The Lombards (), also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin who in the 1st century formed part of the Suebi. By the 5th century the Lombards had settled in the valley of the Danube where they subdued the Germanic Heruls and the Gepids.

From the Danube region they conquered the Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Lombard Kingdom in Italy, later named Kingdom of Italy, which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks, although Lombard nobles would continue to rule parts of the Italian peninsula well into the 11th century. Their legacy is apparent in the regional appellation Lombardy and the term Lombard banking, after the many Lombard bankers, money-lenders, and pawn-brokers who operated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.

Early history

Legendary origins and name

The fullest account of Lombard origins, history, and practices is the ''Historia Langobardorum'' (''History of the Lombards'') of Paul the Deacon, written in the 8th century. Paul's chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century ''Origo Gentis Langobardorum'' (''Origin of the People of the Lombards'').

The ''Origo Gentis Langobardorum'' tells the story of a small tribe called the ''Winnili'' dwelling in southern Scandinavia (''Scadanan'') (The ''Codex Gothanus'' writes that the Winnili first dwelt near a river called ''Vindilicus'' on the extreme boundary of Gaul.) The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left the native land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation. The departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of ''Scoringa'', perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals, and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, who granted the Winnili a choice between tribute or war.

The Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying "It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute." The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan (the god Odin), who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number From that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the ''Langobards'' (Latinised and Italianised as ''Lombards'').

When Paul the Deacon wrote the ''Historia'' between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian. He thought the pagan stories of his people "silly" and "laughable". Paul explained that the name "Langobard" came from the length of their beards. A modern theory suggests that the name "Langobard" comes from ''Langbarðr'', a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to "Lombards", they also changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin, thus creating a conscious tribal tradition. Fröhlich inverts the order of events in Priester and states that with the Odin cult, the Lombards grew their beards in resemblance of the Odin of tradition and their new name reflected this. Bruckner remarks that the name of the Lombards stands in close relation to the worship of Odin, whose many names include "the Long-bearded" or "the Grey-bearded", and that the Lombard given name ''Ansegranus'' ("he with the beard of the gods") shows that the Lombards had this idea of their chief deity.

Archaeology and migrations

From the combined testimony of Strabo (AD 20) and Tacitus (AD 117), the Lombards dwelt near the mouth of the Elbe shortly after the beginning of the Christian era, next to the Chauci. Strabo states that the Lombards dwelt on both sides of the Elbe. The German archaeologist Willi Wegewitz defined several Iron Age burial sites at the lower Elbe as ''Langobardic''. The burial sites, are crematorial and are usually dated from the 6th century BC through the 3rd AD, so that a settlement breakoff seems unlikely. The lands of the lower Elbe fall into the zone of the Jastorf Culture and became Elbe-Germanic, differing from the lands between Rhine, Weser, and the North Sea. Archaeological finds show that the Lombards were an agricultural people.

The first mention of the Lombards occurred between AD 9 and 16, by the Roman court historian Velleius Paterculus, who accompanied a Roman expedition as prefect of the cavalry. Tacitus counted the Lombards as a Suebian tribe, and subjects of Marobod the King of the Marcomanni. Marobod had made peace with the Romans, and that is why the Lombards were not part of the Germanic confederacy under Arminius at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. In AD 17, war broke out between Arminius and Marobod. Tacitus records:

In 47, a struggle ensued amongst the Cherusci and they expelled their new leader, the nephew of Arminius, from their country. The Lombards appear on the scene with sufficient power, it seems, to control the destiny of the tribe which, thirty-eight years before, had been the leader in the struggle for independence, for they restored the deposed leader to the sovereignty again. In the mid 2nd century, the Lombards also appear in the Rhineland. According to Ptolemy, the Suebic Lombards settled south of the Sugambri, but also remained at the Elbe, between the Chauci and the Suebi, which indicates a Lombard expansion. The ''Codex Gothanus'' also mentions ''Patespruna'' (Paderborn) in connections with the Lombards. By Cassius Dio, we are informed that just before the Marcomannic Wars, 6,000 Lombards and Ubii crossed the Danube and invaded Pannonia. The two tribes were defeated, whereupon they desisted from their invasion and sent as ambassador to Aelius Bassus, who was then administering Pannonia, Ballomar, King of the Marcomanni. Peace was made and the two tribes returned to their homes, which in the case of the Lombards were the lands of the lower Elbe. At about this time, Tacitus, in his work ''Germania'' (AD 98), describes the Lombards as such:

From the 2nd century onwards, many of the Germanic tribes recorded as active during the Principate started to unite into bigger tribal unions, resulting in the Franks, Alamanni, Bavarii, and Saxons. The reasons why the Lombards disappear, as such, from Roman history from 166–489 could be that they dwelt so deep into Inner Germania that they were only detectable when they appeared on the Danubian banks again, or that the Lombards were also subjected into a bigger tribal union, most probably the Saxons. However, the ''Codex Gothanus'' writes that the Lombards were subjected by the Saxons around 300, but rose up against the Saxons with their king Agelmund. In the second half of the 4th century, the Lombards left their homes, probably due to bad harvests, and embarked on their migration.

The migration route of the Lombards, from their homeland to "Rugiland" in 489 encompassed several places: ''Scoringa'' (believed to be the their land on the Elbe shores), ''Mauringa'', ''Golanda'', ''Anthaib'', ''Banthaib'', and ''Vurgundaib'' (''Burgundaib''). According to the Ravenna Cosmography, Mauringa was the land east of the Elbe.

The crossing into Mauringa was very difficult, the Assipitti (Usipetes) denied them passage through their lands; a fight was arranged for the strongest man of each tribe, the Lombard was victorious, passage was granted, and the Lombards reached Mauringa. The first Lombard king, Agelmund, from the race of Guginger, ruled for thirty years.

The Lombards departed from Mauringa and reached Golanda. Scholar Ludwig Schmidt thinks this was further east, perhaps on the right bank of the Oder. Schmidt considers that the name is the equivalent of Gotland and means simply "good land." This theory is highly plausible, Paul the Deacon mentions an episode of the Lombards crossing a river, and the Lombards could have reached ''Rugiland'' from the Upper Oder area via the Moravian Gate.

Moving out of Golanda, the Lombards passed through Anthaib and Banthaib until they reached Vurgundaib. Vurgundaib is believed to be the old lands of the Burgundes. In Vurgundaib, the Lombards were stormed in camp by "Bulgars" (probably Huns) and were defeated; King Agelmund was killed. Laimicho was raised to the kingship afterwards; he was in his youth and desired to avenge the slaughter of Agelmund. The Lombards themselves were probably made subjects of the Huns after the defeat, but the Lombards rose up against them and defeated them with great slaughter. The victory gave the Lombards great booty and confidence, as they "... became bolder in undertaking the toils of war."

In the 540s, Audoin (ruled 546–565), led the Lombards across the Danube once more into Pannonia, where they received Imperial subsidies, as Justinian encouraged them to battle Gepids.

Kingdom in Italy

Invasion and conquest of the Italian peninsula

In 560 a new, energetic king emerged: Alboin, who defeated the neighbouring Gepidae, made them his subjects, and, in 566, married the daughter of their king Cunimund, Rosamund. In the spring of 568, Alboin led the Lombards, together with other Germanic tribes; (Bavarians, Gepidae, Saxons) and Bulgars, across the Julian Alps to invade northern Italy due to their expulsion from Pannonia by Avars. The first important city to fall was ''Forum Iulii'' (Cividale del Friuli), in northeastern Italy, in 569. There, Alboin created the first Lombard duchy, which he entrusted to his nephew Gisulf. Soon Vicenza, Verona and Brescia fell into Germanic hands. In the summer of 569, the Lombards conquered the main Roman centre of northern Italy, Milan. The area was then recovering from the terrible Gothic Wars, and the small Byzantine army left for its defence could do almost nothing. The Exarch sent to Italy by Emperor Justin II, Longinus, could defend only coastal cities that could be supplied by the powerful Byzantine fleet. Pavia fell after a siege of three years, in 572, becoming the first capital city of the new Lombard kingdom of Italy. In the following years, the Lombards penetrated further south, conquering Tuscany and establishing two duchies, Spoleto and Benevento under Zotto, which soon became semi-independent and even outlasted the northern kingdom, surviving well into the 12th century. The Byzantines managed to retain control of the area of Ravenna and Rome, linked by a thin corridor running through Perugia.

