CAROLE LOMBARD
Name: Carole Lombard
Birth name: Jane Alice Peters
Born: 6 October 1908 Fort Wayne, Indiana
Died: 16 January 1942 Mount Potosi, near Las Vegas, Nevada
Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942), born Jane Alice Peters in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, was an Oscar-nominated American actress. She was
particularly noted for her comedic roles in several classic films of the 1930s.
Her parents were Frederick C. Peters and Elizabeth Knight. Lombard's paternal
grandfather, John Claus Peters, was the son of German immigrants, Claus Peters
and Caroline Catherine Eberlin. One distant branch of Lombard's mother's family
originated in England; her ancestors John and Martha Cheney emigrated to North
America in 1634.
She was the youngest of three children. She spent her early childhood in a
sprawling, two-story house at 704 Rockhill Street in Fort Wayne, near the St.
Mary's River. Her parents divorced and her mother took the three children to Los
Angeles in 1914, where Lombard eventually attended Fairfax High School. She was
elected "May Queen" in 1924. She quit school to pursue acting full time, but
graduated from Fairfax in 1927.
Lombard was a second generation Bahá'í who formally declared her membership in
1938.
Lombard made her film debut at the age of twelve after she was seen playing
baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan; he cast her as a tomboy in A
Perfect Crime (1921). In the 1920s, she worked in several low-budget productions
credited as 'Jane Peters', and then later as 'Carol Lombard'. In 1925, she was
signed as a contract player with Fox Film Corporation (which merged with Daryl
Zanuck's Twentieth Century Productions in 1935). She also worked for Mack
Sennett and Pathé Pictures. She became a well-known actress and made a smooth
transition to sound films, starting with High Voltage (1929). In 1930, she began
working for Paramount Pictures.
Lombard became one of Hollywood's top comedy actresses in the 1930s. Despite her
glamorous looks, she was a natural comedienne, and was not afraid to look silly
for the sake of being funny. In comedies like Twentieth Century (1934) directed
by Howard Hawks, My Man Godfrey (1936) directed by Gregory La Cava, and Nothing
Sacred (1937) directed by William A. Wellman, she received praise from critics
and was described as one of the key exponents of screwball comedy. However, she
played a dramatic role in Vigil in the Night, starring as Nurse Anne Lee
opposite Brian Aherne. Produced by David O. Selznick, Nothing Sacred was her
only film made in Technicolor. Lombard was offered the role of Ellie Andrews in
It Happened One Night (1934), but the filming schedule conflicted with that of
Bolero and she was unable to accept.
Name: Carole Lombard
Birth name: Jane Alice Peters
Born: 6 October 1908 Fort Wayne, Indiana
Died: 16 January 1942 Mount Potosi, near Las Vegas, Nevada
Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942), born Jane Alice Peters in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, was an Oscar-nominated American actress. She was
particularly noted for her comedic roles in several classic films of the 1930s.
Her parents were Frederick C. Peters and Elizabeth Knight. Lombard's paternal
grandfather, John Claus Peters, was the son of German immigrants, Claus Peters
and Caroline Catherine Eberlin. One distant branch of Lombard's mother's family
originated in England; her ancestors John and Martha Cheney emigrated to North
America in 1634.
She was the youngest of three children. She spent her early childhood in a
sprawling, two-story house at 704 Rockhill Street in Fort Wayne, near the St.
Mary's River. Her parents divorced and her mother took the three children to Los
Angeles in 1914, where Lombard eventually attended Fairfax High School. She was
elected "May Queen" in 1924. She quit school to pursue acting full time, but
graduated from Fairfax in 1927.
Lombard was a second generation Bahá'í who formally declared her membership in
1938.
Lombard made her film debut at the age of twelve after she was seen playing
baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan; he cast her as a tomboy in A
Perfect Crime (1921). In the 1920s, she worked in several low-budget productions
credited as 'Jane Peters', and then later as 'Carol Lombard'. In 1925, she was
signed as a contract player with Fox Film Corporation (which merged with Daryl
Zanuck's Twentieth Century Productions in 1935). She also worked for Mack
Sennett and Pathé Pictures. She became a well-known actress and made a smooth
transition to sound films, starting with High Voltage (1929). In 1930, she began
working for Paramount Pictures.
Lombard became one of Hollywood's top comedy actresses in the 1930s. Despite her
glamorous looks, she was a natural comedienne, and was not afraid to look silly
for the sake of being funny. In comedies like Twentieth Century (1934) directed
by Howard Hawks, My Man Godfrey (1936) directed by Gregory La Cava, and Nothing
Sacred (1937) directed by William A. Wellman, she received praise from critics
and was described as one of the key exponents of screwball comedy. However, she
played a dramatic role in Vigil in the Night, starring as Nurse Anne Lee
opposite Brian Aherne. Produced by David O. Selznick, Nothing Sacred was her
only film made in Technicolor. Lombard was offered the role of Ellie Andrews in
It Happened One Night (1934), but the filming schedule conflicted with that of
Bolero and she was unable to accept.