Early life and education (1908–1920) Lombard was born in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908, at 704 Rockhill Street. Christened Jane Alice Peters, she was the third child and only daughter of Frederic Christian Peters and Elizabeth Jayne "Bessie" (Knight) Peters. Her two older brothers, with whom she was close all her life, were Frederic Charles and John Stuart. Lombard's parents both came from wealthy families, and biographer Robert Matzen called her early years her "
silver spoon period". Her parents' marriage was strained, and in October 1914, her mother took the children and moved to Los Angeles. Although the couple did not divorce, the separation was permanent. Her father's continued financial support allowed the family to live comfortably, and they settled into an apartment near Venice Boulevard. in her film debut,
A Perfect Crime (1921) At
Virgil Junior High School, Lombard participated in tennis, volleyball, and swimming, and won trophies in athletics. At the age of 12, her passion for sports landed Lombard her first screen role. While playing baseball, she caught the attention of 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." With the encouragement of her mother, Lombard took a small role in the melodrama
A Perfect Crime (1921). She was on set for two days, playing the sister of
Monte Blue. Dwan later said "She ate it up."
Career beginnings and Fox contract (1921–1926) Though
A Perfect Crime was not widely distributed, the experience spurred Lombard and her mother to audition for more film work, but she was unsuccessful. While appearing as the queen of
Fairfax High School's
May Day Carnival at the age of 15, Lombard was scouted by an employee of
Charlie Chaplin and offered a screen test to appear in
The Gold Rush (1925). Lombard did not win the role, but her test was seen by the
Vitagraph Film Company, which expressed interest in signing her. Although this did not materialize, their condition that she adopt a new first name led to her selecting the name "Carole" after a girl with whom she played tennis at
Virgil Jr. High School. In October 1924, 16-year-old Lombard signed a contract with the
Fox Film Corporation. Lombard's mother contacted gossip columnist
Louella Parsons, who arranged a screen test. According to biographer Larry Swindell, Lombard's beauty convinced studio head
Winfield Sheehan to sign her to a $75-per-week contract, and she abandoned her schooling to pursue the new career. Fox disliked her surname and she was renamed Carole Lombard, the surname of a family friend. Most of Lombard's appearances with Fox were bit parts in low-budget Westerns and adventure films. She later said, "All I had to do was simper prettily at the hero and scream with terror when he battled with the villain." However, she enjoyed other aspects of film work 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
Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where she won several
Charleston dance competitions. In March 1925, Lombard landed a leading role in the drama
Marriage in Transit with
Edmund Lowe. A reviewer for
Motion Picture News wrote that Lombard displayed "good poise and considerable charm". However, the studio heads were unconvinced that Lombard was leading-lady material, and her contract was not renewed. Wes D. Gehring, in his 2003 biography
Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado, has suggested a facial scar resulting from a
car crash was a factor in this decision, but that incident occurred nearly two years later on September 9, 1927. According to historian Olympia Kiriakou, on the night of the crash, Lombard was on a date with a man named Harry Cooper. On
Santa Monica Boulevard, Cooper hit another car; the windshield shattered and shards of glass cut "Lombard's face from her nose and across her left cheek to her eye." Lombard underwent reconstructive surgery and faced a long recovery period. For the remainder of her career, Lombard learned to hide the mark with makeup and careful lighting. At the time of the crash, Lombard was already under contract with Mack Sennett. In October 1927, Lombard and her mother Bess sued Cooper for $35,000 in damages, citing in the lawsuit that "where she formerly was able to earn a salary of $300 monthly as a Sennett girl, she is now unable to obtain employment of any kind." The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Lombard received $3,000. Although Lombard feared that the incident would end her career, Sennett pledged to help her recover. He afforded her "lucrative film roles and ample publicity", including the nickname "Carole of the Curves". Kiriakou explains, "the nickname simultaneously drew audiences' focus away from her facial scars and worked harmoniously with the physicality and female sensuality that were emblematic of Lombard's performances" in Sennett's films. In
Howard Higgin's
High Voltage (1929), Lombard's first sound film, she played a criminal in the custody of a deputy sheriff, both of whom are among bus passengers stranded in deep snow. Her next film, the comedy
Big News (1929), cast her with
Robert Armstrong and was a critical and commercial success. Lombard was reunited with Armstrong for the crime drama
The Racketeer, released in late 1929. The review in
Film Daily wrote: "Carol Lombard proves a real surprise, and does her best work to date. In fact, this is the first opportunity she has had to prove that she has the stuff to go over."
Paramount contract and first marriage (1930–1933) Lombard returned to Fox for a one-off role in the Western
The Arizona Kid (1930). It was a big release for the studio, starring the popular actor
Warner Baxter, in which Lombard received third billing. 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. They cast her in the
Buddy Rogers comedy
Safety in Numbers (also 1930), and one critic observed of her work, "Lombard proves [to be] an ace comedienne." For her second assignment,
Fast and Loose (also 1930) with
Miriam Hopkins, Paramount mistakenly credited the actress as "Carole Lombard". She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name. Lombard appeared in five films released during 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. Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met and they were soon in a relationship. The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers: She was 22, carefree, and famously foul-mouthed, and he was 38, intellectual, and sophisticated. Despite this, Lombard married Powell on June 26, 1931, at her Beverly Hills home. 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". The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame, while she continued to please critics with her work in
Up Pops the Devil and
I Take this Woman (both 1931). In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred
Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star. She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932.
No One Man and
Sinners in the Sun were not successful, but
Edward Buzzell's romantic picture
Virtue was well received. After featuring in the drama
No More Orchids, Lombard was cast as the wife of a con artist in
No Man of Her Own with
Clark Gable The film was a critical and commercial success, and Wes Gehring writes that it was "arguably Lombard's finest film appearance" to that point. It was the only picture that Gable and Lombard 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". In August 1933, Lombard and Powell divorced after 26 months of marriage, but they remained friends until the end of Lombard's life. At the time, she blamed it on their careers, but in a 1936 interview, she admitted that this "had little to do with the divorce. We were just two completely incompatible people". 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. Lombard was involved romantically with
Russ Columbo, the famous crooner killed in a tragic accident in 1934. Lombard had been guiding Columbo's movie and radio career and told Sonia Lee of
Mirror magazine in 1934 that they had been engaged. Other press outlets had reported on their relationship earlier that year;
Screenland Magazine declared, "the Russ Columbo and Carole Lombard romance is one of Hollywood's most charming."
Success in screwball comedies (1934–1935) 1934 marked a high point in Lombard's career, beginning with
Wesley Ruggles's musical drama
Bolero, where she and
George Raft showcased their dancing skills in an extravagantly staged performance to
Maurice Ravel's
Boléro. She had been offered the lead female role in
It Happened One Night but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts.
Bolero was favorably received, while her next film ''
We're Not Dressing'' was a box-office hit with
Bing Crosby. Lombard was then recruited by director
Howard Hawks to star in his screwball
Twentieth Century which proved a watershed in her career and made her a major star. Hawks had seen her inebriated at a party, where he found her to be "hilarious and uninhibited and just what the part needed", and she was cast with
John Barrymore. In
Twentieth Century, Lombard plays an actress who is pursued by her former mentor, a flamboyant Broadway impresario. Hawks and Barrymore were unimpressed with her work in rehearsals, finding that she was "acting" too hard and giving a stiff performance. The director encouraged Lombard to relax, be herself, and act on her instincts. She responded well to this tutoring, and reviews for the film commented on her unexpectedly "fiery talent", "a Lombard like no Lombard you've ever seen". The
Los Angeles Times' critic felt that she was "entirely different" from her formerly cool, "calculated" persona: "she vibrates with life and passion, abandon and diablerie". The next films in which Lombard appeared were
Henry Hathaway's
Now and Forever (1934), featuring Gary Cooper and the new child star
Shirley Temple, and
Lady by Choice (1934), which was a critical and commercial success.
The Gay Bride (1934) placed her with
Chester Morris in a gangster comedy, but it was panned by critics. She reunited with George Raft for
Rumba (1935) where she was given the opportunity to repeat the screwball success of
Twentieth Century. In
Mitchell Leisen's
Hands Across the Table (1935), she portrays a manicurist in search of a rich husband, played by
Fred MacMurray. Critics praised the film, and
Photoplay's reviewer stated that Lombard had reaffirmed her talent for the genre. It is remembered as one of her best films, and the pairing of Lombard and MacMurray proved so successful that they made three more pictures together.
Critical recognition (1936–1937) Lombard's first film of 1936 was
Love Before Breakfast, described by Gehring as "
The Taming of the Shrew, screwball style". In
William K. Howard's
The Princess Comes Across, her second comedy with MacMurray, she played a budding actress who wins a film contract by masquerading as a Swedish princess. The performance was considered a satire of
Greta Garbo and was widely praised by critics. Lombard's success continued as she was recruited by
Universal Studios to star in the screwball comedy
My Man Godfrey (1936). William Powell, who was playing the eponymous Godfrey, insisted on her being cast as the female lead; despite their divorce, the pair remained friendly and Powell felt she would be perfect in the role of Irene, a zany heiress who employs a "
forgotten man" as the family butler. The film was directed by
Gregory LaCava, who knew Lombard personally and advised that she draw on her "eccentric nature" for the role. She worked hard on the performance, particularly with finding the appropriate facial expressions for Irene.
My Man Godfrey was released to great acclaim and was a box-office hit. It received six nominations at the
9th Academy Awards, including Lombard for
Best Actress. Biographers cite it as her finest performance, and Frederick Ott says it "clearly established [her] as a comedienne of the first rank." By 1937, Lombard was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses, and also the highest-paid star in Hollywood following the deal which
Myron Selznick negotiated with Paramount that brought her $450,000, more than five times the salary of the U.S. president. As her salary was widely reported in the press, Lombard stated that 80% of her earnings went in taxes, but that she was happy to help improve her country. The comments earned her much positive publicity, and President
Franklin D. Roosevelt sent her a personal letter of thanks. Her first release of the year was Leisen's
Swing High, Swing Low, a third pairing with MacMurray. The film focused on a romance between two cabaret performers, and was a critical and commercial success. It had been primarily a drama, with occasional moments of comedy, but for her next project,
Nothing Sacred, Lombard returned to the screwball genre. Producer
David O. Selznick, impressed by her work in
My Man Godfrey, was eager to make a comedy with the actress and hired
Ben Hecht to write an original screenplay for her.
Nothing Sacred, directed by
William Wellman and co-starring Fredric March, satirized the journalism industry and "the gullible urban masses". Lombard portrayed a small-town girl who pretends to be dying and finds her story exploited by a New York reporter. The film was Lombard's only Technicolor feature-length production, and she later praised it highly as one of her personal favorites. Lombard continued with screwball comedies, next starring in
True Confession (1937), what Swindell calls one of her "wackiest" films, . She played a compulsive liar who wrongly confesses to murder. Lombard loved the script and was excited about the project, which reunited her with John Barrymore and was her final appearance with MacMurray. Her prediction that it "smacked of a surefire success" proved accurate as critics responded positively, and it was popular at the box office.
Dramatic efforts and second marriage (1938–1940) after their honeymoon in 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. Her next film was made at
Warner Bros. Pictures, 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".
Fools for Scandal was the only film Lombard made in 1938. By this time, she was devoted to her relationship with Clark Gable. The pair had reunited at a Hollywood party Lombard hosted in January 1936, having met on the set of
No Man of Her Own in 1932. They had initially disliked each other due to their different personalities, but that night, Gable brought Lombard to his hotel, hoping to have sex with her, to which she replied, "Who do you think you are, Clark Gable?" He brought her back to the party, then back to her house, where she insulted him about his affair with
Loretta Young (with whom he had fathered a
secret child). The next morning, regretting her harshness, she sent him doves as a peace offering, and they began a romance early in 1936. The media took great interest in their partnership and frequently questioned if they would wed. Gable was separated from his wife, Maria, but she did not want to grant him a divorce. As his relationship with Lombard became serious, Maria eventually agreed to a settlement. The divorce was finalized in March 1939, and Gable and Lombard eloped in Kingman, Arizona on March 29. The couple bought a ranch in Encino, California, where they kept barnyard animals and enjoyed hunting trips. 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. Lombard once said, "My God, you know how I love Pa, but I can't say he's a helluva good lay." '' (1940), which she 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. She appeared in
Made for Each Other (1939) with
James Stewart playing a couple facing domestic difficulties. Reviews for the film were highly positive, and praised Lombard's dramatic effort; financially, it was a disappointment. Lombard's next appearance came with 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. The role reflected 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. At the
12th Academy Awards ceremony in February 1940, Lombard was quoted as comforting Gable after his loss as
Rhett Butler from
Gone with the Wind, with the comment "Don't worry, Pappy. We'll bring one home next year". Gable replied that he felt this had been his last chance to which Lombard was said to have replied, "Not you, you self-centered bastard. I meant me." Lombard was eager to win an Academy Award, and selected her next project with the expectation that it would bring her the trophy.
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. Despite the realization that she was best suited to comedies, Lombard completed the drama
They Knew What They Wanted (1940), co-starring Charles Laughton, which was mildly successful, and which did receive an Oscar nomination—for her co-star,
William Gargan, for
Best Supporting Actor.
Final roles (1941–1942) '' (1942) Accepting that "my name doesn't sell tickets to serious pictures", Lombard returned to comedy in
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), about a couple who learns that their marriage is invalid, with
Robert Montgomery. Lombard was influential in bringing
Alfred Hitchcock, whom she knew through David O. Selznick, to direct one of his most atypical films. It was a commercial success, and audiences were happy with what Swindell calls "the belated happy news ... that Carole Lombard was a screwball once more." It was nearly a year before Lombard committed to another film, as she focused instead on her home and marriage. Determined that her next film be "an unqualified smash hit", she was also careful in selecting a new project. Through her agent, Lombard heard of
Ernst Lubitsch's upcoming film:
To Be or Not to Be (1942), a dark comedy that satirized the
Nazi takeover of Poland. The actress had long wanted to work with Lubitsch, and felt that the material—although controversial—was a worthy subject. Lombard accepted the role of actress Maria Tura, despite it being a smaller part than she was used to, and was given top billing over the film's male lead
Jack Benny. Filming took place in the fall of 1941, and it was reportedly one of the happier experiences of Lombard's career. ==Death==