Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American film actress. She was particularly noted for her zany, energetic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s. She was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s.

Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. She attended Virgil Junior High School, where she excelled in sports, and while playing baseball caught the attention of the film director Allan Dwan, which led to her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). In October 1924, at the age of 16, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation, and got her first break the following year opposite Edmund Lowe in the successful drama Marriage in Transit. Soon dropped by Fox following a car accident which left a scar on her face, she appeared in 15 short films of Pathé Exchange between September 1927 and March 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage and The Racketeer. After a successful one-off appearance opposite Warner Baxter in Fox's The Arizona Kid, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures who cast her in the Buddy Rogers comedy Safety in Numbers (1930).

Lombard began appearing in comedies with William Powell such as Man of the World and Ladies Man, and married him in June 1931. The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame, and the two would continue to occasionally star together throughout the 1930s, despite being divorced in 1933. Lombard starred alongside Clark Gable(whom she married in 1939) in No Man of Her Own (1932) and George Raft in Bolero (1934), where her dance skills were praised. After roles in successful films such asTwentieth Century (1934), Hands Across the Table (1935), which was the first of four comedies made with Fred MacMurray, The Princess Comes Across (1936), My Man Godfrey (1936), which won her an Academy Award nomination opposite Powell, Swing High, Swing Low (1937), and Nothing Sacred (1937), Lombard had become the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and one of its most popular stars. Eager to win an Oscar, by the end of the decade she began to move away from comedies towards more serious roles, appearing opposite James Stewart in the drama Made for Each Other (1939) and alongside Cary Grant in the romance In Name Only (1939). Her role as a nurse in Vigil in the Night was her most notable attempt to win an Oscar but didn't receive a nomination. Lombard returned to comedy in Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 1941.

Lombard's career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 in an aircraft crash on Mount Potosi, Nevada while returning from a World War II War Bond tour. Her final film, Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942), a satire about Nazism and the war, was in post-production at the time of her death. Today she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy, and ranks among the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time. The World War IILiberty Ship SS Carole Lombard and the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge over the St. Mary's River near Fort Wayne were named after her.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Early years  ==Early years[ edit] == ===Childhood[ edit] === Lombard was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. Christened with the name Jane Alice Peters, she was the third child of Frederic Peters (1875–1935) and Elizabeth "Bessie" Knight Peters (1877–1942). Her older brothers were Frederic Jr. (born 1902) and Stuart (born 1906).[1]  Lombard's parents both descended from wealthy families and her early years were lived in comfort, with the biographer Robert Matzen calling it her "silver spoon period".[2]  The marriage between her parents was strained, however,[3]  and in October 1914, her mother took the children and moved to Los Angeles.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197216_4-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  Although the couple did not divorce, the separation was permanent.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200323_3-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3]  Her father's continued financial support allowed the family to live without worry, if not with the same affluence they had enjoyed in Indiana, and they settled into an apartment nearVenice Boulevard in Los Angeles.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200325_5-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]
 * 1.1 Childhood
 * 1.2 Aspiring actress, Fox (1921–26)
 * 2 Breakthrough
 * 2.1 Sennett and Pathé (1927–29)
 * 2.2 Paramount, Powell marriage (1930–33)
 * 3 Hollywood star
 * 3.1 Screwball beginnings (1934–35)
 * 3.2 Continued success (1936–37)
 * 3.3 Gable marriage, dramatic efforts (1938–40)
 * 3.4 Final roles (1941–1942)
 * 4 Death
 * 4.1 Aftermath
 * 5 Style and legacy
 * 6 Filmography
 * 7 References
 * 7.1 Notes
 * 7.2 Citations
 * 7.3 Bibliography
 * 8 External links

At age 12, Lombard had a small role in the film A Perfect Crime (1921)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Described by her biographer Wes Gehring as "a free-spirited tomboy", the young Lombard was passionately involved in sports and enjoyed watching movies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200320_6-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  At Virgil Junior High School, she participated in tennis, volleyball, and swimming, and won trophies for her achievements in athletics.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197216_4-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  At the age of 12, this hobby unexpectedly landed Lombard her first screen role. While playing baseball with friends, she caught the attention of the film director Allan Dwan, who later recalled seeing "a cute-looking little tomboy ... out there knocking the hell out of the other kids, playing better baseball than they were. And I needed someone of her type for this picture."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200327.E2.80.9328_7-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  With the encouragement of her mother, Lombard happily took a small role in the melodrama A Perfect Crime (1921). She was on set for two days,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200327.E2.80.9328_7-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  playing the sister of Monte Blue.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197217_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  Dwan later commented, "She ate it up".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19885_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9] ===Aspiring actress, Fox (1921–26)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">A Perfect Crime was not widely distributed, but the brief experience spurred Lombard and her mother to look for more film work. The teenager attended several auditions, but none were successful.