When they entered Italy, some Lombards retained their native form paganism, while some were Arian Christians. Hence they did not enjoy good relations with the Catholic Church. Gradually, they adopted Roman titles, names, and traditions, and partially converted to orthodoxy (7th century), not without a long series of religious and ethnic conflicts. By the time Paul the Deacon was writing, the Lombard language, dress and even hairstyles had all disappeared.

The whole Lombard territory was divided into 36 duchies, whose leaders settled in the main cities. The king ruled over them and administered the land through emissaries called ''gastaldi''. This subdivision, however, together with the independent indocility of the duchies, deprived the kingdom of unity, making it weak even when compared to the Byzantines, especially after they began to recover from the initial invasion. This weakness became even more evident when the Lombards had to face the increasing power of the Franks. In response to this problem, the kings tried to centralize power over time; but they lost control over Spoleto and Benevento definitively in the attempt.

Langobardia major

Duchy of Friuli and List of Dukes and Margraves of Friuli

Duchy of Ceneda

Duchy of Vicenza

Duchy of Verona

Duchy of Tridentum/Trent

Duchy of Brescia

Duchy of Bergamo

Duchy of San Giulio

Duchy of Pavia

Duchy of Turin

Duchy of Asti

Duchy of Tuscia

Langobardia minor

Duchy of Spoleto and List of Dukes of Spoleto

Duchy of Benevento and List of Dukes and Princes of Benevento

Arian monarchy

Alboin was murdered in 572 in Verona by a plot led by his wife, Rosamund, who later fled to Ravenna. His successor, Cleph, was also assassinated, after a ruthless reign of 18 months. His death began an interregnum of years, the "Rule of the Dukes", during which the dukes did not elect any king, and which is regarded as a period of violence and disorder. In 584, threatened by a Frankish invasion, the dukes elected Cleph's son, Authari, king. In 589, he married Theodelinda, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, Garibald I of Bavaria. The Catholic Theodelinda was a friend of Pope Gregory I and pushed for Christianization. In the mean time, Authari embarked on a policy of internal reconciliation and tried to reorganize royal administration. The dukes yielded half their estates for the maintenance of the king and his court in Pavia. On the foreign affairs side, Authari managed to thwart the dangerous alliance between the Byzantines and the Franks.

Authari died in 591. His successor was Agilulf, duke of Turin, who in 591, also married Theodelinda. He successfully fought the rebel dukes of Northern Italy, conquering Padua (601), Cremona and Mantua (603), and forcing the Exarch of Ravenna to pay a conspicuous tribute. Agilulf died in 616; Theodelinda reigned alone until 628, and was succeeded by Adaloald. Arioald, who had married Theodelinda's daughter Gundeperga, and head of the Arian opposition, later deposed Adaloald.

His successor was Rothari, regarded by many authorities as the most energetic of all Lombard kings. He extended his dominions, conquering Liguria in 643 and the remaining part of the Byzantine territories of inner Veneto, including the Roman city of ''Opitergium'' (Oderzo). Rothari also made the famous edict bearing his name, the ''Edictum Rothari'', which established the laws and the customs of his people in Latin: the edict did not apply to the tributaries of the Lombards, who could retain their own laws. Rothari's son Rodoald succeeded him in 652, still very young, and was killed by the Catholic party.

At the death of King Haripert I in 661, the kingdom was split between his children Perctarit, who set his capital in Milan, and Godepert, who reigned from Pavia. Perctarit was overthrown by Grimoald, son of Gisulf, duke of Friuli and Benevento since 647. Perctarit fled to the Avars and then to the Franks. Grimoald managed to regain control over the duchies and deflected the late attempt of the Byzantine emperor Constans II to conquer southern Italy. He also defeated the Franks. At Grimoald's death in 671 Perctarit returned and promoted tolerance between Arians and Catholics, but he could not defeat the Arian party, led by Arachi, duke of Trento, who submitted only to his son, the philo-Catholic Cunincpert.

Catholic monarchy

Religious strife remained a source of struggle in the following years. The Lombard reign began to recover only with Liutprand the Lombard (king from 712), son of Ansprand and successor of the brutal Aripert II. He managed to regain a certain control over Spoleto and Benevento, and, taking advantage of the disagreements between the Pope and Byzantium concerning the reverence of icons, he annexed the Exarchate of Ravenna and the duchy of Rome. He also helped the Frankish marshal Charles Martel to drive back the Arabs. His successor Aistulf conquered Ravenna for the Lombards for the first time, but was subsequently defeated by the king of the Franks Pippin III, called by the Pope, and had to leave it. After the death of Aistulf, Ratchis tried once again to be king of the Lombardy but he was deposed in the same year.

After his defeat of Ratchis, the last Lombard to rule as king was Desiderius, duke of Tuscany, who managed to take Ravenna definitively, ending the Byzantine presence in northern Italy. He decided to reopen struggles against the Pope, who was supporting the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento against him, and entered Rome in 772, the first Lombard king to do so. But when Pope Hadrian I called for help from the powerful king Charlemagne, Desiderius was defeated at Susa and besieged in Pavia, while his son Adelchis had also to open the gates of Verona to Frankish troops. Desiderius surrendered in 774 and Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards" as well. Before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the title of King of another people. Charlemagne took part of the Lombard territory to create the Papal States.

The Lombardy region in Italy, which includes the cities of Brescia, Bergamo, Milan and the old capital Pavia, is a reminder of the presence of the Lombards.

Later history

United Principality of Benevento, 774–849

Though the kingdom centred on Pavia in the north fell to Charlemagne, the Lombard-controlled territory to the south of the Papal States was never subjugated by Charlemagne or his descendants. In 774, Duke Arechis II of Benevento, whose duchy had only nominally been under royal authority, though certain kings had been effective at making their power known in the south, claimed that Benevento was the successor state of the kingdom. He tried to turn Benevento into a ''secundum Ticinum'': a second Pavia. He tried to claim the kingship, but with no support and no chance of a coronation in Pavia.

Charlemagne came down with an army, and his son Louis the Pious sent men, to force the Beneventan duke to submit, but his submission and promises were never kept and Arechis and his successors were ''de facto'' independent. The Beneventan dukes took the title ''princeps'' (prince) instead of that of king.

The Lombards of southern Italy were thereafter in the anomalous position of holding land claimed by two empires: the Carolingian Empire to the north and west and the Byzantine Empire to the east. They typically made pledges and promises of tribute to the Carolingians, but effectively remained outside Frankish control. Benevento meanwhile grew to its greatest extent yet when it imposed a tribute on the Duchy of Naples, which was tenuously loyal to Byzantium and even conquered the Neapolitan city of Amalfi in 838. At one point in the reign of Sicard, Lombard control covered most of southern Italy save the very south of Apulia and Calabria and Naples, with its nominally attached cities. It was during the 9th century that a strong Lombard presence became entrenched in formerly Greek Apulia. However, Sicard had opened up the south to the invasive actions of the Saracens in his war with Andrew II of Naples and when he was assassinated in 839, Amalfi declared independence and two factions fought for power in Benevento, crippling the principality and making it susceptible to external enemies.

