 In March 1925 Fox awarded Lombard a leading role in the drama Marriage in Transit with Edmund Lowe Her performance was received well and a reviewer for Motion Picture News wrote that Lombard displayed good poise and considerable charm 19 However the studio heads were unconvinced that Lombard was leading lady material and her one year contract was not renewed 20 Gehring has suggested that a facial scar resulting from an automobile accident was a factor in this decision but the crash occurred nearly two years later on September 9 1927 21 According to historian Olympia Kiriakou on the night of the accident Lombard was on a date with a man named Harry Cooper As they were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard Cooper crashed into another car the windshield shattered and shards of glass cut Lombard s face from her nose and across her left cheek to her eye 22 Lombard underwent reconstructive surgery and faced a long recovery period For the remainder of her career Lombard learned to hide the mark with makeup and careful lighting 23 At the time of the accident Lombard was already under contract with Mack Sennett In October 1927 Lombard and her mother Bess sued Cooper for 35 000 in damages citing in the lawsuit that where she formerly was able to earn a salary of 300 monthly as a Sennett girl she is now unable to obtain employment of any kind The lawsuit was settled out of court and Lombard received 3 000 24 Although Lombard feared that the accident would end her career Sennett pledged to help her recover He afforded her lucrative film roles and ample publicity including the nickname Carole of the Curves Kiriakou explains the nickname simultaneously drew audiences focus away from her facial scars and worked harmoniously with the physicality and female sensuality that were emblematic of Lombard s performances in Sennett s films 24 Breakthrough and early success 1927 29 Edit Lombard in the comedy short Run Girl Run 1928 from her time as a Mack Sennett girl Although Lombard initially had reservations about performing in slapstick comedies she joined Sennett s company as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties 25 She appeared in 18 short films all as Lillian Smith in the Smith Family series from September 1927 to March 1929 26 and enjoyed her time at the studio 27 Lombard s first experiences in comedy provided valuable training for her future comedic work 28 In 1940 she called her Sennett years the turning point of my acting career 29 Sennett s productions were distributed by Pathe Exchange and the company began casting Lombard in feature films She had prominent roles in Show Folks and Ned McCobb s Daughter both 1928 30 and reviewers observed that she made a good impression and was worth watching 31 The following year Pathe elevated Lombard from a supporting player to a leading lady 32 Her success in Raoul Walsh s picture Me Gangster also 1928 with June Collyer and Don Terry in his film debut finally eased the pressure that her family had been exerting for her to succeed 33 In Howard Higgin s High Voltage 1929 Lombard s first sound film she played a criminal in the custody of a deputy sheriff both of whom are among bus passengers stranded in deep snow 34 Her next film the comedy Big News 1929 cast her with Robert Armstrong and was a critical and commercial success 35 Lombard was reunited with Armstrong for the crime drama The Racketeer released in late 1929 The review in Film Daily wrote Carol Lombard proves a real surprise and does her best work to date In fact this is the first opportunity she has had to prove that she has the stuff to go over 36 Paramount contract and first marriage 1930 33 Edit Lombard left with Josephine Dunn in Safety in Numbers 1930 Lombard returned to Fox for a one off role in the Western The Arizona Kid 1930 It was a big release for the studio starring the popular actor Warner Baxter in which Lombard received third billing 37 Following the success of the film Paramount Pictures recruited Lombard and signed her to a 350 per week contract gradually increasing to 3 500 per week by 1936 38 They cast her in the Buddy Rogers comedy Safety in Numbers also 1930 and one critic observed of her work Lombard proves to be an ace comedienne 39 For her second assignment Fast and Loose also 1930 with Miriam Hopkins Paramount mistakenly credited the actress as Carole Lombard She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name 40 note 1 Lombard appeared in five films released during 1931 beginning with the Frank Tuttle comedy It Pays to Advertise Her next two films Man of the World and Ladies Man both featured William Powell Paramount s top male star 44 Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met attracted to his good looks and debonair screen persona 45 and they were soon in a relationship 44 