66 Facts About Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother.

Carole Lombard's career came close to ending shortly before her 19th birthday when a shattered windshield from a car accident left a scar on her face, but she overcame this challenge and appeared in 15 short comedies for Mack Sennett from 1927 to 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage and The Racketeer.

Carole Lombard's profile increased when she married William Powell in 1931, but the couple divorced amicably after two years.

Keen to win an Oscar, Carole Lombard began to move toward serious roles at the end of the decade.

Carole Lombard died at the age of 33 in the crash of TWA Flight 3 on Mount Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a war bond tour.

Carole Lombard was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6,1908, at 704 Rockhill Street.

Carole Lombard's father's continued financial support allowed the family to live comfortably, and they settled into an apartment near Venice Boulevard.

At Virgil Junior High School, Carole Lombard participated in tennis, volleyball, and swimming, and won trophies in athletics.

Carole Lombard was on set for two days, playing the sister of Monte Blue.

Carole Lombard did not win the role, but her test was seen by the Vitagraph Film Company, which expressed interest in signing her.

In October 1924,16-year-old Carole Lombard signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation.

Carole Lombard's mother contacted gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who arranged a screen test.

Carole Lombard embraced the flapper lifestyle and became a regular at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where she won several Charleston dance competitions.

In March 1925, Carole Lombard landed a leading role in the drama Marriage in Transit with Edmund Lowe.

However, the studio heads were unconvinced that Carole Lombard was leading-lady material, and her contract was not renewed.

At the time of the crash, Carole Lombard was already under contract with Mack Sennett.

Carole Lombard afforded her "lucrative film roles and ample publicity", including the nickname "Carole of the Curves".

Carole Lombard had prominent roles in Show Folks and Ned McCobb's Daughter, and reviewers observed that she made a "good impression" and was "worth watching".

Carole Lombard's next film, the comedy Big News, cast her with Robert Armstrong and was a critical and commercial success.

Carole Lombard was reunited with Armstrong for the crime drama The Racketeer, released in late 1929.

Carole Lombard returned to Fox for a one-off role in the Western The Arizona Kid.

Carole Lombard decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name.

Carole Lombard appeared in five films released during 1931, beginning with the Frank Tuttle comedy It Pays to Advertise.

Carole Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met and they were soon in a relationship.

In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Carole Lombard was set to become a major star.

Carole Lombard went on to appear in five films throughout 1932.

Carole Lombard appeared in five films that year, beginning with the drama From Hell to Heaven and continuing with Supernatural, her only horror vehicle.

Carole Lombard was involved romantically with Russ Columbo, the famous crooner killed in a tragic accident in 1934.

Carole Lombard had been guiding Columbo's movie and radio career and told Sonia Lee of Mirror magazine in 1934 that they had been engaged.

Carole Lombard had been offered the lead female role in It Happened One Night but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts.

Carole 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.

In Twentieth Century, Carole Lombard plays an actress who is pursued by her former mentor, a flamboyant Broadway impresario.

The director encouraged Carole Lombard to relax, be herself, and act on her instincts.

Carole Lombard 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 next films in which Carole Lombard appeared were Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever, featuring Gary Cooper and the new child star Shirley Temple, and Lady by Choice, which was a critical and commercial success.

Carole Lombard reunited with George Raft for Rumba where she was given the opportunity to repeat the screwball success of Twentieth Century.

Critics praised the film, and Photoplay's reviewer stated that Carole Lombard had reaffirmed her talent for the genre.

Carole Lombard's success continued as she was recruited by Universal Studios to star in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey.

Carole Lombard worked hard on the performance, particularly with finding the appropriate facial expressions for Irene.

Carole Lombard portrayed a small-town girl who pretends to be dying and finds her story exploited by a New York reporter.

Carole Lombard continued with screwball comedies, next starring in True Confession, what Swindell calls one of her "wackiest" films,.

Carole Lombard played a compulsive liar who wrongly confesses to murder.

Carole Lombard loved the script and was excited about the project, which reunited her with John Barrymore and was her final appearance with MacMurray.

True Confession was the last film Carole Lombard made on her Paramount contract, and she remained an independent performer for the rest of her career.

Fools for Scandal was the only film Carole Lombard made in 1938.

The divorce was finalized in March 1939, and Gable and Carole Lombard eloped in Kingman, Arizona on March 29.

Almost immediately, Carole 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.

Carole Lombard appeared in Made for Each Other with James Stewart playing a couple facing domestic difficulties.

Reviews for the film were highly positive, and praised Carole Lombard's dramatic effort; financially, it was a disappointment.

Carole Lombard was paid $150,000 for the film, continuing her status as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, and it was a moderate success.

Carole Lombard was eager to win an Academy Award, and selected her next project with the expectation that it would bring her the trophy.

Carole Lombard was influential in bringing Alfred Hitchcock, whom she knew through David O Selznick, to direct one of his most atypical films.

Carole 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.

Carole Lombard raised more than $2 million in defense bonds in a single evening.

Carole Lombard's party had been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was eager to reach home more quickly and wanted to travel by air.

Carole Lombard had been scheduled to appear on the following Sunday's broadcast.

Carole Lombard was interred beside her mother under the name of Carole Lombard Gable.

At the time of her death, Carole Lombard had been scheduled to star in the film They All Kissed the Bride; when production started, she was replaced by Joan Crawford.

Carole Lombard had asked him to do that numerous times after the United States had entered World War II.

Carole Lombard did so because he did not want to repeat his grief in court, and subsequently he provided her no financial aid in his will.

Carole Lombard was the greatest girl that ever lived and we were the best of pals.

Carole Lombard describes Lombard's politics as "proto-feminist", explaining that "many of her political and social statements pre-date the second-wave feminist movement, yet were very much in line with the second wave's focus," particularly her views about women's roles in the home and workplace.

Additionally, Carole Lombard was the first Hollywood star to propose profit participation: in 1938, she negotiated with Selznick International Pictures to take a reduced salary of $100,000 in exchange for a 20 percent cut of the distributor's gross of $1.6 to $1.7 million, and subsequent smaller percentages as the gross increased.

Carman concludes that Carole Lombard's strategic business sense and easy-going nature were central to her independent star persona, and the control she maintained over her career was a challenge to the "paternalistic structure" of the studio system.

Carole Lombard was particularly noted for the zaniness of her performances, described as a "natural prankster, a salty tongued straight-shooter, a feminist precursor and one of the few stars who was beloved by the technicians and studio functionaries who worked with her".

Carole Lombard received one Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for My Man Godfrey.