The civil war lasted ten years and was ended only by a peace treaty imposed by the Emperor Louis II, the only Frankish king to exercise actual sovereignty over the Lombard states, in 849 which divided the kingdom into two states: the Principality of Benevento and the Principality of Salerno, with its capital at Salerno on the Tyrrhenian.

Southern Italy and the Arabs, 836–915

Andrew II of Naples hired Saracen mercenaries for his war with Sicard of Benevento in 836. Sicard responded with like. The Saracens initially concentrated their attacks on Sicily and Byzantine Italy, but soon Radelchis I of Benevento called in more mercenaries and they sacked Capua in 841. The ruins of that city are all that is left of "Old Capua" (Santa Maria Capua Vetere). Consequently, Landulf the Old founded the present-day Capua, "New Capua", on a nearby hill. The Lombard princes in general, however, were less inclined to ally with the Saracens than their Greek neighbours of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento. Guaifer of Salerno, however, briefly put himself under Muslim suzerainty.

A large Muslim force seized Bari, until then a Lombard gastaldate under the control of Pandenulf, in 847. Saracen incursions then proceeded northwards until finally the prince of Benevento, Adelchis called in the help of his suzerain, Louis II. Louis allied with the Byzantine emperor Basil I to expel the Arabs from Bari in 869. An Arab landing force was defeated by the emperor, after a brief imprisonment by Adelchis, in 871. Adelchis and Louis were at war for the rest of the latter's career. Adelchis regarded himself as the true successor of the Lombard kings and in that capacity he amended the ''Edictum Rothari'', the last Lombard ruler to do so.

After Louis's death, Landulf II of Capua briefly flirted with a Saracen alliance, but Pope John VIII convinced him to break it off. Guaimar I of Salerno fought against the Saracens with Byzantine troops. Throughout this period the Lombard princes swung in allegiance from one party to another. Finally, towards 915, Pope John X managed to unite all the Christian princes of southern Italy against the Saracen establishments on the Garigliano river. That year, in the great Battle of the Garigliano, the Saracens were ousted from Italy.

The Lombard principalities in the tenth century

The independent state at Salerno inspired the gastalds of Capua to move towards independence and, by the end of the century, they were styling themselves "princes" and there was a third Lombard state. The Capuan and Beneventan states were united by Atenulf I of Capua in 900. He subsequently declared them to be in perpetual union and they were only separated in 982, on the death of Pandulf Ironhead. With all of the Lombard south under his control save Salerno, Atenulf felt safe in using the title ''princeps gentis Langobardorum'' ("prince of the Lombard people"), which Arechis II had begun using in 774. Among Atenulf's successors the principality was ruled jointly by fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, and uncles for the greater part of the century. Meanwhile, the prince Gisulf I of Salerno began using the title ''Langobardorum gentis princeps'' around mid-century, but the ideal of a united Lombard principality was only realised in December 977, when Gisulf died and his domains were inherited by Pandulf Ironhead, who temporarily held almost all Italy south of Rome and brought the Lombards into alliance with the Holy Roman Empire. His territories were divided upon his death.

Landulf the Red of Benevento and Capua tried to conquer the principality of Salerno with the help of John III of Naples, but with the aid of Mastalus I of Amalfi Gisulf repulsed him. The rulers of Benevento and Capua made several attempts on Byzantine Apulia at this time, but in late century the Byzantines, under the stiff rule of Basil II, gained ground on the Lombards.

The principal source for the history of the Lombard principalities in this period is the ''Chronicon Salernitanum'', composed late in the century at Salerno.

Norman conquest, 1017–1078

The diminished Beneventan principality soon lost its independence to the papacy and declined in importance until it was conquered by the Norman conquest of southern Italy, who, first called in by the Lombards to fight the Byzantines for control of Apulia and Calabria (under the likes of Melus of Bari and Arduin, among others), had become rivals for hegemony in the south. The Salernitan principality experienced a golden age under Guaimar III and Guaimar IV, but under Gisulf II, the principality shrank to insignificance and fell in 1078 to Robert Guiscard, who had married Gisulf's sister Sichelgaita. The Capua principality was hotly contested during the reign of the hated Pandulf IV, the ''Wolf of the Abruzzi'', and, under his son, it fell, almost without contest, to the Norman Richard Drengot (1058). The Capuans revolted against Norman rule in 1091, expelling Richard's grandson Richard II and setting up one Lando IV.

Capua was again put under Norman rule by the Siege of Capua of 1098 and the city quickly declined in importance under a series of ineffectual Norman rulers. The independent status of these Lombard states is generally attested by the ability of their rulers to switch suzerains at will. Often the legal vassal of pope or emperor (either Byzantine or Holy Roman), they were the real power-brokers in the south until their erstwhile allies, the Normans, rose to preeminence. Certainly the Lombards regarded the Normans as barbarians and the Byzantines as oppressors. Regarding their own civilisation as superior, the Lombards did indeed provide the environment for the illustrious Schola Medica Salernitana.

Social structure

Language

The Lombardic language is extinct. The Germanic language declined beginning in the 7th century, but may have been in scattered use until as late as about the year 1000. The language is only preserved fragmentarily, the main evidence being individual words quoted in Latin texts. In the absence of Lombardic texts, it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the language's morphology and syntax. The genetic classification the language is necessarily based entirely on phonology. Since there is evidence that Lombardic participated in, and indeed shows some of the earliest evidence for, the High German consonant shift, it is classified as an Elbe Germanic or Upper German dialect.

Longbardic fragments are preserved in runic inscriptions. Among the primary source texts are short inscriptions in the Elder Futhark, among them the "bronze capsule of Schretzheim" (c. 600). There are a number of Latin texts which include Lombardic names, and Lombardic legal texts contain terms taken from the legal vocabulary of the vernacular. In 2005, there were claims that the inscription of the Pernik sword may be Lombardic.

Migration Period society

The Lombard kings can be traced back as early as c. 380 and thus to the beginning of the Great Migration. Kingship developed amongst the Germanic peoples when the unity of a single military command was found necessary. Schmidt believed that the Germanic tribes were divided according to cantons and that the earliest government was a general assembly that selected the chiefs of the cantons and the war leaders from the cantons (in times of war). All such figures were probably selected from a caste of nobility. As a result of wars of their wanderings, royal power developed such that the king became the representative of the people; but the influence of the people upon the government did not fully disappear. Paul the Deacon gives an account of the Lombard tribal structure during the migration:

. . . in order that they might increase the number of their warriors, [the Lombards] confer liberty upon many whom they deliver from the yoke of bondage, and that the freedom of these may be regarded as established, they confirm it in their accustomed way by an arrow, uttering certain words of their country in confirmation of the fact.

Complete emancipation appears to have been granted only among the Franks and the Lombards.

Society of the Catholic kingdom

Lombard society was divided into classes comparable to those found in the other Germanic successor states of Rome: Frankish Gaul and Visigothic Spain. Most basically, there was a noble class, a class of free persons beneath them, a class of unfree non-slaves (serfs), and finally slaves. The aristocracy itself was poorer, more urbanised, and less landed than elsewhere. Aside from the richest and most powerful of the dukes and the king himself, Lombard noblemen tended to live in cities (unlike their Frankish counterparts) and hold little more than twice as much in land as the merchant class (a far cry from the provincial Frankish aristocrat who held a vast swathe of land hundreds of times larger than the nearest man beneath him). The aristocracy by the 8th century was highly dependent on the king for means of income related especially to judicial duties: many Lombard nobles are referred in contemporary documents as ''iudices'' (judges) even when their offices had important military and legislative functions as well.