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200329_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  While appearing as the queen of Fairfax High School's May Day Carnival at the age of 15, she was scouted by an employee of Charlie Chaplin and offered a screen test to appear in his film The Gold Rush (1925). Lombard was not given the role, but it raised Hollywood's awareness of the aspirant-actress.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200339.E2.80.9341_11-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  Her test was seen by the Vitagraph Film Company, who expressed an interest in signing her to a contract. Although this did not materialize, the condition that she adopt a new first name ("Jane" was considered too dull) lasted with Lombard throughout her career. She selected the name "Carol" after a girl she played tennis with in middle school.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19886_12-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In October 1924, shortly after these disappointments, 16-year-old Lombard was signed to a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. How this came about is uncertain: in her lifetime, it was reported that a director for the studio scouted her at a dinner party, but more recent evidence suggests that Lombard's mother contacted Louella Parsons, the gossip columnist, who then got her a screen test.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200344.E2.80.9345_13-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  According to the biographer Larry Swindell, it was Lombard's beauty that convinced Winfield Sheehan, head of the studio, to sign her to a $75-per-week contract.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_197540_14-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  The teenager abandoned her schooling to embark on this new career.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19886_12-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  Fox were happy to use the name Carol, but unlike Vitagraph they disliked her surname. From this point she became "Carol Lombard", the new name taken from a family friend.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200346_15-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The majority of Lombard's appearances with Fox were bit parts<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19886_12-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  in low-budget westerns and adventure films. She later commented on her dissatisfaction with these roles: "All I had to do was simper prettily at the hero and scream with terror when he battled with the villain."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200346_15-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  She fully enjoyed the other aspects of film work, however, such as photo-shoots, costume fittings, and socializing with actors on the studio set. Lombard embraced the flapper lifestyle and became a regular at the Coconut Grove nightclub, where she won several Charleston dance competitions.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19886Gehring_200347_16-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In March 1925, Fox gave Lombard a leading role in the drama Marriage in Transit, opposite Edmund Lowe. Her performance was well-received, with a reviewer for Motion Picture News writing that she displayed, "good poise and considerable charm."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197218.3B_49_17-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]  Despite this, the studio heads were unconvinced that Lombard was leading lady material, and her one-year contract was not renewed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_19886Ott_197219_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  Gehring has suggested that a facial scar she obtained in an automobile accident was a factor in this decision. Fearing that the scar—which ran across her cheek—would ruin her career, the 17-year-old had an early plastic surgery procedure to make it less visible. For the remainder of her career, Lombard learned to hide the mark with make-up and careful lighting.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200348.E2.80.9350_19-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 1] ==Breakthrough<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Sennett and Pathé (1927–29)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === Lombard in the comedy short Run, Girl, Run (1928), from her time as a "Mack Sennett girl"<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">After a year without work, Lombard obtained a screen test for the "King of Comedy" Mack Sennett. She was offered a contract, and although she initially had reservations about performing in slapstick comedies, the actress joined his company as one of the "Sennett Bathing Beauties".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200353.E2.80.9354_22-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  She appeared in 15 short films between September 1927 and March 1929,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197255.E2.80.9360_23-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22]  and greatly enjoyed her time at the studio.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197220Gehring_200353_24-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  It gave Lombard her first experiences in comedy and provided valuable training for her future work in the genre.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200357.E2.80.9358Ott_197220_25-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  In 1940, she called her Sennett years "the turning point of [my] acting career."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200359_26-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Sennett's productions were distributed by Pathé Exchange, and in 1928 the company began casting Lombard in feature films. She had prominent roles in Show Folks and Ned McCobb's Daughter,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200361_27-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]  where reviewers noted that she made a "good impression" and was "worth watching".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197265.E2.80.9366_28-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  The following year, Pathé elevated Lombard from a supporting player to a leading lady.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200365_29-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  In Howard Higgin's High Voltage, her first talking picture, she played a sheriff's daughter stranded with a group during a snow storm.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197222_30-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]  Her next film, the comedy Big News, cast her opposite Robert Armstrong and was a critical and commercial success.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200365Ott_197222_31-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  Lombard was reunited with Armstrong for the crime–drama The Racketeer, released in late 1929. The review in Film Daily wrote, "Carol Lombard proves a real surprise, and does her best work to date. In fact this is the first opportunity she has had to prove that she has the stuff to go over."