Carole Lombard (2025)

Carole Lombard
(2025, 9x12, pencils)

Dubbed the “Queen of Screwball Comedy”, Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana on October 6, 1908. When her parents divorced in 1916, her mother moved Carole and her two brothers to LA.

When she was 12 years old, Carole was spotted playing baseball in the street and was cast as a tomboy in the silent film “A Perfect Crime” (1921). She had her moment and went back to “normal life” until she quit school at 15 and joined a theater troupe. In 1925, she went to work for Fox and acted in three different films.

By the late 1920s, as film was transitioning from silent films to “talkies”, many actors were unable to make the change because of strong accents, poor diction or simply having awful voices (see the movie “Singin’ in the Rain”). However, Carole’s light, breezy voice and strong comedic skills helped her survive the change in the industry.

Her first talkie was “High Voltage” (1929) and she acted in 41 more films before her untimely death on January 16, 1942 when her plane crashed outside Las Vegas, Nevada. She had been on a war bond tour in her home state of Indiana.

Her close friend, Lucille Ball, said she finally decided to make “I Love Lucy” in 1951 when Carole came to her in a dream and encouraged her to go forward.

Notable Films Include:
High Voltage (1929)
Man of the World (1931)
No Man of Her Own (1932)
Twentieth Century (1934)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Mr & Mrs Smith (1941)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)