The freemen of the Lombard kingdom were far more numerous than in Frankland, especially in the 8th century, when they are almost invisible in the surviving documentary evidence for the latter. Smallholders, owner-cultivators, and rentiers are the most numerous types of person in surviving diplomata for the Lombard kingdom. They may have owned more than half of the land in Lombard Italy. The freemen were ''exercitales'' and ''viri devoti'', that is, soldiers and "devoted men" (a military term like "retainers"); they formed the levy of the Lombard army and they were, if infrequently, sometimes called to serve, though this seems not to have been their preference. The small landed class, however, lacked the political influence necessary with the king (and the dukes) to control the politics and legislation of the kingdom. The aristocracy was more thoroughly powerful politically if not economically in Italy than in contemporary Gaul and Spain.

The urbanisation of Lombard Italy was characterised by the ''città ad isole'' (or "city as islands"). It appears from archaeology that the great cities of Lombard Italy — Pavia, Lucca, Siena, Arezzo, Milan — were themselves formed of very minute islands of urbanisation within the old Roman city walls. The cities of the Roman Empire had been partially destroyed in the series of wars of the 5th and 6th centuries. Many sectors were left in ruins and ancient monuments became fields of grass used as pastures for animals, thus the Roman Forum became the ''campo vaccinio'': the field of cows. The portions of the cities which remained intact were small and modest and contained a cathedral or major church (often sumptuously decorated) and a few public buildings and townhomes of the aristocracy. Few buildings of importance were stone, most were wood. In the end, the inhabited parts of the cities were separated from one another by stretches of pasture even within the city walls.

Lombard states

Kingdom of Italy and List of Kings of the Lombards

Principality of Benevento and List of Dukes and Princes of Benevento

Principality of Salerno and List of Princes of Salerno

Principality of Capua and List of Princes of Capua

Religious history

Paganism

The earliest indications of Lombard religion show that they originally worshipped the Germanic gods of the Vanir pantheon while in Scandinavia. After settling along the Baltic coast, through contact with other Germans they adopted the cult of the Aesir gods, a shift which represented a cultural change from an agricultural society into a warrior society.

After their migration into Pannonia, the Lombards had contact with the Iranian Sarmatians. From these people they borrowed a long-lived custom once of religious symbolism. A long pole surmounted by the figure of a bird, usually a dove, derived from the standards used in battle, was placed by the family in the ground at the home of a man who had died far afield in war and who could not be brought home for funeral and burial. Usually the bird was oriented so as to point in the direction of the suspected site of the warrior's death.

Christianisation

While still in Pannonia, the Lombards were first touched by Christianity, but only touched: their conversion and Christianisation was largely nominal and far from complete. During the reign of Wacho, they were Roman Catholics allied with the Byzantine Empire, but Alboin converted to Arianism as an ally of the Ostrogoths and invaded Italy. All these Christian conversions only affected, for the most part, the aristocracy; for the common people remained pagan.

In Italy, the Lombards were intensively Christianised and the pressure to convert to Catholicism was great. With the Bavarian queen Theodelinda, a Catholic, the monarchy was brought under heavy Catholic influence. After an initial support for the anti-Rome party in the Schism of the Three Chapters, Theodelinda remained a close contact and supporter of Pope Gregory I. In 603, Adaloald, the heir to the throne, received a Catholic baptism. During the next century, Arianism and paganism continued to hold out in Austria (the northeast of Italy) and the Duchy of Benevento. A succession of Arian kings were militarily aggressive and presented a threat to the Papacy in Rome. In the 7th century, the nominally Christian aristocracy of Benevento was still practising pagan rituals, such as sacrifices in "sacred" woods. By the end of the reign of Cunincpert, however, the Lombards were more or less completely Catholicised. Under Liutprand, the Catholicism became real as the king sought to justify his title ''rex totius Italiae'' by uniting the south of the peninsula with the north and bringing together his Italo-Roman subjects and his Germanic into one Catholic state.

Beneventan Christianity

The Duchy and eventually Principality of Benevento in southern Italy developed a unique Christian rite in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Beneventan rite is more closely related to the liturgy of the Ambrosian rite than the Roman rite. The Beneventan rite has not survived in its complete form, although most of the principal feasts and several feasts of local significance are extant. The Beneventan rite appears to have been less complete, less systematic, and more liturgically flexible than the Roman rite.

Characteristic of this rite was the Beneventan chant, a Lombard-influenced chant which bore similarities to the Ambrosian chant of Lombard Milan. Beneventan chant is largely defined by its role in the liturgy of the Beneventan rite; many Beneventan chants were assigned multiple roles when inserted into Gregorian chantbooks, appearing variously as antiphons, offertories, and communions, for example. It was eventually supplanted by the Gregorian chant in the 11th century.

The chief centre of Beneventan chant was Montecassino, one of the first and greatest abbeys of Western monasticism. Gisulf II of Benevento had donated a large swathe of land to Montecassino in 744 and that became the basis for an important state, the ''Terra Sancti Benedicti'', which was a subject only to Rome. The Cassinese influence on Christianity in southern Italy was immense. Montecassino was also the starting point for another characteristic of Beneventan monasticism: the use of the distinct Beneventan script, a clear, angular scrip derived from the Roman cursive as used by the Lombards.

Art and architecture

During their nomadic phase, the Lombards created little in the way of art which was not easily carried with them, like arms and jewellery. Though relatively little of this has survived, it bears resemblance to the similar endeavours of other Germanic tribes of northern and central Europe from the same era.

The first major modifications to the Germanic style of the Lombards came in Pannonia and especially in Italy, under the influence of local, Byzantine, and Christian styles. The conversions from nomadism and paganism to settlement and Christianity also opened up new arenas of artistic expression, such as architecture (especially churches) and its accompanying decorative arts (such as frescoes).

Architecture

Few Lombard buildings have survived. Most have been lost, rebuilt, or renovated at some point and so preserve little of their original Lombard structure. Lombard architecture has been well-studied in the 20th century, and Arthur Kingsley Porter's four-volume ''Lombard Architecture'' (1919) is a "monument of illustrated history."

The small Oratorio di Santa Maria in Valle in Cividale del Friuli is probably one of the oldest preserved pieces of Lombard architecture, as Cividale was the first Lombard city in Italy. Parts of Lombard constructions have been preserved in Pavia (San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, crypts of Sant'Eusebio and San Giovanni Domnarum) and Monza (cathedral). The ''Basilic autariana'' in Fara Gera d'Adda near Bergamo and the church of San Salvatore in Brescia also have Lombard elements. All these building are in northern Italy (Langobardia major), but by far the best-preserved Lombard structure is in southern Italy (Langobardia minor). The Church of Santa Sofia in Benevento was erected in 760 by Duke Arechis II. It preserves Lombard frescoes on the walls and even Lombard capitals on the columns.

Through the impulse given by the Catholic monarchs like Theodelinda, Liutprand, and Desiderius to the foundation of monasteries to further their political control, Lombard architecture flourished. Bobbio Abbey was founded during this time.

Some of the late Lombard structures of the 9th and 10th century have been found to contain elements of style associated with Romanesque architecture and have been so dubbed "first Romanesque". These edifices are considered, along with some similar buildings in southern France and Catalonia, to mark a transitory phase between the Pre-Romanesque and full-fledged Romanesque.

See also

East Germanic tribes

Barbarian invasions

List of Germanic tribes

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

''Cosmographer of Ravenna''

''Historia langobardorum codicis Gothani''

''Historia Langobardorum''

''Origo gentis Langobardorum''

Bluhme, Friedrich. ''Gens Langobardorum''

Bruckner, Wilhelm. ''Die Sprache der Langobarden''

Fröhlich, Harmann. ''Studien zur langobardischen Thronfolge'' - ''Zur Herkunft der Langobarden - Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken (QFIAB)''

Giess, Hildegard. "The Sculpture of the Cloister of Santa Sofia in Benevento",''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 41, No. 3. (September 1959), pp 249–256.