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197272_32-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31] ===Paramount, Powell marriage (1930–33)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === Lombard (left) in Safety in Numbers(1930)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1930, Lombard returned to Fox for a one-off role in the western The Arizona Kid. It was a big release for the studio, starring the popular actor Warner Baxter, in which Lombard received third billing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200368.E2.80.9369_33-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  Following the success of the film, Paramount Pictures recruited Lombard and signed her to a $350-per-week contract (gradually increasing to $3,500-per-week by 1936).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197223_34-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]  They cast her in the Buddy Rogers comedy Safety in Numbers, and one critic observed of her work, "Lombard proves [to be] an ace comedienne."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200377_35-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[34]  For her second assignment, Fast and Loose with Miriam Hopkins, Paramount mistakenly credited the actress as "Carole Lombard". She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200378.E2.80.9379_36-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[35] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-40" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 2]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard appeared in five films throughout 1931, beginning with the Frank Tuttle comedy It Pays to Advertise. Her next two films, Man of the World and Ladies Man, both featured William Powell, Paramount's top male star.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200383_41-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[39]  Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met, attracted to his good looks and debonair screen persona,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200385_42-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[40]  and they were soon in a relationship.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200383_41-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[39]  The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers: she was 22, carefree, and famously foul-mouthed, while he was 38, intellectual, and sophisticated.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200383Matzen_198811_43-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[41]  Despite their disparate personalities, Lombard married Powell on June 6, 1931, at her Beverly Hills home.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200387_44-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[42]  Talking to the media, she argued for the benefits of "love between two people who are diametrically different", claiming that their relationship allowed for a "perfect see-saw love".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200385_42-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[40]

With William Powell, her husband from June 1931 to August 1933<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200387_44-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[42]  while she continued to please critics with her work in Up Pops the Devil and I Take this Woman (both 1931).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197224_45-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[43]  In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200390.E2.80.9391_46-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[44]  She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932. No One Man and Sinners in the Sun were not successful,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200391_47-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[45]  but Edward Buzzell's romantic picture Virtue was well received.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197225_48-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[46]  After featuring in the drama No More Orchids, Lombard was cast as the wife of a con-artist in No Man of Her Own.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197225_48-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[46]  Her co-star for the picture was Clark Gable, who was rapidly becoming one of Hollywood's top celebrities.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975197Gehring_200398_49-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[47]  The film was a critical and commercial success, and Wes Gehring writes that it was "arguably Lombard's finest film appearance" to that point.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200397.E2.80.93100.3B_102_.28for_quote.29_50-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[48]  It was the only picture that Gable and Lombard, future husband and wife, made together. There was no romantic interest at this time however, as she recounted to Garson Kanin: "[we] did all kinds of hot love scenes ... and I never got any kind of tremble out of him at all."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKanin_197461_51-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[49] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-53" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 3]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In August 1933, Lombard and Powell divorced after 26 months of marriage. At the time she blamed it on their careers,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_200392.E2.80.9393_54-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[51]  but in a 1936 interview she admitted that this "had little to do with the divorce. We were just two completely incompatible people."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197224_45-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[43]  She appeared in five films that year, beginning with the drama From Hell to Heaven and continuing with Supernatural, her only horror vehicle. After a small role in The Eagle and the Hawk, a war film starring Fredric March and Cary Grant, she starred in two melodramas: Brief Moment, which critics enjoyed, and White Woman, where she was paired with Charles Laughton.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003102.3B_105_55-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[52] ==Hollywood star<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Screwball beginnings (1934–35)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === Lobby card for Twentieth Century(1934), considered a pioneeringscrewball comedy. The film that made Lombard a major star.Lombard made four comedies withFred MacMurray, beginning with Hands Across the Table (1935)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The year 1934 marked a high point in Lombard's career.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003110_56-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[53]  She began with Wesley Ruggles's musical drama Bolero, where she and George Raft showcased their dancing skills in an extravagantly-staged performance to Maurice Ravel's "Boléro".