Claudette Colbert Net Worth

#Fact1Was a naturalized citizen of the United States.2Was a staunch Republican and natural conservative.3Was close friends with Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan.4Is one of 11 actresses who won the Best Actress Oscar for a move 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) and Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby (2004).5Is 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)), Anjelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor (1985)), 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)), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)), and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook (2012)).6Was 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 won a Best Actress Oscar playing Margot Channing.7Was 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, 1935.8Is 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.9Since a slipped disc left her in traction in 1950, while at home in Barbados, Colbery swam twice in the ocean daily for thirty minutes.10Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), which went to Vivien Leigh.11After Colbert secretly married Norman Foster in 1928, they announced that they would maintain separate residences so that "love would never die". Evidently, that did as the couple divorced in 1935.12Attended and graduated from Washington Irving High School in New York City (1923).13She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6812 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.14Had 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).15Had 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).16Is one of 12 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Bérénice Bejo and Emmanuelle Riva.17Is one of five French actors to have received an Academy Award. The others in chronological order are: Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose (2007) and Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011).18Godmother of Helen B. Kelly.19The 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.20After the completion of For the Love of Mike (1927), Colbert told one and all, "I shall never make another film".21After the release of The Secret Fury (1950), RKO offered the actress the option of directing as well as acting, but she turned the offer down.22Profiled in the book, "Funny Ladies: 100 Years of Great Comediennes", by Stephen M. Silverman (1989).23Twice 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.24A 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.25Was offered the role of Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940), which she turned down. Rosalind Russell was cast instead.26After filming The Secret Heart (1946) together, she and co-star, June Allyson, became great friends. Colbert became godmother to Allyson's daughter, Pamela Powell.27In 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 Lidia Simoneschi but Marcella Rovena, Andreina Pagnani, Tina Lattanzi and Lia Orlandini lent their voice to her at some point as well.28She 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.29Urged good friend Charles Boyer to learn English, in order to further his American movie career.30Was named #12 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends31Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 115-117. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.32Was nominated for Broadway's 1959 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Marriage-Go-Round".33Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 111-112. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 081602338734Most 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".