Carol Lombard: biography, personal life, photo, filmography, date and cause of death

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Lombard was born into a we althy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana but grew up in Los Angeles living with her single mother. At 12, she was spotted by director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in The Perfect Crime (1921). Aspiring to become an actress, she signed with the Fox Film Corporation at the age of 16, but at the time she played mostly small roles. She was fired by the studio after being in a car accident that "rewarded" her with a scar on her face.

After her break with the Fox Film Corporation, Carol Lombard appeared in 15 short comedies by Mack Sannett between 1927 and 1929, and then began to appear in feature films such as High Voltage and The Racketeer. After a successful appearance in The Arizona Kid (1930), she signed with Paramount Pictures.

Paramount Studios immediately began offering Carole Lombard female lead roles, primarily in drama films. Her positionimproved when she married William Powell in 1931, but the couple divorced two years later. The turning point in Lombard's career came after participating in Howard Hawks' groundbreaking vintage comedy The Twentieth Century (1934). The actress found her niche in the genre and went on to appear in films such as Hands on the Table (1935) and My Man Godfrey (1936), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

At the same time, the love of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard was born. In an effort to win an Oscar, at the end of the decade, Lombard moved on to more serious roles. Having lost faith in the dream of an Oscar, she returned to comedic roles, playing in the films Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) by Alfred Hitchcock and To Be or Not to Be (1942) by Ernst Lubitsch. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were considered one of the most beautiful couples in Hollywood.

Lombard's career came to an abrupt end when she was tragically killed at the age of 33 in a plane crash in Mt. Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a tour in support of US military personnel. Today, she is remembered as one of the finest actresses of the vintage comedy era and is among the most famous stars of classic Hollywood.

Early years

Actress Carol Lombard, as already mentioned, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908 at 704 Rockhill Street. At birth, she was given the name Jane Alice Peters, she was the third child and only daughter of Friedrich Christian Peters (1875-1935) and Elizabeth Jane Bessie Peters (1876-1942). She had two older brothers, with each of whom shecontinued to communicate until the end of her life - Frederick Charles (1902-1979) and John Stewart (1906-1956). Lombard's parents, both coming from we althy families, provided their children with a comfortable and carefree childhood, but their relationship with each other was strained, so no one was particularly surprised when, in October 1914, Elizabeth took the children and moved with them to Los Angeles. Although the couple did not officially divorce, they never lived together again. The constant financial support of the father allowed the family to need nothing, but their life was no longer as prosperous as in Indiana, when the parents were together.

First role

Young Carole Lombard loved to play sports and watch movies. She played tennis, volleyball, and swimming in high school, and regularly received awards for her achievements in athletics. At the age of 12, this hobby unexpectedly turned into her first screen role for Lombard. While playing baseball with friends, she caught the attention of filmmaker Allan Dwan, who later recalled seeing …a pretty little hooligan who, fighting off other kids, was the best baseball player. I needed a girl of exactly her type for the next film. With the support of her mother, Lombard happily played a small role in the melodrama The Perfect Crime (1921). Despite such a promising start, the further biography of Carole Lombard will be full of difficulties and trials, and will end in a real tragedy.

Career start

"Perfect Crime"did not gain wide popularity, but the brief experience prompted Lombard and her mother to consider a film career. She often auditioned, but did not succeed. After a brilliant performance at school, she was scouted by an employee of Charlie Chaplin who suggested that she audition for a role in The Gold Rush (1925). She never got the role, but Hollywood producers took a good look at her. In order to get their attention, she changed her name to Carol (Jane was considered too boring). The aspiring actress took this name after a girl she played tennis with in high school.

In October 1924, after suffering numerous setbacks and disappointments, the 16-year-old Lombard signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. How this happened is unclear: her official biography says that the director of the studio met her at a dinner party, but later sources indicate that Lombard's mother contacted Louella Parsons, a representative of the recruitment agency, who arranged for the young actress to audition for the role. According to biographer Larry Swindell, Lombard's beauty impressed Winfield Sheehan, the head of the studio, and he decided to sign her to a $75-a-week contract. Carol dropped out of school to pursue a full-time acting career. Having changed her last name, she became the same Carole Lombard, who is so familiar to everyone.

Success

In March 1925, the Fox Studios gave the actress the lead role in the drama Marriage in Transit, where she played in tandem with Edmund Lowe. Her performance waswell received by audiences and critics alike. Despite this, studio heads were not convinced that Lombard was fit for leading roles, and her one-year contract was not renewed. Many believed that the facial injury she received in a car accident was the main reason for this decision. Fearing that the scar on her cheek, which she got as a reminder of the accident, would ruin her career, 17-year-old Lombard decided to go under the knife of a plastic surgeon, which was a rarity in those days. The rest of the scar Lombard learned to hide with makeup and lighting.