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197426_57-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[54]  Before filming began, she was offered the lead female role in It Happened One Night, but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts with this production.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMacBride_2000303_58-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[55] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-60" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 4]  Bolero was favorably received, while her next film, the musical comedy We're Not Dressing with Bing Crosby, was a box office hit.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003110_56-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[53]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard was then recruited by the director Howard Hawks, a second cousin,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHawks_2005147_61-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[57]  to star in his successful comedy film Twentieth Century, a pioneering film in the screwball comedy genre, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197226Gehring_2003111_62-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[58]  which also proved a watershed in her career and made her a major star.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003121.2C_123Ott_197228_63-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[59]  Hawks had seen the actress inebriated at a party, where he found her to be "hilarious and uninhibited and just what the part needed",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBogdanovich2012466_64-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[60]  and she was cast opposite John Barrymore.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003118_65-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[61]  In Twentieth Century, Lombard played an actress who is pursued by her former mentor, a flamboyant Broadway impresario. Hawks and Barrymore were unimpressed with her work in rehearsals, finding that she was "acting" too hard and giving a stiff performance. The director encouraged Lombard to relax, be herself, and act on her instincts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197227_66-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[62] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-67" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 5]  She 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".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_1972120.E2.80.93121_68-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[63]  The Los Angeles Times' critic felt that she was "entirely different" from her formerly cool, "calculated" persona, adding, "she vibrates with life and passion, abandon and diablerie".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003117_69-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[64]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The next films Lombard appeared in were Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever (1934), featuring Gary Cooper and the new child star Shirley Temple, and Lady by Choice(1934), which was a critical and commercial success. The Gay Bride (1934) placed her opposite Chester Morris in a gangster comedy, but this outing was panned by critics.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003122.E2.80.93123_70-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[65] After reuniting with George Raft for another dance picture, Rumba (1935), Lombard was given the opportunity to repeat the screwball success of Twentieth Century.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197228_71-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[66]  InMitchell Leisen's Hands Across the Table (1935), she portrayed a manicurist in search of a rich husband, played by Fred MacMurray. Critics praised the film, and Photoplay's reviewer stated that Lombard had reaffirmed her talent for the genre.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_1972133Gehring_2003127_72-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[67]  It is remembered as one of her best films,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197228_71-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[66]  and the pairing of Lombard and MacMurray proved so successful that they made three more pictures together.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003127_73-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[68] ===Continued success (1936–37)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <span class="play-btn-large" style="width:70px;height:53px;position:absolute;cursor:pointer;z-index:1;top:82px;left:110px;margin-left:-35px;margin-top:-25px;border-style:none!important;background:url(data:image/png;base64,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);">Clip from My Man Godfrey (1936), which earned Lombard an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard's first film of 1936 was Love Before Breakfast, described by Gehring as "The Taming of the Shrew, screwball style".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003135_74-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[69]  In William K. Howard's The Princess Comes Across, her second comedy with MacMurray, she played a budding actress who wins a film contract by masquerading as a Swedish princess. The performance was considered a satire of Greta Garbo, and was widely praised by critics.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003136.E2.80.93137_75-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[70]  Lombard's success continued as she was recruited by Universal Studios to star in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (1936). William Powell, who was playing the titular Godfrey, insisted on her being cast as the female lead; despite their divorce, the pair remained friendly and Powell felt she would be perfect in the role of Irene, a zany heiress who employs a "forgotten man" as the family butler.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003132.2C_93.E2.80.9395_76-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[71]  The film was directed by Gregory LaCava, who knew Lombard personally and advised that she draw on her "eccentric nature" for the role.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003133.2C_137.2C_139_77-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[72]  She worked hard on the performance, particularly with finding the appropriate facial expressions for Irene.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003140_78-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[73]  My Man Godfrey was released to great acclaim and was a box office hit. It received six nominations at the 9th Academy Awards, including Lombard forBest Actress.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-80" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 6]  Biographers cite it as her finest performance, and Frederick Ott says it "clearly established [her] as a comedienne of the first rank."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197229Gehring_2003140.E2.80.93142_81-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75]