Grimm. ''Deutsche Mythologie''

Gwatkin, H. M., Whitney, J. P. (ed) - ''The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume II—The Rise of the Saracens and the Foundations of the Western Empire''. Cambridge University Press, 1926.

Hallenbeck, Jan T. "Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century" ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'' New Series, 72.4 (1982), pp. 1–186.

Hammerstein-Loxten, Freiherren von. ''Bardengau''

Hartmann, Ludo Moritz. ''Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter II Vol.''

Hodgkin, Thomas. ''Italy and her Invaders''. Clarendon Press

Menghin, Wilifred. ''Die Langobarden / Geschichte und Archäologie''. Theiss

Oman, Charles. ''The Dark Ages 476-918''. London, 1914.

Pohl, Walter and Erhart, Peter. ''Die Langobarden / Herrschaft und Identität''

Priester, Karin. ''Geschichte der Langobarden / Gesellschaft - Kultur - Altagsleben''. Theiss

Santosuosso, Antonio. ''Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare''. 2004. ISBN 0-8133-9153-9

Schmidt, Dr. Ludwig. ''Älteste Geschichte der Langobarden''

Tacitus. ''Annals''

Tacitus. ''Germania''

Wegewitz, Willi. ''Das Langobardische brandgräberfeld von Putensen, Kreise Harburg''

.

Wiese, Rbert ''Die aelteste Geschichte der Langobarden''

Zeuss, Kaspar. ''Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme''

Category:Lombards Category:Ancient peoples Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups in Europe Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Iron Age Europe Category:Late Antiquity Category:Migration Period Category:History of Italy

af:Lombarde als:Langobarden ar:لومبارديون an:Longobardos bar:Langobarden br:Lombarded bg:Лангобарди ca:Longobards cv:Лангобардсем cs:Langobardi da:Langobarder de:Langobarden et:Langobardid el:Λομβαρδοί es:Lombardos eo:Lombardoj fa:لمباردها fr:Lombards fy:Langobarden fur:Langobarts gl:Longobardos ko:랑고바르드족 hr:Langobardi is:Langbarðar it:Longobardi he:לומברדים la:Langobardi lv:Langobardi lt:Langobardai lmo:Lungubard hu:Langobárdok nl:Longobarden ja:ランゴバルド人 no:Langobardere nn:Langobardar pms:Longobard pl:Longobardowie pt:Lombardos ro:Lombarzi ru:Лангобарды scn:Longobbardi sk:Longobardi (kmeň) sl:Langobardi sr:Лангобарди sh:Langobardi fi:Langobardit sv:Langobarder th:ลอมบาร์ด tr:Lombardlar uk:Лангобарди zh:伦巴底人

Coordinates	26°11′0″N91°44′0″N
name	Carole Lombard
birth name	Jane Alice Peters
birth date	October 06, 1908
birth place	Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
death date	January 16, 1942
death place	Mount Potosi, near Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
spouse	William Powell (1931–1933; divorced)Clark Gable (1939–1942; widowed)
occupation	Actress
years active	1921–1942
other names	}}

Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 January 16, 1942) was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s. She is listed as one of the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time and was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s, earning around US $500,000 per year (more than five times the salary of the US President). Lombard's career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 in a plane crash.

Queen of the 1930s screwball comedies, she personified the anxiety of a nervous age. Graham Greene praised the "heartbreaking and nostalgic melodies" of her faster-than-thought delivery. "Platinum blonde, with a heart-shaped face, delicate, impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lamé, she wriggled expressively through such classics of hysteria as ''Twentieth Century'' and ''My Man Godfrey''."

Ancestry and early life

Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her parents were Frederick C. Peters (1875–1935) and Elizabeth Knight (1877 – January 16, 1942). Her paternal grandfather, John Claus Peters, was the son of German immigrants, Claus Peters and Caroline Catherine Eberlin. On her mother's side, she was a descendant of Thomas Hastings who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. Lombard was the youngest of three children, having two older brothers, Fred C. Peters Jr. and Stuart Peters. She spent her early childhood in a sprawling, two-story house at 704 Rockhill Street in Fort Wayne, near the St. Mary's River. Her father had been injured during a work related accident and was left with constant headaches which caused him to burst out in paroxysms of anger which disturbed the family. Lombard's parents divorced and her mother took the three children to Los Angeles in 1914, where Lombard attended Virgil Jr. High School and then Fairfax High School. She was elected "May Queen" in 1924. She quit school to pursue acting full-time, but graduated from Fairfax in 1927. Lombard was a second generation Bahá'í who formally enrolled in 1938.

Career

Lombard made her film debut at the age of twelve after she was seen playing baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan; he cast her as a tomboy in ''A Perfect Crime'' (1921). In the 1920s, she worked in several low-budget productions credited as 'Jane Peters', and then later as 'Carol Lombard'. Her friend Miriam Cooper helped Lombard land small roles in her husband Raoul Walsh's films. In 1925, she was signed as a contract player with Fox Film Corporation (which merged with Daryl Zanuck's Twentieth Century Productions in 1935). She also worked for Mack Sennett and Pathé Pictures. She became a well-known actress and made a smooth transition to sound films, starting with ''High Voltage'' (1929). In 1930, she won a contract with Paramount Pictures after having been dropped from both Twentieth Century and Pathé.

Lombard achieved a few minor successes in the early 1930s in 1930's ''Safety in Numbers'' with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and 1932's ''No Man of Her Own'' with Clark Gable, but she was continually cast in second-rate films. It was not until 1934 that her career began to take off. That year, director Howard Hawks encountered Lombard at a party and became enamored with her saucy personality, thinking her just right for his latest project. He hired her for ''Twentieth Century'', alongside stage legend John Barrymore. Lombard was at first intimidated by Barrymore, but the two quickly developed a good working rapport. The film bolstered Lombard's reputation immensely and brought her a level of fame that her previously lackluster career had denied her.

Also in 1934, she starred in ''Bolero'' with George Raft and it was for this film that she turned down the role of Ellie Andrews in ''It Happened One Night''. In 1935 she starred in Mitchell Leisen's ''Hands Across the Table'' which helped to establish her reputation as a top comedy actress. 1936 proved to be a big year for Lombard with her casting in the screwball comedy ''My Man Godfrey'' alongside ex-husband William Powell. Her performance earned Lombard an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. It was followed by ''Nothing Sacred'' in 1937, casting her opposite Fredric March and under the direction of William A. Wellman. It was Lombard's only film in Technicolor and was regarded a critical and commercial smash. ''Nothing Sacred'' put Lombard at the top of the Hollywood tier and established her one of the highest paid actresses in the business.

In 1938, Lombard suffered a flop with ''Fools for Scandal'' and moved on to dramatic films for the next few years. In 1939, Lombard took roles opposite James Stewart in producer David O. Selznick's ''Made for Each Other'' (1939) and Cary Grant in ''In Name Only'' (1939). She also starred in the dramatic ''Vigil in the Night'' in 1940.

Audiences did not respond as well to Lombard in dramatic roles and she made a return to comedy, teaming with director Alfred Hitchcock in ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (1941). The film gave Lombard's career a much needed boost and she followed her success with what proved to be her last film, and one of her most successful, ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942).

Personal life

In October 1930, Lombard met William Powell. They had worked together in the films ''Man of the World'' and ''Ladies' Man''. Unlike many of Lombard's other suitors at the time, Powell was urbane and sophisticated. He also appreciated her blunt personality and bawdy sense of humor. They married on June 26, 1931. Lombard commented to fan magazines that she did not believe their sixteen-year age difference would present a problem, but friends felt they were ill-suited, as Lombard had an extroverted personality while Powell was more reserved. They divorced in 1933, but remained good friends and worked together without acrimony, notably in ''My Man Godfrey''.

