Biography
Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 — July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France, she was brought to the United States as a child three years later and went to high school in New York. While studying at the Art Students League when, in 1923, she took the name Claudette Colbert for her first Broadway role in "The Wild Westcotts". Her most noteworthy stage vehicle was the "The Barker" in 1927. Her first film was a silent For the ...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Complicated Women
2003
as Self (archive footage)
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered fi...

Frank Capra Jr. Remembers: 'It Happened One Night'
1999
as Self (archive footage)
The director's son gives interesting anecdotes about Frank Capra's making of the 1934 hit comedy, "It Happened One Night."

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
as Self (archive footage)
A film scrapbook, images, phrases from our past, hiding their meanings behind veils. Let's lift those veils, one by one, to find how images, at one ti...

That's Entertainment! III
1994
as (archive footage)
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to G...

Parrish
1961
as Ellen McLean
Parrish McLean lives with his mother Ellen on Sala Post's tobacco plantation in the Connecticut River Valley. His mother winds up marrying Sala's riva...

Blithe Spirit
1956
as Ruth Condomine
Television adaptation of Noël Coward's famous play about an unhappily married man plagued by the spirit of his dead previous wife.

Texas Lady
1955
as Prudence Webb
Claudette Colbert plays Prudence Webb, who arrives in the wide-open town of Fort Ralston, Texas, to assume control of her late father's newspaper. He...

Royal Affairs in Versailles
1954
as Mrs. de Montespan
Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, ...

Daughters of Destiny
1954
as Elizabeth Whitefield (segment "Elisabeth")
Three stories, very different in space and time. Lysistrata, a dancer from ancient times, Jeanne d'Arc, medieval warrior and Elisabeth, American war w...

The Planter's Wife
1952
as Liz Frazer
The wife of a rubber plantation owner must put her marriage problems on hold when her family is forced to defend themselves during a native uprising.

Let's Make It Legal
1951
as Miriam Halsworth
A woman divorces her husband of 20 years because he gambles too much.

Thunder on the Hill
1951
as Sister Mary Bonaventure
Sister Mary presides over a convent where a convicted murderess, who is being escorted to Death Row, is stranded by bad weather. She is slowly becomin...

The Secret Fury
1950
as Ellen Ewing
The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen d...

Three Came Home
1950
as Agnes Newton Keith
Borneo, 1941, during World War II. When the Japanese occupy the island, American writer Agnes Newton Keith is separated from her husband and imprisone...

Bride for Sale
1949
as Nora Shelley
Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she can find a suitable husband by inspecting their cl...

Family Honeymoon
1948
as Katie Armstrong Jordan
Grant Jordan, bachelor botany professor, marries Katie, a widow with three kids, despite the machinations of Grant's former girlfriend Minna. But on t...

Sleep, My Love
1948
as Alison Courtland
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.

The Egg and I
1947
as Betty MacDonald
World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While...

The Secret Heart
1946
as Lee Addams
Penny Addams lives in a constant state of depression stemming from the trauma of her father's death when she was just a young girl. Her brother, Chase...

Without Reservations
1946
as Kit Madden
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't...

Tomorrow Is Forever
1946
as Elizabeth Hamilton
In 1918, Elizabeth MacDonald learns that her husband, John Andrew, has been killed in the war. Elizabeth bears John's son and eventually marries her k...

Guest Wife
1945
as Mary Price
Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war corresp...

Practically Yours
1944
as Peggy Martin
In this screwball comedy a WW2 US pilot bombs a Japanese aircraft carrier, is assumed to be dead, and then is misquoted in the press as fondly remembe...

Since You Went Away
1944
as Mrs. Anne Hilton
In 1943, several people enter, re-enter, and exit the difficult life of a Midwestern family whose patriarch has been called up to war, leaving behind ...

So Proudly We Hail
1943
as Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson
During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped beh...

No Time for Love
1943
as Katherine Grant
An upper-class female reporter is (despite herself) attracted to a hulking laborer digging a tunnel under the Hudson River.

Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6
1942
as Herself
Narrator Hopper covers two war benefit affairs, a garden party and a USO fashion show, at Pickfair, "The White House of Hollywood."

The Palm Beach Story
1942
as Geraldine 'Gerry' Jeffers
A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an...

Remember the Day
1941
as Nora Trinell
Elderly schoolteacher Nora Trinell, waiting to meet presidential nominee Dewey Roberts, recalls him as her student back in 1916 and his relation to Da...

Skylark
1941
as Lydia Kenyon
As her fifth wedding anniversary approaches, a woman realizes that she is fed up with always coming in second to her husband's advertising business. J...

Arise, My Love
1940
as Augusta Nash
A dashing pilot and a vivacious reporter have romantic and dramatic adventures in Europe as World War II begins.

Boom Town
1940
as Betsy Bartlett
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil t...

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
as Self (archive footage)
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeche...

Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940
as Self
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother ...

Drums Along the Mohawk
1939
as Lana (Magdelana)
Albany, New York, 1776. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small farm in the Mohawk River Valley, but soon their growing prosper...

It's a Wonderful World
1939
as Edwina Corday
Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by ...

Midnight
1939
as Eve Peabody
An unemployed American showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian high society.

Breakdowns of 1938
1938
as Tatiana (archive footage) (uncredited)
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.

