Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
in I Cover the Waterfront (1933)
Born
Émilie Claudette Chauchoin
September 13, 1903(1903-09-13)
Saint-Mandé, Seine, France (now
Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, Île-de-
France, France)
Died
July 30, 1996 (aged 92)
Speightstown, Barbados
Occupation Actress
Years
active
1923–1965; 1974–1987
Spouse(s)
Norman Foster (1928–1935)
Dr. Joel Pressman (1935–1968)
Claudette Colbert (IPA: /koʊlˈbɛɹ/; Septem-
ber 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-
born American stage and film actress.
Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in
New York City, Colbert began her career in
Broadway productions during the 1920s, pro-
gressing to film with the advent of talking
pictures. She established a successful film
career with Paramount Pictures and later, as
a freelance performer, became one of the
highest
paid
entertainers
in American
cinema. Colbert was recognized as one of the
leading female exponents of screwball com-
edy, but was also known for her versatility;
she won the Academy Award for Best Actress
for her comedic performance in It Happened
One Night
(1934),
and also
received
Academy Award nominations for her dramat-
ic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since
You Went Away (1944).
Her film career began to decline in the
1950s, and she made her last film in 1961.
She continued to act extensively in theater
and briefly television during her later years.
After a career of more than 60 years, Colbert
retired to her home in Barbados, where she
died at the age of 92, following a series of
strokes.
Colbert received theatre awards from the
Sarah Siddons Society and also received life-
time achievement awards from Kennedy
Center Honors, and in 1999, the American
Film Institute placed her at number 12 on
their "AFI’s 100 Years... 100 Stars" list of the
"50 Greatest American Screen Legends".[1]
Early life
Émilie Chauchoin[2][3] was born in Saint-
Mandé, Seine, France,[4] to Georges Claude,
a banker, and Jeanne Loew Chauchoin, a
pastry-cook.[5][6] After some financial re-
versals, her family emigrated to New