The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers She was 22 carefree and famously foul mouthed and he was 38 intellectual and sophisticated 46 Despite their disparate personalities Lombard married Powell on June 26 1931 at her Beverly Hills home 47 Talking to the media she argued for the benefits of love between two people who are diametrically different claiming that their relationship allowed for a perfect see saw love 45 Lombard with her first husband William PowellThe marriage to Powell increased Lombard s fame 47 while she continued to please critics with her work in Up Pops the Devil and I Take this Woman both 1931 48 In reviews for the latter film which co starred Gary Cooper several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star 49 She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932 No One Man and Sinners in the Sun were not successful 50 but Edward Buzzell s romantic picture Virtue was well received 51 After featuring in the drama No More Orchids Lombard was cast as the wife of a con artist in No Man of Her Own 51 Her co star for the picture was Clark Gable who was rapidly becoming one of Hollywood s top stars 52 The film was a critical and commercial success and Wes Gehring writes that it was arguably Lombard s finest film appearance to that point 53 It was the only picture that Gable and Lombard future husband and wife made together There was no romantic interest at this time however as she recounted to Garson Kanin we did all kinds of hot love scenes and I never got any kind of tremble out of him at all 54 note 2 In August 1933 Lombard and Powell divorced after 26 months of marriage but they remained very good friends until the end of Lombard s life At the time she blamed it on their careers 56 but in a 1936 interview she admitted that this had little to do with the divorce We were just two completely incompatible people 48 She appeared in five films that year beginning with the drama From Hell to Heaven and continuing with Supernatural her only horror vehicle After a small role in The Eagle and the Hawk a war film starring Fredric March and Cary Grant she starred in two melodramas Brief Moment which critics enjoyed and White Woman where she was paired with Charles Laughton 57 Lombard was involved romantically with Russ Columbo the famous crooner killed in a tragic accident in 1934 Lombard had been guiding Columbo s movie and radio career and told Sonia Lee of Mirror magazine in 1934 that they had been engaged Other press outlets had reported on their relationship earlier that year Screenland Magazine declared the Russ Columbo and Carole Lombard romance is one of Hollywood s most charming Success in screwball comedies 1934 35 Edit Lombard in the lobby card for Twentieth Century 1934 considered a pioneering screwball comedy The film made her a major star Lombard made four comedies with Fred MacMurray beginning with Hands Across the Table 1935 The year 1934 marked a high point in Lombard s career 58 She began with Wesley Ruggles s musical drama Bolero where George Raft and she showcased their dancing skills in an extravagantly staged performance to Maurice Ravel s Bolero 59 Before filming began she was offered the lead female role in It Happened One Night but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts with this production 60 note 3 Bolero was favorably received while her next film the musical comedy We re Not Dressing with Bing Crosby was a box office hit 58 Lombard was then recruited by the director Howard Hawks a second cousin 62 to star in his screwball Twentieth Century 63 which proved a watershed in her career and made her a major star 64 Hawks had seen the actress inebriated at a party where he found her to be hilarious and uninhibited and just what the part needed 65 and she was cast with John Barrymore 66 In Twentieth Century Lombard plays an actress who is pursued by her former mentor a flamboyant Broadway impresario Hawks and Barrymore were unimpressed with her work in rehearsals finding that she was acting too hard and giving a stiff performance The director encouraged Lombard to relax be herself and act on her instincts 67 note 4 She responded well to this tutoring and reviews for the film commented on her unexpectedly fiery talent a Lombard like no Lombard you ve ever seen 68 The Los Angeles Times critic felt that she was entirely different from her formerly cool calculated persona adding she vibrates with life and passion abandon and diablerie 69 The next films in which Lombard appeared were Henry Hathaway s Now and Forever 1934 featuring Gary Cooper and the new child star Shirley Temple and Lady by Choice 1934 which was a critical and commercial success The Gay Bride 1934 placed her with Chester Morris in a gangster comedy but this outing was panned by critics 70 After reuniting with George Raft for another