CAROLE LOMBARD AMERICAN FILM ACTRESS BORN 1908 OCTOBER 8

CAROLE LOMBARD 

AMERICAN FILM ACTRESS 

BORN 1908 OCTOBER 8

Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters, October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was American film actress. She was particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s. She was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s.

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 the film 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. She was dropped by Fox after a car accident left a scar on her face. Lombard appeared in 15 short comedies for Mack Sennett between 1927 and 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage and The Racketeer. 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 fame increased when she married William Powell in 1931, but the pair divorced two years later. A turning point in Lombard's career came in 1934, when she starred in Howard Hawks' pioneering screwball comedy Twentieth Century. 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). During this period, Lombard married "the King of Hollywood", Clark Gable, and the pair was treated in the media as a celebrity supercouple. Keen to win an Oscar, at the end of the decade, Lombard began to move towards more serious roles. 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 in an aircraft crash 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 ranks among the American Film Institute's greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Early years[edit]
Childhood[edit]

Lombard was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. Christened with the name Jane Alice Peters, she was the third child and only daughter of Frederick Christian Peters (1875–1935) and Elizabeth Jayne "Bessie" (Knight) Peters (1876–1942). Her two older brothers, to each of whom she was close, both growing up and in adulthood, were Frederick Charles (1902-1979) and John Stuart (1906-1956).[1] 

Lombard's parents both descended from wealthy families and her early years were lived in comfort, with the biographer Robert Matzen calling it her "silver spoon period".[2] The marriage between her parents was strained, however,[3] and in October 1914, her mother took the children and moved to Los Angeles.[4] Although the couple did not divorce, the separation was permanent.[3] 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.[5]


At age 12, Lombard had a small role in the film 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.[6] At Virgil Junior High School, she participated in tennis, volleyball, and swimming, and won trophies for her achievements in athletics.[4] 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."[7] 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,[7] playing the sister of Monte Blue.[8] Dwan later commented, "She ate it up".[9]

Aspiring actress, Fox (1921–26)[edit]

A Perfect Crime was not widely distributed, but the brief experience spurred Lombard and her mother to look for more film work. The teenager attended several auditions, but none was successful.[10] While appearing as the queen of Fairfax High School's May Day Carnival at the age of 15, she was scouted by an employee of Charlie Chaplin and offered a screen test to appear in his film The Gold Rush (1925). 

Lombard was not given the role, but it raised Hollywood's awareness of the aspiring actress.[11] Her test was seen by the Vitagraph Film Company, which expressed an interest in signing her to a contract. Although this did not materialize, the condition that she adopt a new first name ("Jane" was considered too dull) lasted with Lombard throughout her career. She selected the name "Carol" after a girl with whom she played tennis in middle school.[12]

In October 1924, shortly after these disappointments, 16-year-old Lombard was signed to a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. How this came about is uncertain: in her lifetime, it was reported that a director for the studio scouted her at a dinner party, but more recent evidence suggests that Lombard's mother contacted Louella Parsons, the gossip columnist, who then got her a screen test.[13] According to the biographer Larry Swindell, Lombard's beauty convinced Winfield Sheehan, head of the studio, to sign her to a $75-per-week contract.[14] The teenager abandoned her schooling to embark on this new career.[12] Fox was happy to use the name Carol, but unlike Vitagraph, disliked her surname. From this point, she became "Carol Lombard", the new name taken from a family friend.[15]

The majority of Lombard's appearances with Fox were bit parts[12] 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."[15] She fully enjoyed the other aspects of film work, however, 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 Coconut Grove nightclub, where she won several Charleston dance competitions.[16]

In March 1925, Fox gave Lombard a leading role in the drama Marriage in Transit, opposite Edmund Lowe. Her performance was well-received, with a reviewer for Motion Picture News writing that she displayed, "good poise and considerable charm."[17] Despite this, the studio heads were unconvinced that Lombard was leading lady material, and her one-year contract was not renewed.[18] Gehring has suggested that a facial scar she obtained in an automobile accident was a factor in this decision. Fearing that the scar—which ran across her cheek—would ruin her career, the 17-year-old had an early plastic surgery procedure to make it less visible. For the remainder of her career, Lombard learned to hide the mark with make-up and careful lighting.[19][note 1]

