Remembering Carole Lombard.

Just finished reading an excellent new book on her, which focuses on her life and more specifically the plane crash in Nevada that took her life along with 21 others, including her mother.

The wreckage from the plane crash is still there on the mountain, many take the two hour hike to view it.

Very little of Lombard was found at the crash site, she was burned beyond recognition. Just some strands of blonde hair at the top of her skull and a piece of a ruby earring were used to identify her. Gable wanted her wedding ring, but her left arm was never found.

Some, including Orson Welles, believed her plane was shot down, since 15 Army pilots were also aboard, but the author debunks that idea.

Was she really a very liberal woman? I find that somewhat hard to believe considering the fact she married Clark Gable.

Lombard was addicted to Camel cigarettes and Coca Cola.

Carole, her mother and Gable are in side by side crypts at Forest Lawn. His widow, Kay, agreed to Gable's wish to be entombed next to Lombard, while she is also there in the row of crypts beneath them.

R2, I forgot the book, but I read once that she was very liberal until she hooked up with Gable.

Eternal togetherness at Forest Lawn.

Lombard was very gay friendly, even after marrying Gable.

I heard the Forest Lawn mausoleum is notoriously difficult to get into, especially since MJ was buried in there.

I've heard that if you even try to get near Jean Harlow's crypt, you're escorted out.

Murray Jacobson is there? Is it too late to send a note?

Lombard's performance in her final film, "To Be, or Not to Be" is still a comic revelation, and one of the true standards of comedy on film. Such a talent.

They adored her - Lombard with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Ricardo Cortez:

"Carole Lombard" is such a badass name. It's hard to believe that it was actually her real name.

I love the Hurrell portraits of Carole. Exquisite.

Carole Lombard was born Jane Peters.

Holy crap, "Jane Peters"?! I should have known Carole Lombard sounded too good to be her real name.

Lombard had three facial scars from a car accident when she was a teenager. The two on her eyebrow and lip were easily covered with makeup, but the scar along her left cheek can be seen in her films if you look closely.

Divine in everything she did. Too bad she never worked with Preston Sturges.

If Preston Sturges married Robert Preston ..

If it's any consolation, R12/R15, Tallulah Bankhead was not a stage name. That surprised me 'cause it sounds made up.

Carole Lombard once said that Russ Columbo was the great love of her life.

^^ (I accidentally hit "save post" before I was finished) Of course, this was before she married Gable, and a few years after Columbo's premature death.

Rumored that Gable felt guilty because he was in bed with Joan Crawford when he heard the news of her death.

There was something fishy about Columbo's death. I read in other sources that a few of his friends thought it might have been a lover's quarrel about Carole that triggered the gun. From Wiki:

On September 2, 1934, Columbo was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown, while Columbo was visiting him at home. Brown had a collection of firearms and the two men were examining various pieces. Quoting Brown's description of the accident:

"I was absent-mindedly fooling around with one of the guns. It was of a dueling design and works with a cap and trigger. I was pulling back the trigger and clicking it time after time. I had a match in my hand and when I clicked, apparently the match caught in between the hammer and the firing pin. There was an explosion. Russ slid to the side of his chair."

The ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo above the left eye. Surgeons at Good Samaritan Hospital made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the ball from Columbo's brain; he died less than six hours after the shooting. Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame. His funeral mass was attended by numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard, who was to have had dinner with Columbo the evening of the accident and who was romantically involved with him. Columbo's mother was hospitalized in serious condition from a heart attack at the time of the accident; the news was withheld from her by his brothers and sisters for the remaining ten years of her life. Due to her previous heart condition, it was feared that the news would prove fatal to her (she died in 1944). They used all manner of subterfuges to give the impression that Colombo was still alive, including faked letters from him and records used to simulate his radio program.

"Rumored that Gable felt guilty because he was in bed with Joan Crawford when he heard the news of her death."

Actually, Gable was making "Honky Tonk" with Lana Turner and Lombard had heard rumors that he was fooling around with Lana, but she had committed to the bond tour and had to leave for her home state of Indiana. She was supposed to return to California by train, but chose to fly since it would be faster and she was concerned about Gable and Lana. Back in 1942, the trip home by train would have taken 72 hours, as opposed to 17 hours by plane.

Russ Columbo was hot, and many thought a better crooner than his biggest rival, Bing Crosby.

He was verbally abusive to Lombard, but she was crazy about him. Even after his premature death, Gable continued to be jealous of Columbo. When Lombard died, Gable gave instructions to Forest Lawn that Carole's crypt was to be nowhere near Russ Columbo's.

R24 you are saying that it takes 17 hours in those days to get from Indiana to California by plane?

