SCREWBALL: The Life of Carole Lombard

by Larry Swindell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1975

Nee Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Carole Lombard appeared on the cutting room floor at the age of thirteen before graduating to quickie Buck Jones westerns and Mack Sennett comedies. Briefly married to her Man of the World co-star William Powell, the ""profane . . . vivacious . . . irrepressible"" starlet made Bolero, Twentieth Century and My Man Godfrey before she captured both the public's fancy and Clark Gable's affections. What's glimpsed here of their 1000-day ""regal union"" is less than conclusive. Despite ""intimations of marital unrest,"" Lombard went out of her way to please The King (accompanying him on his fishing and hunting trips) and was rushing back to him at the time of her untimely death (the plane crash was apparently caused by a bad pilot flying off course). Her merrymaking effervescence aside, Lombard projects as a deceptively ambitious actress who was equally disappointed at being both Oscarless and childless. Ironically, she wanted to die ""in full bloom"" and ultimately did just that at the age of 34. Full of zest and wisecracking good humor, she ""defined the screwball comedy's style and progression, and its character mirrored her own."" A competent if not compelling screen bio without the sensationalism of last year's Gable & Lombard.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION