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Article: Thanks For the Lift, Claudette
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Garbo was the enigma, Dietrich the exotic, Harlow the plummy
tart. It's always the bright colors that stand out. But Hollywood
in the '30s was also home to a wide range of pastels -- actresses who
offered to a half-beaten nation a gauzy, giddy, idealized vision of
American womanhood. One of the most beautiful and accomplished of
these was Claudette Colbert.
Her currency was charm, both subtle and very potent. But the
Parisian-born Colbert, who died Tuesday at 92, did not immediately
find her niche. In 1932, five years after she began in movies, Cecil
B. De Mille cast her as the wicked Poppaea in "The Sign of the
Cross" -- her big scene found her bathing in asses' milk -- and in
1934 ...