Research Catalog

Title

Carole Lombard, the Hoosier tornado / Wes D. Gehring.

Author

Gehring, Wes D.,

Publication

• Indianapolis : Indiana Historical Society Press, 2003.
• ©2003

Supplementary Content

Book review (H-Net)

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xix, 264 pages : illustrations; 20 cm.

Summary

Lombard (1908-1942) was the brightest star in screwball comedy's constellation, and her tragic death at 33 made her a Hollywood legend. Ball State film professor Gehring celebrates Lombard's many gifts in this valentine. Born in Fort Wayne, Ind., and raised in California, Lombard has a quintessentially American, star-is-born saga: she parlayed talent and timing into a stellar career and marriage to Clark Gable, the king of MGM. In fact, Lombard, who often doubled as an uncredited producer, loved all things cinematic. A keen intelligence and show-biz savvy defined her as much as her boundless energy. The screen siren was fiercely democratic and wildly generous. Her fame grew with the movie industry-from early Mack Sennett shorts to the deft comic genius of My Man Godfrey and Nothing Sacred-and she embraced all the 20th century had to offer: feminism, free love and fun. Possessing classic beauty yet renowned for her eccentricity and ability to swear like a sailor, Lombard was also a survivor. A car crash when she was 17 nearly ruined her budding career, and only plastic surgery and, in her words, "determination and tenacity" kept her on film. Her undeniable charm bewitched many leading men of the 1930s, including George Raft and first husband William Powell. Lombard, who longed to flex her dramatic muscle, was killed in her prime. When she was heading home after a war bonds drive, her plane crashed. Gehring is clearly in love with his subject and details Lombard's life, times and some delicious backstage gossip with a historian's eye and a biographer's appetite for discovery.

Series Statement

Indiana biography series

Uniform Title

Indiana biography series.

Subject

• Lombard, Carole, 1908-1942
• Motion picture actors and actresses > United States > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• "Lombard filmography"-Page 229-237.
• Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-264) and index.

Contents

Chapter 1 The Early Years 19 -- Chapter 2 The Accident and a Comedy Comeback 43 -- Chapter 3 A Climb Up the Film Ladder Coupled with a Hoosier Homecoming 61 -- Chapter 4 A Brief Union of Consequence 77 -- Chapter 5 Tragedy among the Many Loves of Lombard 97 -- Chapter 6 The Starlet Becomes a Star ... and the Queen of Hollywood Parties 117 -- Chapter 7 Lombard's Memorable 1936 135 -- Chapter 8 Encore 153 -- Chapter 9 Clark Gable and Gone with the Wind 173 -- Chapter 10 Turning the Tables on Hitchcock and Other Final Adventures 199 -- Epilogue: Lombard's Legacy 221.

ISBN

• 0871951673
• 9780871951670

LCCN

2003041748

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library