Carole Lombard

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

In 1931 she was teamed with William Powell in Man of the World (1931).

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.

She and Powell hit it off and soon married, but the marriage didn't work out and they divorced in 1933.

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.

Was a second-generation Bahá'í who formally declared her membership to the Bahá'í Faith in 1938.

Became pregnant by her husband Clark Gable, but suffered a miscarriage in August 1939.

She made but one film in 1941, Mr. & Mrs.

Smith (1941).

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.

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.

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 posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6930 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Was portrayed by Jill Clayburgh in Gable and Lombard (1976), by Sharon Gless in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980), by Denise Crosby in Malice in Wonderland (1985), by Anastasia Hille in RKO 281 (1999), and by Vanessa Gray in Lucy (2003).

Profiled in the book "Funny Ladies: 100 Years of Great Comediennes" by Stephen M. Silverman (1999).