Claudette Colbert

Émilie Chauchoin (; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996), professionally known as Claudette Colbert ( , ), was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Initially contracted to Paramount Pictures, Colbert became one of the few major actresses of the period who worked freelance; that is to say, independently of the studio system.

With her Mid-Atlantic accent, versatility, witty dialogues, aristocratic demeanor, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert became one of the most popular stars of the 1930s and 1940s. In all, Colbert acted in more than 60 movies. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray in seven films (1935–1949), and Fredric March in four (1930–1933).

Colbert won the Academy Award for Best Actress for ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations during her career. Her other notable films include ''Cleopatra'' (1934), ''The Palm Beach Story'' (1942) and ''Since You Went Away'' (1944).

By the mid-1950s Colbert had turned from motion pictures to television and stage work; she earned a Tony Award nomination for ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' in 1959. Her career began to wane in the early 1960s. In the late 1970s she experienced a comeback in the theater, and received a Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago theater work in 1980. Her television appearance in ''The Two Mrs. Grenvilles'' (1987) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award nomination.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Colbert the 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema. Provided by Wikipedia