Joan Crawford and Carole got into it over a table at some fancy restaurant when she was still Jane Peters. Joan showed up and found Carole and friends at Joan's favorite table and told Carole to "move your ass, kid." Carole refused and Joan caused a scene and called for the matre'd. Carole stood up, smiled and said "Fuck you!" in Joan's face before leaving.

[quote] the news was withheld from her by his brothers and sisters for the remaining ten years of her life

How did they manage to do that?!

"[R24] you are saying that it takes 17 hours in those days to get from Indiana to California by plane?"

I know it sounds incredible today, but this was 1942. It was a TWA commercial flight that made numerous stops between Indiana and California, all documented in the new Lombard book.

The author found a passenger still alive and interviewed her for the book. She had boarded the flight in NY and got off one stop before the crash. She recalled watching Lombard pacing nervously at one of the stops, while chain smoking.

The author debunks the plane being shot down theory, because it wasn't scheduled to fly over that mountain until the last minute when bad weather forced a flight plan change, and no one would have been able to scale the mountain in time to fire at the plane.

Earlier, someone mentioned that the wreck is still there. The bodies, too? Since they didn't bother to retrieve the plane, were the bodies just left there?

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Carole Lombard was divine. Gorgeous, funny, friendly. She cussed like a sailor but everyone (well, mostly) loved her. She could carry it off because she had a sense of personal style and class. One of few women who could cuss like that and still be thought of as a "lady." She had a fantastic sense of humor, loved her gay friends and was the life of every party.

Lucille Ball was a dear friend of Carole's. Bet many DLers didn't know THAT. She emulated her fashion style for years. Classic, tailored suits and clothes that look contemporary, even today. Irene was Carole's tailor, of course.

It is a testament to her star wattage that all these years after her death, people still know who she was and that her star wattage didn't really dim after the passage of time. Today's generation might know little about her but most anyone with a passing knowledge of movie history knows the name. And that she was THE screwball comedienne of her time and that she was married to Clark Gable. My Man Godfrey and Nothing Sacred? Sigh. Perfection. And she is really REALLY good in In Name Only, as well, with Jimmy Stewart.

Oh, and Cybil Shepard totally patterned her character, Maddie Hayes, from Moonlighting, on Carole Lombard. Carole was Cybil's IDOL. If you watch any old episode of Moonlighting, you can totally see it.

Cary Grant starred with Carole in "In Name Only", along with Kay Francis.

Jimmy Stewart and Carole starred in "Made for Each Other".

The bodies were recovered, after seven days of searching, but it was too difficult and dangerous to remove the wreckage.

Carole Lombard was good friends with actor-turned-decorator William Haines and his companion Jimmy Shields. "They are the happiest married couple I know" Lombard said of Shields and Haines.

Gable was homophobic and Lombard's relationship with Haines and Shields cooled somewhat when she married. Lombard promised to re-connect with Haines and possibly get Gable to tolerate, if not , like Haines. However, Lombard died before she could get the two men into the same room. Haines never forgave Gable for taking Lombard away. Some historians say that Haines spread the rumor that Gable was a "call boy" and used the casting couch to get ahead for revenge against Gable.

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Bump

Her earliest billing was as "Carol" and she added the "e" at the advice of a numerologist, who said it would bring her success - and it did.

I wonder if the same numerologist told Dionne Warwick to add the "e" at the end of her LAST name - that didn't work out as well.

Nor did the advice from the numerologist who told Kaye Ballard to remove the "e" from her first name for more success...

"Now and Forever"(1934), a film Carole made with Gary Cooper and Shirley Temple that has never been released on VHS or DVD is now uploaded on YouTube.

[quote]I heard the Forest Lawn mausoleum is notoriously difficult to get into, especially since MJ was buried in there.

People are dying to get in.

She took the name Lombard from Lombard Street in San Francisco.

She also insinuated that Clark Gable wasn't particularly good in bed.

Love her.

^ True! She said that if Gable had an inch less he'd be "the Queen of Hollywood" and that "Pappy's peewee isn't that big whether it's up or down."

I ain't ever heard of her.

[quote]I wonder if the same numerologist told Dionne Warwick to add the "e" at the end of her LAST name - that didn't work out as well.

Dionne with an E was her real name and spelling. Well, middle name. Her first name was Marie. However her real surname was Warrick, but it was misspelled as Warwick on the label of her first single, "Don't Make Me Over," and she just stuck with it.

I never understood why Lombard didn't become the first blonde bombshell instead of Jean Harlow. She was certainly more beautiful and sexier than Harlow. Harlow was a bit hunchbacked, terrible profile (receding chin, aquiline nose), and a bit of a potato head.

