Claudette Colbert was born in France on September 13, 1903. She immigrated with her parents to the United States in 1906, and young Claudette grew up in New York City with dreams of becoming a star on Broadway. When the Great Depression hit, and all but shut down stage productions, young Claudette decided to take a shot at the evolving and increasingly popular field of movies. Her first known film appearance took place in 1927.
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After a rocky start in the film biz--that involved unhappy experiences and a commercial failure or two--she rocketed to movie fame and immortality in the mid-1930s with "In Happened One Night" and "Cleopatra" (both released in 1934. Her popularity with the movie going audiences never waned, and they followed her to television after she traded the big screen for the small one beginning in the early 1950s.
Claudette Colbert appeared in some 80 films and television shows of almost every genre between her screen debut in 1927 and her retirement from acting in 1987. Over those six decades, she also attempted to fulfill her childhood dreams of Broadway stardom, but she never managed to capture the hearts of theatre-goers to the degree she did those of filmlovers. She remained a radiant and charming presence right up until she passed away following a series of strokes in 1996.
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