dance picture Rumba 1935 Lombard was given the opportunity to repeat the screwball success of Twentieth Century 71 In Mitchell Leisen s Hands Across the Table 1935 she portrays a manicurist in search of a rich husband played by Fred MacMurray Critics praised the film and Photoplay s reviewer stated that Lombard had reaffirmed her talent for the genre 72 It is remembered as one of her best films 71 and the pairing of Lombard and MacMurray proved so successful that they made three more pictures together 73 Critical recognition 1936 37 Edit Lombard s first film of 1936 was Love Before Breakfast described by Gehring as The Taming of the Shrew screwball style 74 In William K Howard s The Princess Comes Across her second comedy with MacMurray she played a budding actress who wins a film contract by masquerading as a Swedish princess The performance was considered a satire of Greta Garbo and was widely praised by critics 75 Lombard s success continued as she was recruited by Universal Studios to star in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey 1936 William Powell who was playing the eponymous Godfrey insisted on her being cast as the female lead despite their divorce the pair remained friendly and Powell felt she would be perfect in the role of Irene a zany heiress who employs a forgotten man as the family butler 76 The film was directed by Gregory LaCava who knew Lombard personally and advised that she draw on her eccentric nature for the role 77 She worked hard on the performance particularly with finding the appropriate facial expressions for Irene 78 My Man Godfrey was released to great acclaim and was a box office hit It received six nominations at the 9th Academy Awards including Lombard for Best Actress note 5 Biographers cite it as her finest performance and Frederick Ott says it clearly established her as a comedienne of the first rank 80 By 1937 Lombard was one of Hollywood s most popular actresses 81 and also the highest paid star in Hollywood following the deal which Myron Selznick negotiated with Paramount that brought her 450 000 82 more than five times the salary of the U S president 83 As her salary was widely reported in the press Lombard stated that 80 of her earnings went in taxes but that she was happy to help improve her country 84 The comments earned her much positive publicity and President Franklin D Roosevelt sent her a personal letter of thanks 85 Her first release of the year was Leisen s Swing High Swing Low a third pairing with MacMurray The film focused on a romance between two cabaret performers and was a critical and commercial success 86 It had been primarily a drama with occasional moments of comedy 87 but for her next project Nothing Sacred Lombard returned to the screwball genre 88 Producer David O Selznick impressed by her work in My Man Godfrey was eager to make a comedy with the actress and hired Ben Hecht to write an original screenplay for her 89 Nothing Sacred directed by William Wellman and co starring Fredric March satirized the journalism industry and the gullible urban masses Lombard portrayed a small town girl who pretends to be dying and finds her story exploited by a New York reporter 90 Marking her only appearance in Technicolor the film was highly praised and was one of Lombard s personal favorites 91 Lombard continued with screwball comedies next starring in True Confession 1937 what Swindell calls one of her wackiest films 92 She played a compulsive liar who wrongly confesses to murder Lombard loved the script and was excited about the project which reunited her with John Barrymore and was her final appearance with MacMurray Her prediction that it smacked of a surefire success proved accurate as critics responded positively and it was popular at the box office 93 Dramatic efforts and second marriage 1938 40 Edit Lombard with her second husband Clark Gable after their honeymoon in 1939True Confession was the last film Lombard made on her Paramount contract and she remained an independent performer for the rest of her career 94 Her next film was made at Warner Bros where she played a famous actress in Mervyn LeRoy s Fools for Scandal 1938 The comedy met with scathing reviews and was a commercial failure with Swindell calling it one of the most horrendous flops of the thirties 95 Fools for Scandal was the only film Lombard made in 1938 By this time she was devoted to her relationship with Clark Gable 96 Four years after their teaming on No Man of Her Own the pair had reunited at a Hollywood party and began a romance early in 1936 97 The media took great interest in their partnership and frequently questioned if they would wed 98 Gable was separated from his wife Ria Langham but she did not want to grant him a divorce 99 As his relationship with Lombard became serious Langham eventually agreed to a