CAROLE LOMBARD DIED IN AIR ACCIDENT BORN 1908 OCTOBER 6 - 1942 JANUARY 16

CAROLE LOMBARD  DIED IN AIR ACCIDENT 
BORN 1908 OCTOBER 6 - 1942 JANUARY 16

Carole Lombard Born October 6, 1908 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Died January 16, 1942 in Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, USA (airplane crash)
Birth Name Jane Alice Peters
Nicknames The Profane Angel
The Hoosier Tornado
The Queen of Screwball Comedy
Height 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Bio (3)

Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. Her parents divorced in 1916 and her mother took the family on a trip out West. While there they decided to settle down in the Los Angeles area. After being spotted playing baseball in the street with the neighborhood boys by a film director, Carole was signed to a one-picture contract in 1921 when she was 12. The film in question was A Perfect Crime (1921). Although she tried for other acting jobs, she would not be seen onscreen again for four years. She returned to a normal life, going to school and participating in athletics, excelling in track and field. 

By age 15 she had had enough of school, though, and quit. She joined a theater troupe and played in several stage shows, which were for the most part nothing to write home about. In 1925 she passed a screen test and was signed to a contract with Fox Films. Her first role as a Fox player was Hearts and Spurs (1925), in which she had the lead. Right after that film she appeared in a western called Durand of the Bad Lands (1925). She rounded out 1925 in the comedy Marriage in Transit (1925) (she also appeared in a number of two-reel shorts). In 1926 Carole was seriously injured in an automobile accident that resulted in the left side of her face being scarred. Once she had recovered, Fox canceled her contract. She did find work in a number of shorts during 1928 (13 of them, many for slapstick comedy director Mack Sennett), but did go back for a one-time shot with Fox called Me, Gangster (1928). By now the film industry was moving from the silent era to "talkies". While some stars' careers ended because of heavy accents, poor diction or a voice unsuitable to sound, Carole's light, breezy, sexy voice enabled her to transition smoothly during this period. Her first sound film was High Voltage (1929) at Pathe (her new studio) in 1929. In 1931 she was teamed with William Powell in Man of the World (1931). 

She and Powell hit it off and soon married, but the marriage didn't work out and they divorced in 1933. No Man of Her Own (1932) put Carole opposite Clark Gable for the first and only time (they married seven years later in 1939). By now she was with Paramount Pictures and was one of its top stars. However, it was Twentieth Century (1934) that showed her true comedic talents and proved to the world what a fine actress she really was. In 1936 Carole received her only Oscar nomination for Best Actress for My Man Godfrey (1936). She was superb as ditzy heiress Irene Bullock. Unfortunately, the coveted award went to Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which also won for Best Picture. Carole was now putting out about one film a year of her own choosing, because she wanted whatever role she picked to be a good one. She was adept at picking just the right part, which wasn't surprising as she was smart enough to see through the good-ol'-boy syndrome of the studio moguls. 

She commanded and received what was one of the top salaries in the business - at one time it was reported she was making $35,000 a week. She made but one film in 1941, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941). Her last film was in 1942, when she played Maria Tura opposite Jack Benny in To Be or Not to Be (1942). Tragically, she didn't live to see its release. The film was completed in 1941 just at the time the US entered World War II, and was subsequently held back for release until 1942. Meanwhile, Carole went home to Indiana for a war bond rally. On January 16, 1942, Carole, her mother, and 20 other people were flying back to California when the plane went down outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. All aboard perished. The highly acclaimed actress was dead at the age of 33 and few have been able to match her talents since.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Born in Indiana, she was eight years old when her parents divorced, and her mother took her and her two older brothers to L.A. to start a new life. At age twelve she was spotted playing baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan who cast her as a tom-boy in "A Perfect Crime". Bitten by the movie bug, she went on to amateur theatre, small and then larger roles in Fox westerns and comedies. In 1926, an auto accident scarred the left side of her face, which was repaired by plastic surgery. After recuperating, she went to Max Sennett and made 13 two-reelers in 18 months. This was followed by full-length features at Pathe and then Paramount, where she became one of Hollywood's highest paid stars. In her personal life, she became noted for her coarse language, practical jokes, lavish parties and her genuine concern for all people, down to the lowliest crew members. She was returning from a War bond drive in her home state of Indiana, when her plane crashed outside of Las Vegas in 1942, killing her and her mother and 20 other passengers.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Herman Seifer < alagain@aol.com>