I love everything about her except her acting. I think her acting wasn't grounded. She was gorgeous and rattled off her lines. She lucked into a couple of good projects (20th Century and My Man Godfrey) with strong co-stars where she looked the part. If she hadn't been married to Gable, and died tragically and young while married to Gable, she'd be remembered about as much as Claudette Colbert (who is remembered, but not at the top of the list).

Beautiful and good at comedy has become synonymous with Lombard, but that's posthumous hype. There were other beautiful actresses of the time who were better at comedy. With a good director and script, Ginger Rogers was better than Lombard was with a good director and script. Myrna Loy was very funny, very good, and also beautiful. Jean Harlow, once she learned to relax in front of the camera, was funnier.

What I love about her is tied to what appears to have been her reputation. Genuine, and a good, loyal friend. She also had guts and would stand by people in tough times. She had a foul mouth but wasn't a bitch. She really had heart. Those are the things that I like.

I read that in the beginning Dietrich was pissed at her for ripping off Dietrich's "look" but got over it.

Harlow didn't have a receding chin! If anything, her chin was too strong, with the cleft and everything.

Harlow didn't have a perfect face - she had a heavy forehead and deep set eyes with brows that were low over her eyes. At the height of her stardom her eyebrows were shaved and drawn in inches above her natural brow line to balance the forehead and make her eyes seem less deep set. Seemed a common ploy for some glamour queens - the same thing was done for Dietrich.

It's Lombard that (nearly) had a receding chin. She had a small - almost tiny, jawline and chin, but both were defined, so that rescued her profile (Deborah Kerr also had a delicate jaw/chin). Even if your chin and jaw are small, if they're "clean" and in balance with the rest of your face, you'll be photogenic. If you look at Lombard in profile she doesn't have Dietrich's strong, clean jaw and chin despite the way she imitated Dietrich's make-up and hair.

The line I recall was: My God you know I love Pa, but I can't say he's a helluva lay.

It's ironic that Lombard and William Powell were married and remained good friends to the end but the love of his life was Harlow. The way Gable never got over Lombard Powell never got over Harlow. All four of them were friends till the deaths of the two women. Sad.

I don't know if the love of William Powell's life was Harlow. There's a great bio of Harlow by someone who seems to really like her, and she thinks Powell was bad for her.

Harlow was Powell's type. But he was a homebody. He'd love Lombard as well, and the experience made him wary of marrying Harlow. For God's sake, Harlow had an abortion because she'd gotten pregnant by him and he still didn't marry her. That was HUGE in the 1930s. His big sin was he wouldn't break up with her. If you're madly in love with a woman and she gets pregnant (and the woman wants to be a mom and a wife) you don't refuse to marry her and sanction an abortion - not in the 1930s you don't.

After her death he battled cancer. And then he married a very young, blonde starlet who adored him (and, it seemed, vice versa) and remained married to her the rest of his life.

I believe he loved Harlow but he shrunk from what it took to maintain a relationship with another star. I sort of see it, but he should have broken up with her, seeing as how she was so marriage minded. The studio system was about the best set-up that existed for a marriage between two stars - at least both parties stayed in town, worked the same schedule. By the 1950s-1960s I really think it was impossible for two stars to stay married.

Morrissey owned the house that Gable bought for her. On Larrabee.

Funny how both Gable and Powell each made so many fine films, glamorously paired with the ravishing and bright Myrna Loy and yet neither of them apparently fell in love with her.

I think one of the reasons Lombard was so well-remembered for decades after her death is that she was the very first star to die in a plane crash.

[quote]I think one of the reasons Lombard was so well-remembered for decades after her death is that she was the very first star to die in a plane crash.

Seriously?

Excuse me, R54?

[R53] we don't know that neither Powell or Gable fell in love with Loy. While married to the wife he had before Lombard, Gable apparently made a pass at her, which she rejected, and which alienated him from her on the movie they were making together. Later they became great friends, and she and Powell became great friends.

The thing with Loy is she was involved in an intense relationship with Arthur Hornblow, who wasn't available (married) for a good part of their romance, and then they finally married in 1936 and divorced in 1942. That relationship was the deterrent for any romances with her co-stars during her peak years in the 1930s, although at least two took a shot (Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable). It's rumored Leslie Howard did was well, and we'll never know about Powell - they worked together such a long time, who knows if it was platonic the entire time or if they had an interlude. It really does seem as if it were her, and not them, and all down to Arthur Hornblow.

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Lucy wanted to fly on that plane with Lombard, but Gary, years before he and Lucy married, talked her out of it.

Lombard was equally adept at comedy and drama. Watch her in "In Name Only", with Cary Grant and Kay Francis, to see how she handled a dramatic role. She's remembered for much more than dying in a plane crash. She was talented, beautiful, popular, loyal and one of the highest paid movie stars of her time. If she had lived, I'm guessing she would have eventually done television, as many female stars of her era did, Loretta Young, Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Wyman, Lucille Ball, etc.

[quote]she was the very first star to die in a plane crash.

I finally met a man I didn't like. Fuck you, r54.

I totally disagree with R47 about Lombard's acting, especially in comedies. She was one of the few females stars who was willing to look and act ridiculous, really let go and be crazy. It wasn't until the 1970s, after "women's lib," that a high profile actress could be unladylike and unglamorous in comedy. One of the big exceptions to that is Lucille Ball, who was a friend of Lombard's.

Carole Lombard marathon on TCM now (8/10). I'm watching "The Gay Bride" now and she is divine! And lantern-jawed Chester Morris isn't bad to look at either.

I think a case can be made for stating that Carole Lombard was the finest comic actress of her generation, and the entire Golden Age of Hollywood.

I mean, who would come close? Barbara Stanwyck? Irene Dunne?

Ya, ya, ya!

Jean Arthur is my favorite "comedienne" of the '40s.

I've been watching TCM all day. I love Lombard.

I wish they would show "The Princess Comes Across" or "Hands Across The Table."

[quote]I heard the Forest Lawn mausoleum is notoriously difficult to get into, especially since MJ was buried in there.

You can get in to see them if you are careful.

Go to see the Last Supper Window show they have at the Great Mausoleum. To get to the auditorium, you'll walk past an angel with outspread hands in welcome. Say hi to Miss Elizabeth Taylor.

When the lights go down, sneak out of the exit to the right with the rope across it (move it quietly). Unless Forest Lawn has installed a guard there, you can walk into that aisle, and at the outcrop of crypts to the right, you enter a row with Gable and Lombard (to the left side as you face the end of the row). At the end of the row is David O. Selznick and his brother Myron.

Stanwyck admired her because she was a varsity-level athlete in school.

Stanwyck also "admired" her because Stanwyck was a big dyke, y'know, and both these dames had mouths like sailors.

Vigil in the Night w/ Anne Shirley is my personal fav. But I know I'm in the minority.

Carole King and Carole Lombard both intentionally added that stupid e on the end of Carol which always makes me think it should be pronounced Ca-rowl (long o wound) - and I think it looks stupid. Just me?

I was trying to write "sound" instead of "wound"

R72, Carole is the French form. Other famous Caroles: Carole Landis, Carole Bayer-Sager, Carole Radziwill, Carole Middleton

Dietrich was becoming more and more blunt in pursuing actresses she found attractive; among them were Paramount’s Carole Lombard and Frances Dee, whose unregenerate heterosexuality did not dissuade Dietrich from her usual stratagems of flower deliveries and romantic blandishments. Lombard, a beautiful, brash blonde, was unamused: “If you want something,” she told Dietrich after finding one too many sweet notes and posies in her dressing room at Paramount, “you come on down when I’m there. I’m not going to chase you.”

I wonder what could have happened if Marlene did that. Do you think that Carole would let Marlene kiss her on the mouth?

Wasn't Clark buried beside her? How did they know it was her?

Lombard had a wicked sense of humor. Once someone came into her dressing room and she was dying her public hair. She said she just wanted to make sure the cuffs and collars matched. She said of Gable "I love pa, but I can't say he's a hell of a lay". The horrible Gable and Lombard movie did recreate one of her most famous gags where she burst into a Hollywood party in a straightjacket.

If you watch ILL, you can definitely see the Lombard influences. When Lucy gets the fake beard glued on, she tells Ricky "I'm audition for Moon Over the North Pole. I'm playing Santa Claus, the inflection is totally Lombard.

Carole was gorgeous and talented. Why are there so many homages to drug addled unprofessional Marilyn Monroe? Lombard should have the status that Monroe has.

Apparently, when Lucy always thought of Carole as her guardian angel. And she dreamt Carole told her to go for television. So while Carole has her own notable career, her greatest achievements came from beyond the grave. RIP.

Carol Burnett's grandmother named her after Carole Lombard. Her mother refused to spell it Carole because she thought it was "cutesy bullshit".

Gone too soon.

There was a TV movie about them when I was a kid; James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh.

Today, kids don't know who James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh are.

Are they sure they got the right corpse?

R83, that only happens in the movies

R82 That movie was laughably bad, horribly miscast, and a complete piece of fiction as far as telling the story behind their relationship.

Just watched her in "To Be or Not To Be" on TCM this morning.

She was very good in it. She died before the movie was released, and apparently, Jack Benny, who played her husband in the movie, was so distraught over her death that he was unable to attend the movie's preview screening.