settlement worth half a million dollars note 6 The divorce was finalized in March 1939 and Gable and Lombard eloped in Kingman Arizona on March 29 102 The couple both lovers of the outdoors bought a 20 acre 8 1 ha ranch in Encino California where they kept barnyard animals and enjoyed hunting trips 103 Almost immediately Lombard wanted to start a family but her attempts failed after two miscarriages and numerous trips to fertility specialists she was unable to have children 104 In early 1938 Lombard officially joined the Bahaʼi Faith which her mother had been a member of since 1922 105 106 Lombard in an advertisement for Vigil in the Night 1940 which she hoped would bring her an OscarWhile continuing with a slower work rate Lombard decided to move away from comedies and return to dramatic roles 107 She appeared in Made for Each Other 1939 which paired her with James Stewart to play a couple facing domestic difficulties 108 Reviews for the film were highly positive and praised Lombard s dramatic effort financially it was a disappointment 109 Lombard s next appearance came with Cary Grant in the John Cromwell romance In Name Only 1939 a credit she personally negotiated with RKO Radio Pictures upon hearing of the script and Grant s involvement 110 The role reflected her recent experiences as she played a woman in love with a married man whose wife refuses to divorce She was paid 150 000 for the film continuing her status as one of Hollywood s highest paid actresses and it was a moderate success 111 Lombard was eager to win an Academy Award and selected her next project from several possible scripts with the expectation that it would bring her the trophy 112 Vigil in the Night 1940 directed by George Stevens featured Lombard as a nurse who faces a series of personal difficulties Although the performance was praised she did not get her nomination as the sombre mood of the picture turned audiences away and box office returns were poor 113 Despite the realization that she was best suited to comedies 114 Lombard completed the drama They Knew What They Wanted 1940 co starring Charles Laughton which was mildly successful 115 Final roles 1941 42 Edit Lombard in her final role in To Be or Not to Be 1942 Accepting that my name doesn t sell tickets to serious pictures 116 Lombard returned to comedy for the first time in three years to film Mr amp Mrs Smith 1941 about a couple who learns that their marriage is invalid with Robert Montgomery Lombard was influential in bringing Alfred Hitchcock whom she knew through David O Selznick to direct one of his most atypical films 117 It was a commercial success and audiences were happy with what Swindell calls the belated happy news that Carole Lombard was a screwball once more 118 It was nearly a year before Lombard committed to another film as she focused instead on her home and marriage 119 note 7 Determined that her next film be an unqualified smash hit she was also careful in selecting a new project Through her agent Lombard heard of Ernst Lubitsch s upcoming film To Be or Not to Be 1942 a dark comedy that satirized the Nazi takeover of Poland 121 The actress had long wanted to work with Lubitsch her favorite comedy director and felt that the material although controversial was a worthy subject 122 Lombard accepted the role of actress Maria Tura despite it being a smaller part than she was used to and was given top billing over the film s male lead Jack Benny Filming took place in the fall of 1941 and it was reportedly one of the happier experiences of Lombard s career 121 Death Edit Lombard in Indiana January 1942 shortly before her death in a plane crashWhen the U S entered World War II at the end of 1941 Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother Bess Peters and Clark Gable s press agent Otto Winkler Lombard raised more than 2 million in defense bonds in a single evening Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train but Lombard was eager to reach home more quickly and wanted to travel by air Her mother and Winkler were afraid of flying and insisted that the group follow their original travel plans Lombard suggested that they flip a coin they agreed and Lombard won the toss 123 In the early morning hours of January 16 1942 Lombard her mother and Winkler boarded a Transcontinental and Western Air Douglas DST Douglas Sleeper Transport aircraft to return to California note 8 After refueling in Las Vegas TWA Flight 3 took off at 7 07 p m and crashed into Double Up Peak near the 8 300 foot 2 530 m level of Potosi Mountain 32 statute miles 51 km southwest of the Las Vegas airport All 22 aboard including Lombard her mother Winkler and 15 U S Army soldiers were killed instantly 125 Lombard was age 33 The cause of the crash was attributed to the flight crew s inability to properly navigate over the