Trivia

Urged good friend Charles Boyer to learn English, in order to further his American movie career.

Most shots of her in her films were of her left profile. She considered her left side to be her best and only rarely allowed full face or right profile shots; an injury to her nose had created a bump on the right. Once an entire set had to be rebuilt so she would not have to show her right side, resulting in some cameramen calling the right side of her face "the dark side of the moon".

She was so convinced that she would lose the Oscar competition in 1935 to write-in nominee Bette Davis, that she decided not to attend the awards ceremony. Contrary to her belief, when she won that year for her performance in It Happened One Night (1934), she was summoned from a train station to pick up her Oscar.

After the release of The Secret Fury (1950), RKO offered her the option of directing as well as acting, but she turned the offer down.

After she secretly married Norman Foster in 1928, they announced that they would maintain separate residences so that "love would never die". Evidently it did, as the couple divorced in 1935.

Was named #12 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends

After the completion of For the Love of Mike (1927), Colbert told one and all, "I shall never make another film".

Recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation in 1986.

Twice appeared with fellow Academy Award winner Rex Harrison late in their careers in Broadway productions; "The Kingfisher" by William Douglas-Home opening at the Biltmore Theatre on December 16, 1978 running for 181 performances and "Aren't We All" by Frederick Lonsdale opening at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on April 2, 1985 running for 93 performances.

Since a slipped disc left her in traction in 1950 at her home, in Barbados. She swam twice daily in the ocean for 30 minutes.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6812 Hollywood Blvd. on February 8, 1960.

Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Colbert's being for It Happened One Night (1934). The others are Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Joan Crawford, Vivien Leigh, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Anne Bancroft, Patricia Neal, Elizabeth Taylor, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn.

After filming The Secret Heart (1946) together, she and co-star June Allyson became great friends. Colbert became godmother to Allyson's daughter, Pamela Powell.

Was offered the role of Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940), which she turned down. Rosalind Russell was cast instead.

Graduated from Washington Irving High School in New York City in 1923.

She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: It Happened One Night (1934), Imitation of Life (1934) and Midnight (1939).

Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954) is the only movie where Colbert speaks entirely in her native language, French.

Is one of 6 French actors to have received an Academy Award. The others in chronological order are: Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1958),Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek (1964), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose (2007) and Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011).

Had appeared with Fred MacMurray in seven films: The Gilded Lily (1935), The Bride Comes Home (1935), Maid of Salem (1937), No Time for Love (1943), Practically Yours (1944), The Egg and I (1947) and Family Honeymoon (1948).

Left the bulk of her estate to her close friend Helen O'Hagan.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1959 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Marriage-Go-Round".

On August 27, 2020, she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival.

In 1934, Theda Bara said: "Although at first thought you don't classify Claudette Colbert as what was once called a "vampire," I think she will probably give an excellent performance [in Cleopatra (1934)]".

At one point featured in advertisements for Chesterfield and Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Is one of 14 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Lila Kedrova, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Bérénice Bejo, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert.

One of Cecil B. DeMille's favorite actresses. She starred in three of his movies: The Sign of the Cross (1932), Four Frightened People (1934), and Cleopatra (1934). DeMille offered her the role of Mollie Monahan in Union Pacific (1939), but she turned it down and the part went to Barbara Stanwyck.

The shelving of a proposed movie about "Joan of Arc", at Warner Brothers in 1936, to be directed by Anatole Litvak, was considered one of her greatest disappointments in her career.

Was slated for the lead role of Margot Channing in All About Eve (1950) when she suffered a slipped disc while filming a violent scene (fighting off an attempted rape by a Japanese soldier) in Three Came Home (1950). The injury put her into traction. The role was then offered to Bette Davis, who had recently been released from Warner Brothers and was widely thought to be at the end of her career. It would become a legendary role for Davis, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar playing Margot Channing.

Starred in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), It Happened One Night (1934), Imitation of Life (1934), Cleopatra (1934) and Since You Went Away (1944). The middle three were all released in 1934. It Happened One Night is the only winner.

Profiled in the book, "Funny Ladies: 100 Years of Great Comediennes", by Stephen M. Silverman (1989).

Was the seventh actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934) at The 7th Academy Awards on February 27, 1935.

Anne Baxter was cast as Eve in All About Eve (1950) because of her resemblance to Colbert, who was originally chosen to play Margo Channing. Interestingly enough, both actresses portrayed Egyptian queens in Cecil B. DeMille movies: Colbert was Cleopatra (1934), and several years later Baxter became Nefretiri in The Ten Commandments (1956).

Had appeared with Irving Bacon in seven films: It Happened One Night (1934), Private Worlds (1935), Remember the Day (1941), Skylark (1941), Since You Went Away (1944), Guest Wife (1945) and Family Honeymoon (1948).

Colbert appeared with Robert Young in three movies: The Bride Comes Home (1935), I Met Him in Paris (1937), and Bride for Sale (1949).

Is one of 12 actresses who won the Best Actress Oscar for a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for It Happened One Night (1934)). The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind (1939), Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977), Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment (1983), Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Frances McDormand for Nomadland (2020).

A 1945 trade publication announced she was being considered for a role as a French aristocrat in Adventures of Don Juan (1948), but by the time this film came out in 1948, the role no longer existed.

Godmother of Helen B. Kelly.

Is one of 25 actresses to have won an Academy Award for their performance in a comedy; hers being for It Happened One Night (1934). The others, in chronological order, are: Loretta Young (The Farmer's Daughter (1947)), Josephine Hull (Harvey (1950)), Judy Holliday (Born Yesterday (1950)), Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday (1953)), Goldie Hawn (Cactus Flower (1969)), Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Class (1973)), Lee Grant (Shampoo (1975)), Diane Keaton (Annie Hall (1977)), Maggie Smith (California Suite (1978)), Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard (1980)), Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)), Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck (1987)), Cher (Moonstruck (1987)), Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy (1989)), Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King (1991)), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny (1992)), Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway (1994)) Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite (1995)), Frances McDormand (Fargo (1996)), Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets (1997)), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)), and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook (2012)).

In Italy, in her early films, most notably the multi-Oscar winner It Happened One Night (1934), she was dubbed by Nella Maria Bonora. Unlike other prominent Hollywood actresses, Colbert did not have an "official Italian voice": She was often dubbed by Giovanna Scotto and Lydia Simoneschi but Marcella Rovena, Andreina Pagnani, Tina Lattanzi and Lia Orlandini lent their voice to her at some point as well.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 111-112. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 115-117. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.