Claudette Colbert

The versatile star of It Happened One Night and classic Hollywood.

Claudette Colbert, born Lily Claudette Chauchoin in 1903, was a French-American actress who became one of the most popular stars of the 1930s and 1940s.^[1][2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin
Born: 13 September 1903
Birthplace: Saint-Mandé, France
Died: 30 July 1996
Place of death: Speightstown, Barbados
Other names: Lily Claudette Chauchoin
Education: Art Students League of New York
Occupation: Actress

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Colbert was born in Saint-Mandé, France, to Jeanne and Georges Chauchoin, and immigrated to Manhattan with her family in 1906.^[3][4] She starred in Cleopatra (1934) and Imitation of Life (1934), both of which earned Best Picture Oscar nominations.^[5] Colbert attended Washington Irving High School, which had a noted arts program, and first performed on stage in 1921 at the Provincetown Playhouse.^[6] After studying at the Art Students League of New York, she had a minor Broadway part in The Wild Westcotts in 1923.^[7]

What the cited sources add

An obituary in The Independent notes that Colbert's comedies It Happened One Night, Midnight, and The Palm Beach Story are among Hollywood's greatest ever.^[8] The same source states that she was 82 when she last performed in London, starring with Rex Harrison in Aren't We All?.^[8] A 2010 article in Vanity Fair reports that Colbert's Oscar was shipped off for a Christie's sale after her death.^[9] The article also quotes a friend saying that climbing stairs daily until age 18 made Colbert's legs beautiful.^[9]

Billy Wilder, who co-wrote three of her films, is quoted saying, "Claudette always knew where the joke was"^[9] The Hollywood's Golden Age profile notes that Colbert specialized in witty, sexy, and elegant roles in romantic comedies.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pace, "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, Is Dead At 92", The New York Times, July 31, 1996; Pace, "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, Is Dead At 92", The New York Times, July 31, 1996 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dick, pp. 24–25.; "Claudette Colbert profile", TCM; Parish, "The Paramount Pretties", Arlington House, 1972, p. 92; Pace, "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, Is Dead At 92", The New York Times, July 31, 1996; "Claudette Colbert – Britannica Concise" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: COLBERT, Claudette. British Film Institute. BFI.org.uk.; Dick, p. 1.; Pace, "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, Is Dead At 92", The New York Times, July 31, 1996; Quirk, p. 5.; Dick, p. 3.; Dick, p. 2. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dick, p. 3.; Quirk, p. 5.; "Ellis Island National Monument: Destined For Fame", American Park Network; Quirk, p. 5.; "Hollywood Legend Claudette Colbert Dies", Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1996 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pace, "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, Is Dead At 92", The New York Times, July 31, 1996; Birchard, "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood", University Press of Kentucky, 2004; Chaneles, "The Movie Makers", Octopus Books, 1974, p. 97; Shipman, pp. 114–115.; "Early Years", University of Virginia, 2002; "Claudette Colbert profile", TCM (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Claudette Colbert profile", TCM; Collins, "A Perfect Star", April 23, 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Claudette Colbert" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Quirk, p. 7.; Erickson, "Claudette Colbert biography", All Movie Guide (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Vallance, "Obituary:Claudette Colbert", The Independent, August 1, 1996. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
Collins, "A Perfect Star", April 23, 2010. facts only, no text reused. vanityfair.com
"Claudette Colbert (1903–1996)", Hollywood's Golden Age. facts only, no text reused. hollywoodsgoldenage.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Claudette Colbert (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.