mountains surrounding Las Vegas As a precaution against the possibility of enemy Japanese bomber aircraft coming into American airspace from the Pacific safety beacons normally used to direct night flights had been turned off leaving the pilot and crew of the TWA flight without visual warnings of the mountains in their flight path 126 127 Some of the aircraft crash wreckage remains on Potosi but it is very difficult to find due to slope and brush Aftermath Edit When The Jack Benny Program aired on January 18 Jack Benny did not attend the live radio broadcast At its opening announcer Don Wilson stated Jack would not appear that night but did not explain why The show that night did not feature any comedy just musical numbers Lombard had been scheduled to appear on the following Sunday s broadcast 128 Lombard s funeral was January 21 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale California She was interred beside her mother under the name of Carole Lombard Gable Despite remarrying twice following her death Gable was interred beside Lombard when he died in 1960 To Be or Not to Be Lombard s final film was in post production at the time of her death Allegedly it has been said that film s producers decided to cut a line in which Lombard s character asks What can happen on a plane out of respect for the circumstances surrounding her death 129 However there is no indication that this line existed and was removed posthumously according to the film s PSA file 130 At the time of her death Lombard had been scheduled to star in the film They All Kissed the Bride when production started she was replaced by Joan Crawford 131 Crawford donated all of her salary for the film to the Red Cross which had helped extensively in the recovery of bodies from the air crash Shortly after Lombard s death Gable who was inconsolable and devastated by his loss joined the United States Army Air Forces Lombard had asked him to do that numerous times after the United States had entered World War II citation needed After officer training Gable headed a six man motion picture unit attached to a B 17 bomb group in England to film aerial gunners in combat flying five missions himself In December 1943 the United States Maritime Commission announced that a Liberty ship named in her honor would be launched 132 Gable attended the launch of the SS Carole Lombard on January 15 1944 the two year anniversary of Lombard s war bond drive The ship was involved in rescuing hundreds of survivors from sunken ships in the Pacific and returning them to safety In 1962 Jill Winkler Rath widow of publicist Otto Winkler filed a 100 000 lawsuit against the 2 million estate of Clark Gable in connection with Winkler s death The suit was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court Rath in her action claimed Gable promised to provide financial aid for her if she would not bring suit against the airline involved Rath stated she later learned that Gable settled his claim against the airline for 10 He did so because he did not want to repeat his grief in court and subsequently he provided her no financial aid in his will 133 134 Clark Gable Carole Lombard and Mrs Elizabeth Peters mother of Carole Lombard 1939 Irene Dunne and Louis B Mayer christen SS Carole Lombard while Clark Gable and Mrs Walter Lang who was Lombard s secretary observe Crypt of Carole Lombard in the Sanctuary of Trust of the Great Mausoleum Forest Lawn GlendaleLegacy Edit Lombard s star on the Hollywood Walk of FameAuthor Robert D Matzen has cited Lombard as among the most commercially successful and admired film personalities in Hollywood in the 1930s 135 and feminist writer June Sochen believes that Lombard demonstrated great knowledge of the mechanics of film making 136 George Raft her co star in Bolero was extremely fond of the actress remarking I truly loved Carole Lombard She was the greatest girl that ever lived and we were the best of pals Completely honest and outspoken she was liked by everyone 137 Historian Olympia Kiriakou identifies Lombard as a progressive feminist studio era star She describes Lombard s politics as proto feminist explaining that many of her political and social statements pre date the second wave feminist movement yet were very much in line with the second wave s focus particularly her views about women s roles in the home and workplace 138 Lombard s independent star persona balanced her femininity and screen glamour with male business sense 139 She was described by Photoplay columnist Hart Seymore as the perfect example of a modern Career Girl which was based on Lombard s capability to live by the logical premise that women have equal rights with men 140 In 1937 Photoplay published an article about Lombard s business acumen entitled Carole Lombard tells How I Live by a Man s Code in which she offers