In 1934, following her divorce from Powell, Lombard moved into a house on Hollywood Boulevard. She lived with a friend from the days of Mack Sennett, Madalynne Fields, who became Lombard's personal secretary and whom Lombard called "Fieldsie." Lombard became known as one of Hollywood's great hostesses for her outrageous parties with unconventional themes. During this time she carried on relationships with actors Gary Cooper and George Raft, as well as the screenwriter Robert Riskin.

Also during 1934, Lombard met and began a serious affair with crooner Russ Columbo. Columbo reportedly proposed marriage, but was killed in a freak shooting accident at the age of 26. To reporters, Lombard said Columbo was the love of her life.

Lombard's most famous relationship came in 1936 when she became involved with actor Clark Gable. They had worked together previously in 1932's ''No Man of Her Own'', but at the time Lombard was still happily married to Powell and knew Gable to have the reputation of a roving eye. They were indifferent to each other on the set and did not keep in touch.

It was not until 1936, when Gable came to the Mayfair Ball that Lombard had planned, that their romance began to take off. Gable, however, was married at the time to oil heiress Rhea Langham, and the affair was kept quiet. The situation proved a major factor in Gable accepting the role of Rhett Butler in ''Gone with the Wind'', as MGM head Louis B. Mayer sweetened the deal for a reluctant Clark Gable by giving him enough money to settle a divorce agreement with Langham and marry Lombard. Gable divorced Langham on March 7, 1939 and proposed to Lombard in a telephone booth at the Brown Derby.

On March 29, 1939, during a break in production on ''Gone with the Wind,'' Gable and Lombard drove out to Kingman, Arizona and were married in a quiet ceremony with only Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler, in attendance. They bought a ranch previously owned by director Raoul Walsh in Encino, California and lived a happy, unpretentious life, calling each other "Ma" and "Pa" and raising chickens and horses. They also attempted to have children but were not successful.

Off-screen, Lombard was much loved for her unpretentious personality and well known for her earthy sense of humor and blue language. Friends of Lombard's included Alfred Hitchcock, Marion Davies, William Haines, Jean Harlow, Fred MacMurray, Cary Grant, Jack Benny, Jorge Negrete, William Powell, and Lucille Ball.

Death

When the US entered World War II at the end of 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother, Bess Peters, and Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler. After raising over $2 million in defense bonds, Lombard addressed her fans, saying: "Before I say goodbye to you all, come on and join me in a big cheer! V for Victory!" On January 16, 1942, Lombard, her mother, and Winkler boarded a Transcontinental and Western Airlines DC-3 airplane to return to California. After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off and 23 minutes later, crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the level of Mount Potosi, southwest of Las Vegas. All 22 aboard, including 15 army servicemen, were killed instantly.

On January 18, 1942, Jack Benny did not perform his usual program, both out of respect for Lombard and grief at her death. Instead, he devoted his program to an all-music format.

Shortly after her death at the age of 33, Gable (who was inconsolable and devastated by her loss) joined the United States Army Air Forces. After officers training, Gable headed a six-man motion picture unit attached to a B-17 bomb group in England to film aerial gunners in combat, flying five missions himself. Gable attended the launch of the Liberty ship , named in her honor, on January 15, 1944.

Lombard's final film, ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942), directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Jack Benny, a satire about Nazism and World War II, was in post-production at the time of her death. The film's producers decided to cut part of the film in which Lombard's character asks, "What can happen on a plane?" as they felt it was in poor taste, given the circumstances of her death.

At the time of her death, Lombard had been scheduled to star in the film ''They All Kissed the Bride''; when production started, her role was given to Joan Crawford. Crawford donated all of her pay for this film to the Red Cross.

Lombard is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. The name on her crypt marker is "Carole Lombard Gable". Although Gable remarried, he was interred next to her when he died in 1960. Bess Peters was also interred beside her daughter.

Awards and honors

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the 50 greatest American female screen legends. She received one Academy Award for Best Actress nomination, for ''My Man Godfrey''. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6930 Hollywood Blvd.

Lombard's Fort Wayne childhood home has been designated a historic landmark. The city named the nearby bridge over the St Mary's River the "Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge."

Portrayals

She has been played by:

Jill Clayburgh in ''Gable and Lombard'' (1976)

Sharon Gless in ''Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War'' (1980)

Denise Crosby in ''Malice in Wonderland'' (1985)

Anastasia Hille in ''RKO 281'' (1999)

Vanessa Gray in ''Lucy'' (2003)

Filmography

Features

''A Perfect Crime'' (1921)

''Gold Heels'' (1924)

''Dick Turpin'' (1925)

''Marriage in Transit'' (1925)

''Gold and the Girl'' (1925)

''Hearts and Spurs'' (1925)

''Durand of the Bad Lands'' (1925)

''The Plastic Age'' (1925)

''Ben-Hur'' (1925)

''The Road to Glory'' (1926)

''The Johnstown Flood'' (1926)

''The Fighting Eagle'' (1927)

''My Best Girl'' (1927)

''The Divine Sinner'' (1928)

''Power'' (1928)

''Me, Gangster'' (1928)

''Show Folks'' (1928)

''Ned McCobb's Daughter'' (1928)

''High Voltage'' (1929)

''Big News'' (1929)

''The Racketeer'' (1929)

''The Arizona Kid'' (1930)

''Safety in Numbers'' (1930)

''Fast and Loose'' (1930)

''It Pays to Advertise'' (1931)

''Man of the World'' (1931)

''Ladies' Man'' (1931)

''Up Pops the Devil'' (1931)

''I Take This Woman'' (1931)

''No One Man'' (1932)

''Sinners in the Sun'' (1932)

''Virtue'' (1932)

''No More Orchids'' (1932)

''No Man of Her Own'' (1932)

''From Hell to Heaven'' (1933)

''Supernatural'' (1933)

''The Eagle and the Hawk'' (1933)

''Brief Moment'' (1933)

''White Woman'' (1933)

''Bolero'' (1934)

''We're Not Dressing'' (1934)

''Twentieth Century'' (1934)

''Now and Forever'' (1934)

''Lady by Choice'' (1934)

''The Gay Bride'' (1934)

''Rumba'' (1935)

''Hands Across the Table'' (1935)

''Love Before Breakfast'' (1936)

''The Princess Comes Across'' (1936)

''My Man Godfrey'' (1936)

''Swing High, Swing Low'' (1937)

''Nothing Sacred'' (1937)

''True Confession'' (1937)

''Fools for Scandal'' (1938)

''Made for Each Other'' (1939)

''In Name Only'' (1939)

''Vigil in the Night'' (1940)

''They Knew What They Wanted'' (1940)

''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (1941)

''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942)

Short subjects

''Smith's Pony'' (1927)

''Gold Digger of Weepah'' (1927)

''The Girl from Everywhere'' (1927)

''Run, Girl, Run'' (1928)

''The Beach Club'' (1928)

''Smith's Army Life'' (1928)

''The Best Man'' (1928)

''The Swim Princess'' (1928)

''The Bicycle Flirt'' (1928)

''The Girl from Nowhere'' (1928)

''His Unlucky Night'' (1928)

''Smith's Restaurant'' (1928)

''The Campus Vamp'' (1928)

''Motorboat Mamas'' (1928)

''Hubby's Weekend Trip'' (1928)

''The Campus Carmen'' (1928)

''Matchmaking Mamma'' (1929)

''Don't Get Jealous'' (1929)

''Hollywood on Parade No. 11'' (1933)

''Hollywood on Parade No. A-12'' (1933)

''The Fashion Side of Hollywood'' (1935)

''Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3'' (1936)

''Breakdowns of 1938'' (1938)

''Hollywood Goes to Town'' (1938)

''Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 9'' (1939)

''

References

External links

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard: Biographie, filmographie, galerie, etc.