Carole Lombard, the 5' 2" beauty was a comedy hit during the 30s and 40s. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on October 6, 1908 under the name of Jane Alice Peters. Young Jane Alice loved the Friday night movie night with her family and would perform the night before's show in the morning. Her mother and her father divorced in October of 1914. Jane Alice, her two older brothers, and their mother, Elizabeth Knight Peters moved to Los Angeles. When she was 12 she had a small part in a silent film called a Perfect Crime. An executive in 1925 from FOX PICTURES asked her to do a screen test, which was a success, but the film, which was to be her first spy film, Marriage in Transit (1925), wasn't. Carole Lombard, the actress, was born. In early 1927 she was tested by the Mack Sennet Studio, who put her under contract, only this time it was a comedy, not a spy film. Lombard became the top comedienne at the studio as she molded herself into the comedy life. Paul Stei, a Pathe director, saw her in a Sennet comedy and immediately put her under contract for $150 a week. Several films later she took a side step when director, Cecil B. DeMille called for her and then changed his mind. When she left Pathe in 1930 at the age of 18 she returned to FOX. She soon signed with Paramount for $300 a week but after 6 years was earning the sum of $35,000 a week! In October 1930 she met William Powell and then eight months later they were married on the day of June 26, 1931. Carole age 23 and William age 39 were married for 23 months but divorced in 1933. They stayed friends and film partners. In 1937 in My Man Godfrey (1936) (with Powell) earned her an Academy Award Nomination. There was a new person now, the crowned King of Hollywood" Clark Gable. They had made one movie together No Man of Her Own (1932) in 1932. They were married, in March 1939, after Gable was separated from his wife Rhea Langham. They bought and lived in a 20 acre ranch in San Fernando Valley. They weren't Hollywood Socialites; they weren't glamorous; they wanted a simple life out of Hollywood's bright lights. They nick named each other Ma and Pa and were role modeled as the ideal marriage. Tragedy struck on a war bond tour that Carole and her mother were on. The plane they were traveling in (TWA Flight #3) crashed. Her last words, in her home state of Indiana, to all the people were just before boarding the plane, "Before I say goodbye to you all - come on - join me in a big cheer- V for victory!" All 22 passengers died in the crash.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: <goldengirl12@hotmail.com>

Spouse (2)

Clark Gable (29 March 1939 - 16 January 1942) (her death)
William Powell (26 June 1931 - 16 August 1933) (divorced)

Trade Mark (2)
Platinum blonde hair
Sparkling blue eyes

Trivia (46)
During World War II, after her death, a Liberty ship was named after her.
A 1926 automobile accident badly cut her face. Advanced plastic surgery and adroit use of make-up covered the scars. However, at the time the belief was that use of anesthetic during the operation would leave worse scars, so she endured the reconstructive surgery without an anesthetic.
Linked romantically to crooner Russ Columbo until his accidental death late in 1934.
Lombard was listed in the credits of Safety in Numbers (1930), her first Paramount release, as Carole (instead of Carol as in her previous billings). They decided that this would now be the official spelling and she went along with it. She legally changed her name to Carole Lombard in 1936. Only in her first film, A Perfect Crime (1921) did she use her real name, Jane Peters.
Following her untimely death, she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Trust.
Second cousin of director Howard Hawks, Kenneth Hawks and William B. Hawks.
Both of her marriages were childless.
Cousin-in-law of Mary Astor, Athole Shearer, Bessie Love, Dee Hartford and Eden Hartford.

A natural tomboy with athletic prowess and spirit far exceeding her size (she was a petite child who stood 5' 2", with shoes), the future screen star frequently joined her brothers in roughhousing.
She was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the first woman killed in the line of duty in World War II. FDR greatly admired her work for the war effort, and ironically she was returning from an engagement selling War Bonds when her plane crashed. In 1983, Orson Welles claimed he had been told that Lombard's plane had actually been shot down by American Nazi sympathizers.
Her film To Be or Not to Be (1942) was in post-production when she died in a plane crash, and the producers decided to leave out a part that had her character ironically saying, "What can happen in a plane?".
She was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6930 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
The Jack Benny radio show that followed her death was cancelled because Benny, a good friend and admirer, was grief-stricken. The time was filled with music instead.
Lucille Ball said she finally decided to go ahead with I Love Lucy (1951) when Carole, who had been a close friend, came to her in a dream and recommended she take a chance on the risky idea of entering television.