Zaza
1938
as Zaza
A seductive music hall star falls in love with a married aristocrat.

Hollywood Goes to Town
1938
as Self
This short shows how Hollywood gets ready for the world premiere of an "important" movie. The film celebrated here is Marie Antoinette (1938), which h...

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
1938
as Nicole De Loiselle
American multi-millionaire Michael Brandon marries his eighth wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broke French Marquis. But she doesn't want to be only a ...

Tovarich
1937
as Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna Romanov
When upper-class Parisian Charles Dupont and his family hire Tina and Michel as their servants, they have no idea that the domestics are in fact Tatia...

I Met Him in Paris
1937
as Kay Denham
Kay Denham is off for a fling in Paris, leaving her suitor Berk behind. There, she meets two new suitors, Gene and George. Gene smooth-talks her into ...

Maid of Salem
1937
as Barbara Clarke
When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachuse...

Under Two Flags
1936
as Cigarette
Sergeant Victor comes to the French Foreign Legion after taking the blame for his brother's crime. Cigarette falls in love with him though Major Doyle...

The Bride Comes Home
1935
as Jeannette Desmereau
A penniless socialite is hired by two young men as a front in their plan to start a magazine. Soon, however, they find themselves more interested in h...

The Fashion Side of Hollywood
1935
as Self
Compilation of lighting and costume tests from various films, most notably Sternberg's "The Devil Is a Woman" (1935).

She Married Her Boss
1935
as Julia Scott
A super-efficient secretary at a department store falls for and marries her boss, but finds out that taking care of him at home (and especially his sp...

Private Worlds
1935
as Dr. Jane Everest
At the Brentwood Asylum for the mentally ill, psychiatrist partners Jane Everest and Alex MacGregor are broken up by the new superintendent, Dr. Charl...

The Gilded Lily
1935
as Marilyn David
Secretary Marilyn David falls in love with British aristocrat Charles Gray, to the dismay of her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, who secretly loves...

Imitation of Life
1934
as Beatrice 'Bea' Pullman
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face fami...

Cleopatra
1934
as Cleopatra
The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.

It Happened One Night
1934
as Ellie Andrews
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them be...

Four Frightened People
1934
as Judy Jones
Malaya tropical island romantic love triangle adventure thriller, about a cruise ship where Bubonic plague breaks out. Four people are able to leave t...

Torch Singer
1933
as Sally Trent, aka Mimi Benton
When she can't support her illegitimate child, an abandoned young woman puts her up for adoption and pursues a career as a torch singer. Years later, ...

Three Cornered Moon
1933
as Elizabeth Rimplegar
Elizabeth Rimplegar inhabits a household populated by virtual lunatics. Her mother, Nellie, mishandled the family fortune, and, alas, the stock market...

I Cover the Waterfront
1933
as Julie Kirk
An investigative reporter romances a suspected smuggler's daughter.

Tonight Is Ours
1933
as Princess Nadya
A princess is torn between her royal obligations and her love for a handsome Frenchman.

The Sign of the Cross
1932
as Empress Poppaea
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.

The Phantom President
1932
as Felicia Hammond
Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosse...

Make Me a Star
1932
as Claudette Colbert (uncredited)
A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.

The Man from Yesterday
1932
as Sylvia Suffolk
A woman whose husband never came home from World War I finds herself in love with her doctor. She travels with him to Switzerland, and as they check i...

The Misleading Lady
1932
as Helen Steele
A scheming socialite meets her match in the out-of-touch wildlife explorer she ventures to ensnare.

The Wiser Sex
1932
as Margaret Hughes
A young woman goes undercover to gather evidence to free her boyfriend, an attorney who has been framed for a murder he didn't commit.

His Woman
1931
as Sally Clark
Tough Caribbean freighter Captain Sam Whelan engages Sally Clark, a tramp masquerading as a missionary's daughter, to care for an abandoned baby on bo...

Secrets of a Secretary
1931
as Helen Blake
Society girl becomes a social secretary when her father dies penniless. From a story by Charles Brackett.

The Smiling Lieutenant
1931
as Franzi
An amorous lieutenant is forced to marry a socially awkward princess, though he tries to keep his violin-playing girlfriend on the side.

The House That Shadows Built
1931
as (archive footage)
The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the...

Honor Among Lovers
1931
as Julia Traynor
Jerry Stafford falls for his secretary, Julia Traynor, but instead she marries a shady character who causes trouble for both of them.

Manslaughter
1930
as Lydia Thorne
A spoiled young rich girl is sent to prison for accidentally running down a pedestrian. There she learns about a life and people she had never even im...

The Big Pond
1930
as Barbara Billings
A singing Frenchman meets an American heiress and gets a job at her father's chewing-gum factory.

Young Man of Manhattan
1930
as Ann Vaughn
Two flappers try to get their newspaper reporter boyfriends to pay attention to them.

The Lady Lies
1929
as Joyce Roamer
Much to the disapproval of his snooty children, a wealthy widowed attorney takes up with a beautiful but "lower-class" woman.

The Hole in the Wall
1929
as Jean Oliver
Mrs. Ramsey sent Jean Oliver to prison on a false charge. To get even, Jean (disguised as Madame Mystera) plans to kidnap her daughter and turn her in...

For the Love of Mike
1927
as Mary
Three men join forces to raise an adopted son. A lost film.