The pure embodiment of 1930s Hollywood style, Claudette Colbert is perhaps now remembered best for her Academy Award-winning role in 1934’s It Happened One Night.
She was a prolific and talented actress in both screwball comedies like that Capra classic, and dramas such as Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra.
Born Lily Emilie Chauchoin in France, her family later moved to America and she began acting in her teens. She eventually took the stage name Claudette Colbert, and shortly after her debut, according to Vanity Fair:
Critics salivated over her. “In Miss Colbert’s beauty there is a certain strangeness,” wrote one. “Her eyes are the only absolutely black eyes we ever saw. She laughs all the time and is filled with life and vivacity, and yet there is a certain mingling of virginity, an air of dignity.”
Likewise impressed with her physical assets, Walter Winchell dubbed her “Legs Colbert.”
Working steadily from the 1920s forward, on both stage and screen, Claudette Colbert’s unique features and singular talent helped make her an icon of the era, and one of the embodiments of 1930s Hollywood style.
Mary Astor, born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in 1906, was discovered at age 14 and became one of the true beauties of the silent era. Ultimately she also became one of the few silent stars who successfully made the transition to talkies. Despite the initial assessment that her voice was “too deep” for sound, she went …
In today’s installment of Art Deco Hollywood, we bring you the incredible style and grace of 1920s icon Anna May Wong. A beauty and talent by any standard, she was also the first Chinese American movie star, making her way in Hollywood (and internationally) in a world where she faced constant typecasting and discrimination, …
Well, the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s long-awaited (or long-dreaded, depending on your tastes…) version of The Great Gatsby is here! That is… well, it is interesting. Interestingly scored, interestingly cast… there will certainly be lots to look at, style-wise. The Great Gatsby is a perennial favorite for vintage-wedding inspiration, and there is certainly a lot …
Today’s Art Deco Hollywood style icon is the lovely Miss Myrna Loy. It was her 1934 role as Nora Charles that catapulted her to a much deserved stardom, though she had worked steadily in small silent parts earlier in her career as well . She was a phenomenal actress, comedienne and one of the great beauties …
1930s Hollywood Style | Claudette Colbert
The pure embodiment of 1930s Hollywood style, Claudette Colbert is perhaps now remembered best for her Academy Award-winning role in 1934’s It Happened One Night.
She was a prolific and talented actress in both screwball comedies like that Capra classic, and dramas such as Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra.
Born Lily Emilie Chauchoin in France, her family later moved to America and she began acting in her teens. She eventually took the stage name Claudette Colbert, and shortly after her debut, according to Vanity Fair:
Critics salivated over her. “In Miss Colbert’s beauty there is a certain strangeness,” wrote one. “Her eyes are the only absolutely black eyes we ever saw. She laughs all the time and is filled with life and vivacity, and yet there is a certain mingling of virginity, an air of dignity.”
Likewise impressed with her physical assets, Walter Winchell dubbed her “Legs Colbert.”
Working steadily from the 1920s forward, on both stage and screen, Claudette Colbert’s unique features and singular talent helped make her an icon of the era, and one of the embodiments of 1930s Hollywood style.
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