She was offered the lead role in a proposed melodrama, "Smiler with a Knife", to be directed by a newcomer at RKO Radio Pictures named Orson Welles. She turned down the role, opting to return to screwball comedy in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941). Welles refused to make Smiler without her; instead, he began work on Citizen Kane (1941).
Considered by many to be the prototype for the icy blondes in Alfred Hitchcock's films.
The plane crash that killed her took place less than a month before the Oscars. Despite her mother's premonition of the disaster, she refused to take a train to Los Angeles. She was reputedly in a rush after getting wind of an alleged affair between her husband Clark Gable and Lana Turner who were filming Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) at the time. The decision to take the plane was decided literally by the flip of a coin, with Carole winning the toss.
Was a second-generation Bahá'í who formally declared her membership to the Bahá'í Faith in 1938.
Her performance as Maria Tura in To Be or Not to Be (1942) is ranked #38 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Attended Virgil Junior High School on Virgil Avenue in Los Angeles, California in the early 1920s. The school currently exists as Virgil Middle School on Vermont Avenue, one block from the original school.
Part of her honeymoon with Clark Gable was at the Willows Inn in Palm Springs, California. The Inn continues to operate and anyone can stay in the same room, called "The Library Suite". The room remains largely unaltered since the Gables stayed there more than 60 years ago.
Carol Lynley (born as Carole Jones a month after the actress' death) was named after Lombard.

She was of English and German heritage.
She had a little dachshund named Commissioner that ignored Clark Gable completely. After her death in 1942, the dog would not leave his side.
Just before her relationship with Clark Gable began in earnest, Carole read and loved the book "Gone With the Wind". Excited, she sent a copy of the book to Gable, with a note attached reading "Let's do it!". Gable wrongly assumed she was making a sexual advance to him, and called Carole to organize a date. When he found out Carole wanted to make a film of the book with him as Rhett Butler and herself as Scarlett, he refused, and kept the copy of the book she had given him thereafter in his toilet.
Attended and graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California in 1927. Was elected "May Queen" in 1924. Quit soon thereafter to pursue acting full time.
She was often doubled by her old school friend, Dixie Pantages. Dixie had an even more unusual background than Carole herself did: she was born in extreme poverty, but when her mother died, she was adopted by the wealthy Pantages family so that their own daughter, a childhood playmate of Dixie's, could have a sister. When that happened, her name changed legally from Dixie Nelson to Dixie Pantages as a result of the adoption becoming legal.
Twice turned down opportunities to play a newspaperwoman, in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and His Girl Friday (1940). The roles brought their respective actresses (Jean Arthur and Rosalind Russell) considerable attention.

According to Garson Kanin, she never had a dressing room when shooting a movie. Instead, she preferred to socialize with the cast and crew members during her breaks.
After her death, the Van Nuys News ran an unusual front page tribute: "Down deep in their hearts, those who had chatted with her over the back fence or across a garden row knew that Carole Lombard wanted more than anything else to be a model housewife and a good neighbor. And she was just that. She was a loveable person, just as much at home in blue denims and ginghams as she was in furs and jewels.".
She was good friends with Gloria Swanson.
She and Clark Gable first met in late 1924 while working as extras on the set of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). They would make three films together as extras--Ben-Hur, The Johnstown Flood (1926) and The Plastic Age (1925)--and star together in No Man of Her Own (1932), but not become romantically attached until 1936.
Turned down the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934). Claudette Colbert was then given the role and won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.
Profiled in the book "Funny Ladies: 100 Years of Great Comediennes" by Stephen M. Silverman (1999).
One of her classmates at drama school was Sally Eilers.
During the tour of Hearst's Castle in San Simeon, California, visitors are shown a second-floor bedroom where, the story goes, Lombard and Clark Gable spent their wedding night. It's a room with a beautiful view, and a huge water storage tank rests hidden above it. The water was gravity-fed from an adjoining hill to provide water to the estate.
She did a screen test for Charles Chaplin's comedy-drama film The Gold Rush (1925).
Lombard shared her first screen kiss with Buck Jones in Durand of the Bad Lands (1925).
In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Carole Lombard #23 on their list of 50 Greatest American Female Screen Legends.
She once raised over $2 million in war bonds in one day.
She was credited with the invention of the slang terms "she's so blonde" and "dumb blonde", due in part to the fact that she played several blonde scatterbrains during the 1930s and mid-1940s.