readers rules for how to be successful in business and at home such as play fair with men don t burn over criticism stand up to it like a man 141 Notably in the article Lombard tells readers that she doesn t believe in a man s world and encourages women to work and like it adding All women should have something worthwhile to do and cultivate efficiency at it whether it be housekeeping or raising chickens Working women are interesting women 141 But as Kiriakou explains such an article was published in order to elicit a specific response from the fan magazine readers namely to view Lombard s independent star as indistinguishable from the Lombard heroines they saw on screen 142 Moreover according to scholar Emily Carman Lombard s independent female star persona was able to emerge only when she attained greater professional autonomy in the mid 1930s ultimately leading her to become one of the first stars of the studio era to go freelance 139 Freelancing gave Lombard more autonomy over her career decisions and the types of roles she was able to play Additionally Lombard was the first Hollywood star to propose profit participation in 1938 she negotiated with Selznick International Pictures to take a reduced salary of 100 000 in exchange for a 20 percent cut of the distributor s gross of 1 6 to 1 7 million and subsequent smaller percentages as the gross increased 143 Carman explains that this contract also included a no loan out clause the right to employ Travis Banton as her costume designer of choice as well as all legal rights to her image 144 Carman concludes that Lombard s strategic business sense and easy going nature were central to her independent star persona and the control she maintained over her career was a challenge to the paternalistic structure of the studio system 145 Lombard was particularly noted for the zaniness of her performances 146 described as a natural prankster a salty tongued straight shooter a feminist precursor and one of the few stars who was beloved by the technicians and studio functionaries who worked with her 147 Life magazine noted that her film personality transcended to real life her conversation often brilliant is punctuated by screeches laughs growls gesticulations and the expletives of a sailor s parrot 148 Graham Greene praised the heartbreaking and nostalgic melodies of her faster than thought delivery whereas The Independent wrote Platinum blonde with a heart shaped face delicate impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lame Lombard wriggled expressively through such classics of hysteria as Twentieth Century and My Man Godfrey 149 In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the 25 greatest American female screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema 150 and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6930 Hollywood Blvd Lombard received one Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for My Man Godfrey 151 Actresses who have portrayed her in films include Jill Clayburgh in Gable and Lombard 1976 152 Sharon Gless in Moviola The Scarlett O Hara War 1980 Denise Crosby in Malice in Wonderland 1985 Anastasia Hille in RKO 281 1999 and Vanessa Gray in Lucy 2003 153 Lombard s Fort Wayne childhood home has been designated a historic landmark The city named the nearby bridge over the St Mary s River the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge 147 Filmography EditMain article Carole Lombard filmographyReferences EditNotes Edit In her lifetime the media reported that Lombard added the extra e to Carol at the advice of a numerologist 40 She denied this to Garson Kanin saying That s a lot of bunk 41 Some of the Mack Sennett shorts had already used the spelling Carole but this is thought to have been an accident 40 Her name was not consistently billed and reported with this spelling until 1930 42 She legally changed her name to Carole Lombard in 1936 43 At the time Lombard was married to Powell and told Kanin she was on my ear about a different number at that time 54 while Gable was married to Ria Langham and having an affair with Joan Crawford 55 It Happened One Night became a major success and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress for Claudette Colbert in the role that Lombard would have played 61 Hawks recalled She acted like a schoolgirl and she was stiff she would try to imagine a character and then act according to her imaginings instead of being herself When he felt that Lombard had overcome this in a scene he said to Barrymore you ve just seen a girl that s probably going to be a big star and if we can just keep her from acting we ll have a hell of a picture 67 At the Academy Awards ceremony Lombard was announced as the nominee with the second highest number of votes The award went to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld 