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Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ ''kohl-BAIR'', September 13, 1903, Saint-Mandé, France – July 30, 1996, Speightstown, Barbados), also known as Lily Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ ''show-shwan''); was a French-American stage and film actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, and then followed a string of successes that she gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress.

With her Mid-Atlantic accent, versatility, rigid character, aristocratic demeanor, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert became one of the popular stars of the 1930s and 1940s. In all, she was cast in more than 60 movies, in most of which she had top billing. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray in seven films (1935–1949), and Fredric March in four (1930–1933).

Colbert won the Academy Award for Best Actress for ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations during her career for ''Private Worlds'' (1935) and ''Since You Went Away'' (1944). Her other especially notable films include ''Midnight'' (1939) and ''The Palm Beach Story'' (1942).

By the mid-1950s Colbert had turned from motion pictures to television and stage work; she earned a Tony Award nomination for ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' in 1959. Her career began to wane in the early 1960s. In the mid-1970s she experienced a resurgence in the theater, and received a Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago theater work in 1980. Her television appearance in ''The Two Mrs. Grenvilles'' (1987) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award nomination.

In 1999, Colbert was named the 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute. Provided by Wikipedia