She was flying on Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) Flight 3 en route from McCarran Field, Las Vegas, Nevada, to Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California, when it crashed approx. 33.1 miles (53 kilometers) southwest of Las Vegas at 19:20 (7:20 pm) on January 16, 1942. The aircraft flew into an almost vertical rock cliff, near the top of Potosi Mountain in the Spring Mountain Range. The three crew members and 19 passengers were all killed. The official accident report states that the crash was caused by "the failure of the captain after departure from Las Vegas to follow the proper course by making use of the navigational facilities available to him".
She preferred the company of the grips, electricians and other off-camera workers to that of other actors. In her conversations with them, she could (and did) swear like a trooper.
According to Penny Stallings' "Flesh and Fantasy", Lombard drew a shadow along her natural cleavage line and lightened the top of her breasts to make them look larger.
Both of her husbands, William Powell and Clark Gable, starred in Manhattan Melodrama (1934).
Became pregnant by her husband Clark Gable, but suffered a miscarriage in August 1939.
Personal Quotes (14)
I've lived by a man's code designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time, I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.
[on why she would not work with Orson Welles] I can't win working with Welles. If the picture's a huge hit, he'll get the credit and, if it's a flop, I'll be blamed.
[William Powell] is the only intelligent actor I've ever met.
[on the concept of God] I don't seem to get solemn about it, and some people might not understand. That's why I never talk about it. I think it's all here--in the mountains and the desert. I don't think God is a softie, either. In the end, it's better if people are forced back into--well--into being right, before they're too far gone. I think your temple is your everyday living.
I think marriage is dangerous. The idea of two people trying to possess each other is wrong. I don't think the flare of love lasts. Your mind rather than your emotions must answer for the success of matrimony. It must be friendship -- a calm companionship which can last through the years.

I enjoy this country. I like the parks and the highways and the good schools and everything that this government does. After all, every cent anybody pays in taxes is spent to benefit him. I don't need $465,000 a year for myself, so why not give what I don't need to the government for improvements of the country. There's no better place to spend it.
I know it's a sweet deal, but the story stinks... I don't care if it is the studio's money, I don't like it.
An at-home costume or hostess gown is absolutely essential for the woman who entertains, and for two reasons. First, this type of costume is extremely flattering, and that does wonders for any woman's poise, and secondly, it eliminates the possibility of appearing overdressed in case a guest shows up in a simple daytime outfit. If a woman has a limited wardrobe, it would be wise to sacrifice a second dinner or evening frock for one hostess gown. She'll soon rate it the most valuable asset in her clothes collection.
[speaking at an Indianapolis war-bond rally, January 15, 1942] At first thought, we might say, "Our job is to win a war"... but I am sure it would be closer to the hearts of all of us to say, "We are fighting a war to assure peace... our kind of peace.".
[her last words to the public before leaving on a fund-raising flight for the war effort, January 15, 1942] Before I say goodbye to you all, come on - join me in a big cheer - "V for Victory!".

Personally, I resent being tagged "glamour girl". It's such an absurd, extravagant label. It implies so much that I'm not.
I can't imagine a duller fate than being the best-dressed woman in reality. When I want to do something, I don't pause to contemplate whether I'm exquisitely gowned. I want to live, not pose!
When it comes to your personal life, such as love and romance, girls should take a tip from the men and keep their affairs to themselves. Any man worth his salt regards his private life as his own. To kiss a girl and run and tell would mark him as a cad. Why doesn't that apply to girls also?
A woman has just as much right in this world as a man and can get along in it just as well if she puts her mind to it.

Salary (14)

Marriage in Transit (1925) $75 /week
Hearts and Spurs (1925) $25 /week
The Swim Princess (1928) $400 /week
Matchmaking Mamma (1929) $400 /week
Fast and Loose (1930) $350 /week
No Man of Her Own (1932) $1,000 /week
Twentieth Century (1934) $5,000
Rumba (1935) $3,000 /week
Swing High, Swing Low (1937) $150,000
Nothing Sacred (1937) $18,750 /week
Made for Each Other (1939) $150,000
In Name Only (1939) $150,000 + % of gross
Vigil in the Night (1940) $150,000 + % of gross
They Knew What They Wanted (1940) $150,000

Carole Lombard is shown dining in Chicago on January 14, 1942, two days before her death that stunned Hollywood and a nation.

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