79 Gable had to give Langham 350 000 in cash plus additional property leading to a total settlement worth more than half a million 100 The expense of the divorce contributed to Gable s agreement to portray Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind 101 Rumors at this time stated that Gable and Lombard were experiencing marital difficulties in 1941 they put their home up for sale but soon took it off the market which was taken as evidence that they had separated and then reconciled Lombard was also eager to get pregnant but had difficulty conceiving 120 The Douglas DST or Douglas Sleeper Transport was an airliner with either 24 passenger seats in daytime operation or fitted out with 16 sleeper bunks in the cabin 124 Citations Edit How Carole Lombard s career was almost over before it began www thehistorypress co uk The History Press Indiana Birth Certificates 1907 1940 Gehring 2003 p 19 Matzen 1988 p 1 Gehring 2003 p 19 a b Gehring 2003 p 23 a b Ott 1972 p 16 Gehring 2003 p 25 Gehring 2003 p 20 a b Gehring 2003 pp 27 28 Ott 1972 p 17 Matzen 1988 p 5 Gehring 2003 p 29 Gehring 2003 pp 39 41 a b c Matzen 1988 p 6 Gehring 2003 pp 44 45 Swindell 1975 p 40 a b Gehring 2003 p 46 Matzen 1988 p 6 Gehring 2003 p 47 Ott 1972 pp 18 49 Matzen 1988 p 6 Ott 1972 p 19 Kiriakou Olympia 2020 Becoming Carole Lombard Stardom Comedy and Legacy Bloomsbury Academic p 18 ISBN 9781501350733 Kiriakou Olympia 2020 Becoming Carole Lombard Stardom Comedy and Legacy Bloomsbury Academic p 18 ISBN 9781501350733 Gehring 2003 pp 48 50 a b Kiriakou Olympia 2020 Becoming Carole Lombard Stardom Comedy and Legacy Bloomsbury Academic p 19 ISBN 9781501350733 Gehring 2003 pp 53 54 Ott 1972 pp 55 60 Ott 1972 p 20 Gehring 2003 p 53 Gehring 2003 pp 57 58 Ott 1972 p 20 Gehring 2003 p 59 Gehring 2003 p 61 Ott 1972 pp 65 66 Gehring 2003 p 65 Carole Gets Her Own Way Silver Screen May October 1934 Retrieved November 26 2014 Ott 1972 p 22 Gehring 2003 p 65 Ott 1972 p 22 Ott 1972 p 72 Gehring 2003 pp 68 69 Ott 1972 p 23 Gehring 2003 p 77 a b c Gehring 2003 pp 78 79 Kanin 1974 p 59 Ott 1972 p 46 Swindell 1975 p 205 a b Gehring 2003 p 83 a b Gehring 2003 p 85 Gehring 2003 p 83 Matzen 1988 p 11 a b Gehring 2003 p 87 a b Ott 1972 p 24 Gehring 2003 pp 90 91 Gehring 2003 p 91 a b Ott 1972 p 25 Swindell 1975 p 197 Gehring 2003 p 98 Gehring 2003 pp 97 100 102 for quote a b Kanin 1974 p 61 Gehring 2003 p 101 Gehring 2003 pp 92 93 Gehring 2003 pp 102 105 a b Gehring 2003 p 110 Ott 1972 p 26 MacBride 2000 p 303 Gehring 2003 p 103 Hawks 2005 p 147 Ott 1972 p 26 Gehring 2003 p 111 Gehring 2003 pp 121 123 Ott 1972 p 28 Bogdanovich 2012 p 466 Gehring 2003 p 118 a b Ott 1972 p 27 Ott 1972 pp 120 121 Gehring 2003 p 117 Gehring 2003 pp 122 123 a b Ott 1972 p 28 Ott 1972 p 133 Gehring 2003 p 127 Gehring 2003 p 127 Gehring 2003 p 135 Gehring 2003 pp 136 137 Gehring 2003 pp 93 95 132 Gehring 2003 pp 133 137 139 Gehring 2003 p 140 Gehring 2003 p 168 Ott 1972 p 29 Gehring 2003 pp 140 142 Haver 1980 p 214 Swindell 1975 p 220 Swindell 1975 p 201 Ott 1972 p 9 Haver 1980 p 214 Swindell 1975 p 232 Gehring 2003 p 153 Gehring 2003 pp 154 156 Gehring 2003 p 158 Haver 1980 pp 214 215 Ott 1972 pp 30 148 149 Gehring 2003 pp 154 161 162 Swindell 1975 p 226 Gehring 2003 pp 163 166 Swindell 1975 pp 225 228 Ott 1972 p 30 Swindell 1975 p 237 Gehring 2003 pp 174 175 Swindell 1975 pp 236 237 Gehring 2003 p 173 Swindell 1975 pp 191 194 Swindell 1975 pp 200 205 Gehring 2003 p 168 Swindell 1975 pp 199 213 Swindell 1975 p 238 Gehring 2003 p 180 Gehring 2003 p 184 Ott 1972 pp 31 32 Flemming E J 2015 The Fixers Eddie Mannix Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine McFarland p 200 ISBN 9780786454952 Matzen Robert December 25 2014 The Weaver Retrieved September 6 2015 Mazlum Vargha Documentary Carole Lombard YouTube Archived from the original on November 9 2021 Retrieved December 17 2019 Gehring 2003 pp 175 181 Ott 1972 pp 158 159 Swindell 1975 p 246 Gehring 2003 pp 181 183 189 Ott 1972 p 160 Swindell 1975 pp 252 253 Gehring 2003 pp 188 189 Swindell 1975 Swindell 1975 pp 258 260 Swindell 1975 p 261 Gehring 2003 pp 190 200 Swindell 1975 pp 261 271 Swindell 1975 p 272 Swindell 1975 p 274 Swindell 1975 p 279 Swindell 1975 p 280 Swindell 1975 p 283 Swindell 1975 pp 284 287 a b Swindell 1975 pp 290 291 Gehring 2003 pp 215 216 Kulzer Dina Marie Carole Lombard Lovable Madcap Classic Hollywood Bios Sleeping Car of the Air Has Sixteen Sleeping Berths Popular Mechanics January 1936 s Carole Lombard killed in plane crash History com Retrieved June 20 2019 Cohen 1991 p 347 Clark Gable joins search for plane wreckage holding fate of Carole Lombard and 21 others Spokane Daily Chronicle Washington United Press January 17 1942 p 1 Radio Day by Day The Reading Eagle Pennsylvania January 20 1942 p 17 Retrieved July 17 2021 Brooks Brooks 2006 p 104 