Lombard in Nothing Sacred (1937)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">By 1937, Lombard was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaver_1980214Swindell_1975220_82-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[76]  and also the highest-paid star in Hollywood following the deal whichMyron Selznick negotiated with Paramount that brought her $450,000, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975201_83-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[77]  more than five times the salary of the U.S. President.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_19729_84-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[78]  As her salary was widely reported in the press, Lombard stated that 80 percent of her earnings went in taxes but that she was happy to help improve her country.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaver_1980214_85-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[79]  The comments earned her much positive publicity, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent her a personal letter of thanks.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975232_86-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[80]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Her first release of the year was Leisen's Swing High, Swing Low, a third pairing with MacMurray. The film focused on a romance between two cabaret performers, and was a critical and commercial success.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003153_87-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[81]  It had been primarily a drama, with occasional moments of comedy,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003154.E2.80.93156_88-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[82]  but for her next project Lombard returned to the screwball genre.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003158_89-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[83]  The producer David O. Selznick was eager to make a comedy with the actress, impressed by her work in My Man Godfrey, and hired Ben Hecht to write an original screenplay for her.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaver_1980214.E2.80.93215_90-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[84]  Nothing Sacred, directed by William Wellman and co-starring Fredric March, satirized the journalism industry and "the gullible urban masses", with Lombard playing a small-town girl who pretends to be dying and finds her story exploited by a New York reporter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197230.2C_148.E2.80.93149_91-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[85]  Marking her only appearance in Technicolor, the film was highly praised and was one of Lombard's personal favorites.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003154.2C_161.E2.80.93162_92-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[86]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard continued with screwball comedies, next starring in what Swindell calls one of her "wackiest" films, True Confession (1937).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975226_93-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[87]  She played a compulsive liar who wrongly confesses to murder. Lombard loved the script and was excited about the project, which reunited her with John Barrymore and was her final appearance with MacMurray. Her prediction that it "smacked of a surefire success" proved accurate, as critics responded positively and it was popular at the box office.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003163.E2.80.93166Swindell_1975225.2C_228_94-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[88] ===Gable marriage, dramatic efforts (1938–40)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === With Clark Gable after their honeymoon, 1939<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">True Confession was the last film Lombard made on her Paramount contract, and she remained an independent performer for the rest of her career.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197230_95-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[89]  Her next film was made at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros.], where she played a famous actress in Mervyn LeRoy's Fools for Scandal (1938). The comedy met with scathing reviews and was a commercial failure, with Swindell calling it "one of the most horrendous flops of the thirties".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975237Gehring_2003174.E2.80.93175_96-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[90]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Fools for Scandal was the only film Lombard made in 1938. By this time, she was devoted to a relationship with Clark Gable.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975236.E2.80.93237Gehring_2003173_97-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[91]  Four years after their teaming on No Man of Her Own, the pair had reunited at a Hollywood party and began a romance early in 1936.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975191.E2.80.93194_98-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[92]  The media took great interest in their partnership and frequently questioned if they would wed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975200.2C_205Gehring_2003168_99-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[93]  Gable was separated from his wife, Rhea Langham, but she did not want to grant him a divorce.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975199.2C_213_100-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[94]  As his relationship with Lombard became serious, Langham eventually agreed to a settlement worth half a million dollars.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-103" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 7]  The divorce was finalized in March 1939, and Gable and Lombard eloped in Kingman, Arizona on 29 March.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003184_104-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[97]  The couple—both lovers of the outdoors—bought a 20-acre ranch in Encino, California, where they kept barnyard animals and enjoyed hunting trips.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_197231.E2.80.9332_105-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[98]