Photographs and bibliography

The Carole Lombard Photo Archives

Descendants of Thomas Hastings website

Descendants of Thomas Hastings on Facebook

Category:20th-century actors Category:Accidental deaths in Nevada Category:Actors from Indiana Category:American Bahá'ís Category:American film actors Category:American silent film actors Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:California Democrats Category:Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:Indiana Democrats Category:People from Fort Wayne, Indiana Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:1908 births Category:1942 deaths Category:20th-century Bahá'ís

an:Carole Lombard bg:Карол Ломбард ca:Carole Lombard cs:Carole Lombard da:Carole Lombard de:Carole Lombard es:Carole Lombard fr:Carole Lombard id:Carole Lombard it:Carole Lombard he:קרול לומברד ka:კეროლ ლომბარდი nl:Carole Lombard ja:キャロル・ロンバード no:Carole Lombard pl:Carole Lombard pt:Carole Lombard ro:Carole Lombard ru:Кэрол Ломбард sr:Карол Ломбард sh:Carole Lombard fi:Carole Lombard sv:Carole Lombard vi:Carole Lombard

Coordinates	26°11′0″N91°44′0″N
name	James Stewart
birth name	James Maitland Stewart
birth date	May 20, 1908
birth place	Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States
death date	July 02, 1997
death place	Beverly Hills, California, United States
resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
other names	Jimmy Stewart
occupation	Actor
years active	1932–1991
spouse	Gloria Hatrick McLean (1949–1994; her death; 2 children)
alma mater	Princeton University (1932)
education	architecture

}} James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Early life and career

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Ruth (née Jackson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. Stewart's parents were of Scottish Presbyterian origin. His Jackson ancestors served in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. The eldest of three children (he had two younger sisters, Virginia and Mary), he was expected to continue his father's business, which had been in the family for three generations.

His mother was an excellent pianist but his father discouraged Stewart's request for lessons. But when his father accepted a gift of an accordion from a guest, young Stewart quickly learned to play the instrument, which became a fixture off-stage during his acting career. As the family grew, music continued to be an important part of family life.

Stewart attended Mercersburg Academy prep school, graduating in 1928. He was active in a variety of activities. He played on the football and track teams, was art editor of the ''KARUX'' yearbook, and a member of the choir club, glee club, and John Marshall Literary Society. During his first summer break, Stewart returned to Indiana, Pennsylvania, to work as a brick loader for a local construction company and on highway and road construction jobs where he painted lines on the roads. Over the following two summers, he took a job as an assistant with a professional magician. He also made his first appearance on the stage at Mercersburg, as Buquet in the play ''The Wolves''.

A shy child, Stewart spent much of his after-school time in the basement working on model airplanes, mechanical drawing and chemistry—all with a dream of going into aviation. But he abandoned visions of being a pilot when his father insisted that instead of the United States Naval Academy he attend Princeton University.

Stewart enrolled at Princeton in 1928 as a member of the class of 1932. He excelled at studying architecture, so impressing his professors with his thesis on an airport design that he was awarded a scholarship for graduate studies; but he gradually became attracted to the school's drama and music clubs, including the Princeton Triangle Club. He was a member of the Princeton Charter Club as well as a head cheerleader. In his spare time, he enjoyed going to the movies at the time when 'talkies' were just displacing silent films.

His acting and accordion talents at Princeton led him to be invited to the University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company in West Falmouth, a town on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The company had been organized in 1928 and would run until 1932, with Joshua Logan, Bretaigne Windust, and Charles Leatherbee as directors. Stewart performed in bit parts in the Players' productions in Cape Cod during the summer of 1932, after he graduated. The troupe had previously included Henry Fonda, who married Margaret Sullavan on Christmas Day 1931, while the University Players were in Baltimore, Maryland, for an 18-week winter season. Sullavan, who had rejoined the University Players in Baltimore in November 1931 at the close of the post-Broadway tour of ''A Modern Virgin'', left the Players for good at the end of ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' in Baltimore in March 1932. By the time Stewart joined the University Players on Cape Cod after his graduation from Princeton in 1932, Fonda and Sullavan's brief marriage had ended. Stewart and Fonda became great friends over the summer of 1932 when they shared an apartment with Joshua Logan and Myron McCormick. When Stewart came to New York at the end of the summer stock season, which had included the Broadway try-out of ''Goodbye Again'', he shared an apartment with Fonda, who had by then finalized his divorce from Sullavan. Along with fellow University Players Alfred Dalrymple and Myron McCormick, Stewart debuted on Broadway as a chauffeur in the comedy ''Goodbye Again'', in which he had two lines. ''The New Yorker'' noted, "Mr. James Stewart's chauffeur... comes on for three minutes and walks off to a round of spontaneous applause."

The play was a moderate success, but times were hard. Many Broadway theaters had been converted to movie houses and the Depression was reaching bottom. "From 1932 through 1934," Stewart later recalled, "I'd only worked three months. Every play I got into folded." By 1934, he had gotten more substantial stage roles, including the modest hit ''Page Miss Glory'' and his first dramatic stage role in Sidney Howard's ''Yellow Jack'', which convinced him to continue his acting career. However, Stewart and Fonda, still roommates, were both struggling.

In the fall of 1934, Fonda's success in ''The Farmer Takes a Wife'' took him to Hollywood. Finally, Stewart attracted the interest of MGM scout Bill Grady who saw Stewart on the opening night of ''Divided by Three'', a glittering première with many luminaries in attendance, including Irving Berlin and Moss Hart and Fonda, who had returned to New York for the show. With Fonda's encouragement, Stewart agreed to take a screen test, after which he signed a contract with MGM in April 1935, as a contract player for up to seven years at $350 a week.

Upon Stewart's arrival by train in Los Angeles, Fonda greeted him at the station and took him to Fonda's studio-supplied lodging, next door to Greta Garbo. Stewart's first job at the studio was as a participant in screen tests with newly arrived starlets. At first, he had trouble being cast in Hollywood films owing to his gangling looks and shy, humble screen presence. Aside from an unbilled appearance in a Shemp Howard comedy short called ''Art Trouble'' in 1934, his first film was the poorly received Spencer Tracy vehicle ''The Murder Man'' (1935), but ''Rose Marie'' (1936), an adaptation of a popular operetta, was more successful. After mixed success in films, he received his first substantial part in 1936's ''After the Thin Man,'' featuring a shocking sequence near the end which showcased his acting ability.

On the romantic front, he found himself dating newly divorced Ginger Rogers, whom he had revered while a student at Princeton only a few years earlier. The romance soon cooled, however, and by chance Stewart encountered Margaret Sullavan again. Stewart found his footing in Hollywood thanks largely to Sullavan, who campaigned for Stewart to be her leading man in the 1936 romantic comedy ''Next Time We Love''. She rehearsed extensively with him, having a noticeable effect on his confidence. She encouraged Stewart to feel comfortable with his unique mannerisms and boyish charm and use them naturally as his own style. In the meantime, roommate Fonda continued to arrange parties with starlets, who found Stewart different from the other young actors and irresistible in his own way. Stewart was enjoying Hollywood life and had no regrets about giving up the stage, as he worked six days a week in the MGM factory. In 1936, he acquired big-time agent Leland Hayward, who would eventually marry Sullavan. Hayward started to chart Stewart's career, deciding the best path for him was through loan-outs to other studios.