CONTENTdm digitalcollections oscars org Retrieved April 25 2021 Ford 2011 p 41 Tribute to Carole Lombard December 29 1943 The Stars and Stripes p 4 Widow Gets Zero Variety 226 10 May 2 1962 5 Woman Suing Gable Estate For 100 000 The Hartford Courant August 18 1961 Matzen 1988 Sochen 1999 p 95 Yablonsky 2000 p 95 Kiriakou Olympia 2020 Becoming Carole Lombard Stardom Comedy and Legacy Bloomsbury Academic p 177 ISBN 9781501350733 a b Carman Emily 2008 Independent Stardom Female Film Stars and the Studio System of the 1930s Women s Studies 37 6 585 doi 10 1080 00497870802205175 S2CID 144459922 Carman Emily 2008 Independent Stardom Female Film Stars and the Studio System of the 1930s Women s Studies 37 6 609 doi 10 1080 00497870802205175 S2CID 144459922 a b Seymore Hart June 1937 Carole Lombard tells How I Live By A Man s Code Photoplay 12 Kiriakou Olympia 2020 Becoming Carole Lombard Stardom Comedy and Legacy Bloomsbury Academic p 182 ISBN 9781501350733 Carman Emily 2015 Independent Stardom Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System University of Texas Press p 158 ISBN 9781477307311 Carman Emily 2015 Independent Stardom Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System University of Texas Press p 24 ISBN 9781477307311 Carman Emily 2015 Independent Stardom Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System University of Texas Press p 4 ISBN 9781477307311 Balio 1995 p 276 Mitchell 2001 p 16 a b Gordon Jim May 1 2005 Fort Wayne home to Profane Angel The Post Tribune Archived from the original on June 11 2014 Retrieved April 4 2014 via HighBeam Research subscription required The Screwball Girl Life October 17 1938 p 50 ISSN 0024 3019 Koenig Rhoda June 24 2005 The Queen of Comedy The Independent Retrieved December 28 2013 America s greatest legends PDF American Film Institute Retrieved April 4 2014 Shearer 2006 p 533 Erens 1988 p 361 Gallo Phil May 1 2003 Review Lucy Variety Retrieved April 4 2014 Bibliography Edit Balio Tino 1995 Grand Design Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise 1930 1939 University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 20334 1 Bogdanovich Peter 2012 Who the Devil Made It Conversations with Random House Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 307 81745 7 Brooks Patricia Brooks Jonathan 2006 Laid to Rest in California A Guide to the Cemeteries and Grave Sites of the Rich and Famous Globe Pequot Press ISBN 978 0 7627 4101 4 Carman Emily 2015 Independent Stardom Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System University of Texas Press ISBN 978 1477307816 Carr Larry 1979 More Fabulous Faces The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Bette Davis Katharine Hepburn Dolores del Rio Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy Doubleday and Company ISBN 0 385 12819 3 Cohen Stan 1991 V for victory America s home front during World War II Pictorial Histories Publishing Company Incorporated ISBN 978 0 929521 51 0 Erens Patricia 1988 The Jew in American Cinema Indiana University Press p 361 ISBN 0 253 20493 3 Ford Peter 2011 Glenn Ford A Life Univ of Wisconsin Press ISBN 978 0 299 28153 3 Gehring Wes D 2003 Carole Lombard The Hoosier Tornado Indianapolis Indiana Indiana Historical Society Press ISBN 978 0 87195 167 0 Haver Ronald 1980 David O Selznick s Hollywood London Martin Secker amp Warburg Ltd ISBN 0 394 42595 2 Hawks Howard 2005 Howard Hawks Interviews Univ Press of Mississippi ISBN 978 1 57806 833 3 Kanin Garson 1974 Hollywood New York Viking Press ISBN 978 0 670 37575 2 Matzen Robert D 1988 Carole Lombard A Bio bibliography Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press ISBN 978 0 313 26286 9 MacBride Joseph 2000 Frank Capra The Catastrophe of Success New York St Martin s Griffin ISBN 978 0 312 26324 9 Mitchell Deborah C 2001 Diane Keaton Artist and Icon McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 1082 8 Ott Frederick W 1972 The Films of Carole Lombard Secaucus New Jersey Citadel Press ISBN 978 0 8065 0278 6 Shearer Benjamin F 2006 Home Front Heroes Three Volumes Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 04705 3 Sochen June 1999 From Mae to Madonna Women Entertainers in Twentieth century America University Press of Kentucky ISBN 0 8131 2112 4 Swindell Larry 1975 Screwball The Life of Carole Lombard New York William Morrow amp Company ISBN 978 0 688 00287 9 Yablonsky Lewis 2000 George Raft iUniverse ISBN 978 0 595 01003 5 External links EditCarole Lombard at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Data from Wikidata Carole Lombard at IMDb Carole Lombard at the TCM Movie Database Carole Lombard at Virtual History Carole Lombard at Indiana Historical Bureau Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Carole Lombard amp oldid 1171166864, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.