Paramount, Powell marriage (1930–33)[edit]
Lombard (left) in Safety in Numbers (1930)

In 1930, Lombard returned to Fox for a one-off role in the western The Arizona Kid. It was a big release for the studio, starring the popular actor Warner Baxter, in which Lombard received third billing.[33] 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).[34] They cast her in the Buddy Rogers comedy Safety in Numbers, and one critic observed of her work, "Lombard proves [to be] an ace comedienne."[35] For her second assignment, Fast and Loose with Miriam Hopkins, Paramount mistakenly credited the actress as "Carole Lombard". She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name.[36][note 2]

Lombard appeared in five films throughout 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.[40] Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met, attracted to his good looks and debonair screen persona,[41] and they were soon in a relationship.[40] The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers: she was 22, carefree, and famously foul-mouthed, while he was 38, intellectual, and sophisticated.[42] Despite their disparate personalities, Lombard married Powell on June 6, 1931, at her Beverly Hills home.[43] 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".[41]


With William Powell, her husband from June 1931 to August 1933
The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame,[43] while she continued to please critics with her work in Up Pops the Devil and I Take this Woman (both 1931).[44] In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star.[45] She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932. No One Man and Sinners in the Sun were not successful,[46] but Edward Buzzell's romantic picture Virtue was well received.[47] After featuring in the drama No More Orchids, 

Lombard was cast as the wife of a con artist in No Man of Her Own.[47] Her co-star for the picture was Clark Gable, who was rapidly becoming one of Hollywood's top celebrities.[48] The film was a critical and commercial success, and Wes Gehring writes that it was "arguably Lombard's finest film appearance" to that point.[49] 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."[50][note 3]

In August 1933, Lombard and Powell divorced after 26 months of marriage, although they remained very good friends until Lombard's death. At the time, she blamed it on their careers,[52] but in a 1936 interview, she admitted that this "had little to do with the divorce. We were just two completely incompatible people."[44] 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.[53]

Gable marriage, dramatic efforts (1938–40)[edit]
With Clark Gable after their honeymoon, 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.[90] 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".[91]

Fools for Scandal was the only film Lombard made in 1938. By this time, she was devoted to a relationship with Clark Gable.[92] 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.[93] The media took great interest in their partnership and frequently questioned if they would wed.[94] Gable was separated from his wife, Rhea Langham, but she did not want to grant him a divorce.[95] As his relationship with Lombard became serious, Langham eventually agreed to a settlement worth half a million dollars.[note 7] The divorce was finalized in March 1939, and Gable and Lombard eloped in Kingman, Arizona, on March 29,[98] honeymooning in the nearby mining town of Oatman.[99] The couple—both lovers of the outdoors—bought a 20-acre ranch in Encino, California, where they kept barnyard animals and enjoyed hunting trips.[100] 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.[101] In early 1938, Lombard also joined officially the Bahá'í Faith, of which her mother was a member since 1922.[102]

Advertisement for Vigil in the Night (1940), which Lombard 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.[103] In 1939, she appeared in a second David O. Selznick production, Made for Each Other, which paired her with James Stewart to play a couple facing domestic difficulties.[104] Reviews for the film were highly positive, and praised Lombard's dramatic effort; financially, it was a disappointment.[105] Lombard's next appearance came opposite 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.[106] The role mirrored 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.[107]

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.[108] 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.[109] Despite the realization that she was best suited to comedies,[110] Lombard completed one more drama: They Knew What They Wanted (1940), co-starring Charles Laughton, which was mildly successful.[111]


Death[edit]

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 was able to raise over $2 million ($34,993,987.92 in 2016) in defense bonds in a single evening. Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was anxious to reach home more quickly and wanted to fly by a scheduled airline. Her mother and Winkler were both afraid of flying and insisted they follow their original travel plans. Lombard suggested they flip a coin; they agreed and Lombard won the toss.[119]

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 9] After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off at 7:07 p.m. and around 13 minutes later, crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the 8,300-foot (2,500 m) level of Potosi Mountain, 32 statute miles (51 km) southwest of Las Vegas. All 22 aboard, Lombard and her mother included, plus 15 army servicemen, were killed instantly.[121