Carole Lombard: 5 Fascinating Facts
I’m going to say something controversial here…Carole Lombard didn’t have many great movies.
Not that SHE wasn’t great, but I just don’t think she got the opportunities to show her talent in Hollywood. Screwball hasn’t aged as well as other genres of classic film. I believe Carole was just hitting her stride when her life was tragically cut short in early 1942. But she never got to do that really great film that would have her remembered today the way people remember Monroe, Garbo, and Valentino.
It’s really a shame, because Carole really LIVED her thirty-three years. Her life is worth remembering. If you’re not very familiar with Carole beyond her limited filmography, here are five fascinating facts about her:
She survived a potentially disfiguring car accident to become one of Hollywood’s great beauties. Early in her film career, Carole was in the car with a date when a collision shattered the windshield and sent a shard of glass flying across the left side of her face. Carole endured surgery without anesthesia and months of recovery during which she privately agonized over whether or not her face and career could be salvaged. It turned out that both could, and Carole became one of the most glamorous actresses of the 1930s.
She developed her comedic chops with the best. After her accident, Carole found work as one of Mack Sennett’s “Bathing Beauties” - a posse of pretty girls who made quick and funny films for his studio, and made publicity appearances around Hollywood. Mack Sennett’s films had made comedy stars of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckly and Mabel Normand. Carole felt this time was essential to her comedic training and later said, “My best tutor was Mack Sennett.”
She was known around Hollywood as the “Profane Angel” for her foul mouth. Carole loved cussing, but she was classy through and through. Her habit of swearing came from her idea that four-letter words would be a great defense mechanism to deter those casting couch wolves. It worked, and somehow Carole’s colorful vocabulary just evolved to become part of her charming personality.
She was married to two of classic Hollywood’s great leading men. Carole married the original Thin Man William Powell after working with him on the 1931 film Man of the World. The marriage didn’t last long - a sixteen year age difference saw them at very different places in their lives and careers - but they remained close friends. Her later marriage to “The King of Hollywood” Clark Gable lasted until her death in 1942.
She was one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses. Carole employed Myron Selznick, one of the sharpest agents in 1930s Hollywood. She also had a good instinct for scripts and good business sense. When she was named one of the highest paid actresses of 1937, the press commented on her extremely high income tax bill (around 80%). Carole told them she was happy to pay it.