Further her career rapidly went up the hill. She acted in 15 short films from September 1927 to March 1929 and was happy that she could act in a full-fledged movie. She called these years the turning point in her career.

After the success of another film with her participation, Paramount Pictures signed a contract with Carol Lombard for $ 350 a week (by 1936 this amount gradually increased to $ 3,500 a week). She starred in Buddy Rogers' comedy Safety in Numbers (1930), which received critical acclaim.

Top of a career

1934 was the peak year in Lombard's career. She started with Wesley Ruggles' musical drama Bolero. George Raft and she showcased their dancing skills in this extravagantly staged performance by Maurice Ravel. Before filming began, she was offered the lead female role in One Night, but she turned it down due to conflicts with its creators."Bolero" was well received by the public and critics, and one of Carole Lombard's later films, the musical comedy "Us", became a box office hit.

Then, Lombard was recruited by director Howard Hawks, who invited her to star in his cult vintage comedy 20th Century, which made her one of Hollywood's top stars. Photos of Carole Lombard at that time adorned all the city posters.

Lombard's first film in 1936 was Love Before Breakfast, described by film critic Goering as "The Taming of the Shrew, Vintage Version." In William K. Howard's The Princess, which was her second comedy with McMurry, she played an aspiring actress who wins a film contract by masquerading as a Swedish princess. The performance was considered a satire of Greta Garbo and received mixed reviews from critics.

Outstanding Comedy Actress

Lombard's success was reinforced when she was invited by Universal Studios to star in the vintage comedy My Man Godfrey (1936). William Powell, who played the role of Godfrey, insisted that Carol be given the role of the female lead. Before that, Powell and Lombard had already been a couple and even divorced, but Powell still believed that his ex-wife would look perfect in the role of Irina, the leading female character. The film was produced by Gregory Lacavoy, who knew Lombard personally and advised her to draw on her own eccentric nature when playing the part in the film. She worked hard on the performance, especiallywith the search for suitable facial expressions for Irina. "My Man Godfrey" ended up being a box office hit. It received a whopping six nominations at the 9th Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Lombard. Biographers call this role the best in her career.

Unjustified ambitions

Lombard has always strived to win an Oscar and chose her next project from several possible scenarios, dreaming of playing the most successful role. The film A Watch in the Night (1940), directed by George Stevens, featured Lombard as a young nurse who faces a series of personal difficulties. Despite being highly acclaimed, it did not receive the nomination it had hoped for, as the film's dark mood overwhelmed viewers and it performed poorly at the box office. Despite realizing that she was best suited for comedic roles, Lombard starred in another drama, They Knew What They Wanted (1940), which was moderately successful.

Later career

Resigned to the fact that comedic roles are given to her better, Lombard starred in a comedy for the first time in three years, called "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (1941). It was a real commercial success, as audiences were pleased with what film critic Swindell called "the belated good news that Carol is gay again."

The love story of Clark Gable and Carol Lombard

It was almost a year before Lombard committed herself to the next film as it took her a while tofocus on home and marriage. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard met on the set a few years before Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They fell in love with each other at first sight. Nevertheless, the relationship between Carole Lombard and Clark Gable was initially quite difficult, but eventually ended in a happy marriage. But this happiness was short-lived due to one erroneous decision that the actress made towards the end of her short life.

Fateful mistake

In the early 40s, the actress was at the peak of popularity, and touching photos of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, whose third wife she became, were considered true proof that true love still lives in Hollywood. When the US entered World War II in late 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana to collect donations in support of the American military. The pawnshop was able to raise over $2 million ($33,276,018 today) in one evening. Initially, her team was supposed to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard wanted to get home faster, and therefore decided to use the services of an airline. Her mother and tour assistants were afraid of flying and insisted that the actress follow her original plans and travel by train. The pawnbroker was offered to toss a coin, as a result, she won this argument and acted in her own way. The mother of the actress decided to fly with her.

Tragic death

In the morning hours of January 16, 1942, Lombard and her mother boarded a Transcontinental &Western Air Douglas DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) flying to California. After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off at 19:07 and crashed into Double Peak, about 8,300 feet (2,530 m) southwest of Las Vegas Airport. All 22 passengers, including Lombard, her mother, and 15 US Army soldiers, died instantly. It was determined that the cause of the accident was due to the pilot's inability to maneuver properly between the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. As a precaution against the possibility of Japanese bombers entering American airspace off the Pacific Coast, all safety beacons used to facilitate night flying were disabled, leaving the pilot and crew of the TWA flight without any visual warning of the approaching mountains. So the great actress became a victim of the negligence of the American authorities. The death of Carole Lombard has become a true national tragedy for America.