Always THE LIFE OF THE PARTY

THE GOLDEN AGE ACTRESS WAS JUST AS ENTERTAINING AT HOME AS SHE WAS IN FILMS

- Louise A. Barile

After several of her friends suffered small ailments around the same time, Carole Lombard sensed a theme. For her "Hospital Party," she greeted her guests at the door dressed as a nurse, handed each a robe and led them to their own hospital bed. Cocktails were served in glass tubes, and dinner was rolled out on an operating table and eaten on bed trays. The event became the talk of Hollywood in 1935.

Today, fans often remember Carole for her screwball comedies, her marriage to Clark Gable and her tragic death in 1942, in a plane crash at age 33 but before she died, this Hollywood original lived a full life. "Carole was a joy to be around," says Michelle Morgan, author of Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star. "Her motto was, 'I love living, I love life.' She was enthusiastic about everything."