Lombard with James Stewart inMade for Each Other (1939)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">While continuing with a slower work-rate, Lombard decided to move away from comedies and return to dramatic roles.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003175.2C_181_106-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[99]  In 1939 she appeared in a second David O. Selznick production, Made for Each Other, which paired her with James Stewart to play a couple facing domestic difficulties.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOtt_1972158.E2.80.93159_107-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[100]  Reviews for the film were highly positive, and praised Lombard's dramatic effort; financially, it was a disappointment.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975246Gehring_2003181.E2.80.93183.3B_189Ott_1972160_108-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[101]  Lombard's next appearance came opposite Cary Grant in the John Cromwell romance In Name Only (1939), a credit she personally negotiated with RKO Radio Pictures upon hearing of the script and Grant's involvement.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975252.E2.80.93253_109-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[102]  The role mirrored her recent experiences, as she played a woman in love with a married man whose wife refuses to divorce. She was paid $150,000 for the film, continuing her status as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, and it was a moderate success.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003188.E2.80.93189Swindell_1975_110-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[103]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard was eager to win an Academy Award, and selected her next project—from several possible scripts—with the expectation that it would bring her the trophy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975258.2C_260_111-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[104]  Vigil in the Night (1940), directed by George Stevens, featured Lombard as a nurse who faces a series of personal difficulties. Although the performance was praised she did not get her nomination, as the sombre mood of the picture turned audiences away and box-office returns were poor.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975261_112-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[105]  Despite the realization that she was best suited to comedies,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003190.2C_200Swindell_1975261.2C_271_113-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[106]  Lombard completed one more drama: They Knew What They Wanted (1940), co-starring Charles Laughton, which was mildly successful.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975272_114-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[107] ===Final roles (1941–1942)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Accepting that "my name doesn't sell tickets to serious pictures",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975274_115-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[108]  Lombard returned to comedy for the first time in three years to film Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), about a couple who learn that their marriage is invalid, with Robert Montgomery. Lombard was influential in bringing Alfred Hitchcock, whom she knew through David O. Selznick, to direct one of his most atypical films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975279_116-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[109]  It was a commercial success, as audiences were happy with what Swindell calls "the belated happy news ... that Carole Lombard was a screwball once more."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975280_117-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[110]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">It was nearly a year before Lombard committed to another film, as she focussed instead on her home and marriage.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975283_118-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[111] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-120" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 8]  Determined that her next film be "an unqualified smash hit", she was also careful in selecting a new project. Through her agent, Lombard heard of Ernst Lubitsch's upcoming film: To Be or Not to Be, a dark comedy that satirized the Nazi takeover of Poland.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975290.E2.80.93291_121-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[113]  The actress had long wanted to work with Lubitsch, her favorite comedy director, and felt that the material—although controversial—was a worthy subject.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGehring_2003215.E2.80.93216_122-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[114]  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 lead, Jack Benny. Filming took place in the fall of 1941, and was reportedly one of the happiest experiences of Lombard's career.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESwindell_1975290.E2.80.93291_121-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[113] ==Death<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Lombard in Indiana, January 1942, shortly before her death in a plane crash<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">When the U.S. entered World War II at the end of 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother, Bess Peters, and Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler. Lombard was able to raise over $2 million in defense bonds in a single evening. Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was anxious to reach home more quickly and wanted to fly by a scheduled airline. Her mother and Winkler were both afraid of flying and insisted they follow their original travel plans. Lombard suggested they flip a coin; they agreed and Lombard won the toss.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-classichollywoodbios_123-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[115]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In the early morning hours of January 16, 1942, Lombard, her mother, and Winkler boarded a Transcontinental and Western Air Douglas DST aircraft to return to California.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-125" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[note 9] After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off at 7:07 p.m. and approximately 23 minutes later, crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the 8,300-foot (2,500 m) level of Potosi Mountain, 32 statute miles (51 km) southwest of Las Vegas. All 22 aboard, Lombard and her mother included, plus 15 army servicemen, were killed instantly.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTECohen_1991347_126-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[117] ===Aftermath<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Gable was flown to Las Vegas after learning of the tragedy to claim the bodies of his wife, mother-in-law, and Winkler, who aside from being his press agent had been a close friend. Lombard's funeral was held on January 21 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. She was interred beside her mother under the name of Carole Lombard Gable.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-findagrave.com_127-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[118]  Despite remarrying twice following her death, Gable chose to be interred beside Lombard when he died in 1960.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-findagrave.com_127-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[118]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard's final film, To Be or Not to Be (1942), directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Jack Benny, a satire about Nazism and World War II, was in post-production at the time of her death. The film's producers decided to cut part of the film in which Lombard's character asks, "What can happen on a plane?" out of respect for the circumstances surrounding her death.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBrooks_Brooks_2006104_128-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[119]  When the film was released, it received mixed reviews, particularly about its controversial content, but Lombard's performance was hailed as the perfect send-off to one of 1930s Hollywood's most important stars.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">At the time of her death, Lombard had been scheduled to star in the film They All Kissed the Bride; when production started, her role was given to Joan Crawford.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFord_201141_129-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[120]  Crawford donated all of her salary for the film to the Red Cross, which had helped extensively in the recovery of bodies from the air crash. Shortly after Lombard's death, Gable, who was inconsolable and devastated by his loss, joined the United States Army Air Forces. Lombard had asked him to do that numerous times after the United States had entered World War II. After officer training, Gable headed a six-man motion picture unit attached to a B-17 bomb group in England to film aerial gunners in combat, flying five missions himself. In December 1943, the United States Maritime Commission announced that a Liberty ship named after Carole Lombard would be launched.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-130" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121] Gable attended the launch of the SS Carole Lombard on January 15, 1944, the two-year anniversary of Lombard's record-breaking war bond drive. The ship was involved in rescuing hundreds of survivors from sunken ships in the Pacific and returning them to safety. In 1962, Mrs. Jill Winkler Rath, widow of publicist Otto Winkler, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit for $100,000 against the $2,000,000 estate of Clark Gable in connection with Winkler's death in the plane crash with Carole Lombard. The suit was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Mrs. Rath, in her action, claimed Gable promised to provide financial aid for her if she would not bring suit against the airline involved. However, Mrs. Rath stated, she later learned that Gable settled his claim against the airline for $10. He did so because he did not want to repeat his grief in court and subsequently provided her no financial aid in his will.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-131" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[122] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-132" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[123] ==Style and legacy<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Lombard in the early 1930s<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Author Robert D. Matzen has cited Lombard as "among the most commercially successful and admired film personalities in Hollywood in the 1930s", <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMatzen_1988_133-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[124]  and feminist writer June Sochen believes that Lombard "demonstrated great knowledge of the mechanics of film making".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESochen_199995_134-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[125]  Author George Alec Effinger believes that Lombard and Gable became "one of the best-loved teams in movie history" who "made a whole series of wonderful comedies together".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEffinger201465_135-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[126]  George Raft, her co-star in Bolero was extremely fond of the actress, remarking "I truly loved Carole Lombard. She was the greatest girl that ever lived and we were the best of pals. Completely honest and outspoken, she was liked by everyone".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEYablonsky_200095_136-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[127]

Lombard's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard was particularly noted for the zaniness of her performances,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMitchell_200116_137-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[128] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBalio_1995276_138-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[129]  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".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PT05_139-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[130]  Life magazine noted that her film personality transcended to real life, "her conversation, often brilliant, is punctuated by screeches, laughs, growls, gesticulations and the expletives of a sailor's parrot".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Inc1938_140-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[131]  Graham Greene praised the "heartbreaking and nostalgic melodies" of her faster-than-thought delivery. "Platinum blonde, with a heart-shaped face, delicate, impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lamé, Lombard wriggled expressively through such classics of hysteria as Twentieth Century and My Man Godfrey."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-141" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[132]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the 50 greatest American female screen legends,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-142" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[133]  and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6930 Hollywood Blvd. Lombard received one Academy Award for Best Actress nomination, for My Man Godfrey.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEShearer_2006533_143-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[134]  Actresses who have portrayed her in films include Jill Clayburgh in Gable and Lombard (1976),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEErens_1988361_144-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[135]  Sharon Gless in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980), Denise Crosby in Malice in Wonderland (1985), Anastasia Hille in RKO 281 (1999) and Vanessa Gray in Lucy (2003).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-145" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[136]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Lombard's Fort Wayne childhood home has been designated a historic landmark. The city named the nearby bridge over the St. Mary's River the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge.