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Carole Lombard is undoubtedly one the greatest comediennes in cinema history. Born Jane Alice Peters to a wealthy Indiana family on October 6, 1908, Lombard began her acting career at the age of 12, when director Allan Dwan cast her as Monta Blue's sister in A Perfect Crime (1921). Although the film was not widely distributed and paid only $50, the experience spurred Lombard's mother to enroll her in drama school. In 1924, just as she turned 16, she was screentested by Fox Film Corporation, which led to a co-starring role opposite Edmund Lowe in Marriage in Transit (1925). Both movies are now considered lost.   Unlike many other actors, Lombard made an easy transition to sound, signing a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930. Four years later, she was loaned out to Columbia to work on Twentieth Century (1934), a film that not only made her a major star, but also became the prototype of screwball comedies.   LEFT: Carole Lombard and Monta Blue in A Perfect Crim...

Directed by Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth (1937) opens with Jerry Warriner (Cary Grant) at his New York City's men club getting a sun lamp tan. He is supposed to have taken a solo vacation to Florida, but he really stayed in the city to play cards with his friends. When he arrives home, Jerry finds his wife, Lucy (Irene Dunne), coming in with her handsome French voice teacher, Armand Duvalle (Alexander D'Arcy), with whom she was forced to spend the night in the country after his car — so they claim — unexpectedly broke down. Lucy then notices that the Florida oranges Jerry has gifted her are actually stamped «California,» leading her to believe that her husband is lying. Mutual suspicions inevitably result in divorce. Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Esther Dale and Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth .   During the divorce proceedings, Lucy moves in with her Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham), who introduces her to their neighbour Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), a presentable and eligible Oklahom...

Directed by Howard Hawks, Bringing Up Baby (1938) follows the tribulations of David Huxley (Cary Grant), a mild-mannered paleontologist who has been trying to assemble the skeleton of a Brontosaurus for the past four years, but is missing one bone in order to complete it: the intercostal clavicle. Adding to his stress is his forthcoming marriage to the dour Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker) and the need to impress Elizabeth Random (May Robson), who is considering a million-dollar donation to his museum. The day before his wedding, David meets a free-spirited society girl named Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) by chance at a golf course. Unbeknownst to him at first, she is Mrs. Random's niece. Susan's brother, Mark, has sent her a tame leopard from Brazil named Baby (Nissa) to give to their aunt. Believing David is a zoologist, she invites him to her country home in Connecticut to help bring up Baby, which includes singing "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" ...

To celebrate Gary Cooper's 114th birthday, which was yesterday, this week on "Film Friday" I am bringing you the first Gary Cooper film I ever saw. Theatrical release poster Directed by Ernst Lubitsch , Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) begins when American millionaire Michael Brandon (Gary Cooper) enters a men's clothing store on the French Riviera to buy a pyjama . H e only wants to purc hase the top, which is all he sleeps in. This unusual request causes some consternation among the salesmen, but everything seems to be settled when Nicole de Loiselle (Claudette Colbert), an impoverish aristocrat, agrees to split the costs and buy the trousers. Michael is intrigued by the seductively coy Nicole and their meeting turns into a conversation about sleeping habits, with her suggesting that he try spelling "Czechoslovakia" backwards to cure his insomnia. Michael continues to have insomnia, however, and demands to change his suit...