Pre-war success

In 1938, Stewart had a brief, tumultuous, and well-publicized romance with Hollywood queen Norma Shearer, whose husband, Irving Thalberg, head of production at MGM, had died two years earlier. Stewart began a successful partnership with director Frank Capra in 1938, when he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to star in ''You Can't Take It With You''. Frank Capra had been impressed by Stewart's minor role in ''Navy Blue and Gold'' (1937). The director had recently completed several popular movies, including ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), and was looking for the right actor to suit his needs — other recent actors in Capra's films such as Clark Gable, Ronald Colman, and Gary Cooper did not quite fit. Not only was Stewart just what he was looking for, but Capra also found Stewart understood that prototype intuitively and required very little directing. Later Capra commented, "I think he's probably the best actor who's ever hit the screen."

The heart-warming Depression-era film ''You Can't Take It With You'', starring Capra's "favorite actress", comedienne Jean Arthur, won the 1938 Best Picture Academy Award. The following year saw Stewart work with Capra and Arthur again in the political comedy-drama ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''. Stewart replaced intended star Gary Cooper in the film, playing an idealist thrown into the political arena. Upon its October 1939 release, the film garnered critical praise and became a box-office success. Stewart was nominated for the first of five Academy Awards for Best Actor. Even after this great success, Stewart's parents were still trying to talk him into leaving Hollywood and its sinful ways and to return to his home town to lead a decent life. Instead, he took a secret trip to Europe to take a break and returned home in 1939 just as Germany invaded Poland.

''Destry Rides Again'', also released in 1939, became Stewart's first western film, a genre with which he would become identified later in his career. In this western parody, Stewart is a pacifist lawman and Marlene Dietrich is the dancing saloon girl who comes to love him, but doesn't get him. In the film, Dietrich sings her famous song "The Boys In the Back Room". Off-screen, Dietrich did get her man, but the romance was short-lived. ''Made for Each Other'' (1939) had Stewart sharing the screen with irrepressible Carole Lombard in a melodrama that garnered good reviews for both stars, but did less well with the public. ''Newsweek'' wrote that they were "perfectly cast in the leading roles." Between movies, Stewart began a radio career and became a distinctive voice on the "Lux Radio Theater", "The Screen Guild Theater" and other shows. So well-known had his slow drawl become that comedians started to impersonate him, a form of flattery which continued for most of his life.

In 1940, Stewart and Margaret Sullavan reunited for two films. The first, the Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedy, ''The Shop Around the Corner'', starred Stewart and Sullavan as co-workers unknowingly involved in a pen-pal romance but who cannot stand each other in real life (this was later remade into the musical, ''In the Good Old Summertime'' with Judy Garland and Van Johnson, and later as the romantic comedy ''You've Got Mail'' with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). It was Stewart's fifth film of the year and that rare film shot in sequence; it was completed in only 27 days. ''The Mortal Storm'', directed by Frank Borzage, was one of the first blatantly anti-Nazi films to be produced in Hollywood and featured the pair as friends and then lovers caught in turmoil upon Hitler's rise to power, literally hunted down by their own friends.

Stewart also starred with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in George Cukor's classic ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940). His performance as an intrusive, fast-talking reporter earned him his only Academy Award in a competitive category (Best Actor, 1941), and he beat out his good friend Henry Fonda (''The Grapes of Wrath''). Stewart thought his performance "entertaining and slick and smooth" but lacking the "guts" of "Mr. Smith." Stewart gave the Oscar statuette to his father, who displayed it for many years in a case inside the front door of his hardware store, alongside other family awards and military medals.

During the months before he began military service, Stewart appeared in a series of screwball comedies with varying levels of success. He followed the mediocre ''No Time for Comedy'' (1940) and ''Come Live with Me'' (1941) with the Judy Garland musical ''Ziegfeld Girl'' and the George Marshall romantic comedy ''Pot o' Gold''. Stewart was drafted in late 1940, a situation that coincided with the lapse in his MGM contract, marking a turning point in Stewart's career, with 28 movies to his credit at that point.

Military service

The Stewart family had deep military roots as both grandfathers had fought in the Civil War, and his father had served during both the Spanish-American War and World War I. Stewart considered his father to be the biggest influence on his life, so it was not surprising that, when another war came, he too was eager to serve. Members of his family had previously been in the infantry, but Stewart chose to become a military flyer.

An early interest in flying led Stewart to gain his Private Pilot certificate in 1935 and Commercial Pilot certificate in 1938. He often flew cross-country to visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks. Nearly two years before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Stewart had accumulated over 400 hours of flying time.

Considered a highly proficient pilot, he even entered a cross-country race as a co-pilot in 1939. Stewart, along with musician/composer Hoagy Carmichael, saw the need for trained war pilots, and joined with other Hollywood celebrities to invest in Thunderbird Field, a pilot-training school built and operated by Southwest Airways in Glendale, Arizona. This airfield became part of the United States Army Air Forces training establishment and trained more than 10,000 pilots during World War II, and is now the home of Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Later in 1940, Stewart was drafted into the United States Army but was rejected for failing to meet height and weight requirements for new recruits—Stewart was five pounds (2.3 kg) under the standard. To get up to 148 pounds, he sought out the help of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's muscle man and trainer Don Loomis, who was noted for his ability to add or subtract pounds in his studio gymnasium. Stewart subsequently attempted to enlist in the Army Air Corps, but still came in under the weight requirement, although he persuaded the AAC enlistment officer to run new tests, this time passing the weigh-in, with the result that Stewart enlisted in the Army in March 1941. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.

Stewart enlisted as a private and then began pilot training in the USAAC. Stewart continued his military training and earned a commission as a second lieutenant in January 1942, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US directly into the conflict. He was posted to Moffett Field and then Mather Field as an instructor pilot in single- and twin-engine aircraft.

Public appearances by Stewart were limited engagements scheduled by the Army Air Forces. "Stewart appeared several times on network radio with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he performed with Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Huston, and Lionel Barrymore in an all-network radio program called ''We Hold These Truths'', dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights." In early 1942, Stewart was asked to appear in a propaganda film to help recruit the anticipated 100,000 airmen that the USAAF would need to win the war. The USAAC's First Motion Picture Unit shot scenes of Lieutenant Stewart in his pilot's flight suit and recorded his voice for narration. The short film, ''Winning Your Wings'', appeared nationwide beginning in late May and was very successful, resulting in 150,000 new recruits.

Stewart was concerned that his expertise and celebrity status would relegate him to instructor duties "behind the lines." His fears were confirmed when he was stationed for six months at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to train bombardiers. He was transferred to Hobbs AAF to become an instructor pilot for the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress, where he trained B-17 pilots for nine months at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho.

Still, the war was moving on. For the 36-year-old Stewart, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable and he had no clear plans for the future. But then a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for his immediate and decisive action, because what he dreaded most was the hope-shattering spectre of a dead end." Stewart appealed to his commander, a pre-war aviator, who understood the situation and reassigned him to a unit going overseas.

In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group at Sioux City AAB, Iowa, first as operations officer of the 703d Bombardment Squadron and then as its commander, at the rank of captain. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to major. In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions went ''uncounted'' at Stewart's orders. His "official" total is listed as 20 and is limited to those with the 445th. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force, and though he was no longer required or expected to fly missions, he continued to do so. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.

At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the court-martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty when they accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurich the previous March—the first instance of U.S. personnel being tried for an attack on a neutral country. The Court acquitted the accused.

Stewart continued to play a role in the United States Air Force Reserve after the war, achieving the rank of Brigadier General on July 23, 1959. Stewart did not often talk of his wartime service, perhaps because of his desire to be seen as a regular soldier doing his duty instead of as a celebrity. He did appear on the TV series ''The World At War'' to discuss the October 14, 1943, bombing mission to Schweinfurt, which was the center of the German ball-bearing industry. This mission is known in USAF history as ''Black Thursday'' because of the high casualties it sustained; 60 aircraft were lost out of 291 B-17s dispatched unescorted to Schweinfurt. The available escort aircraft lacked the range to accompany them. Upon his request, he was identified only as "James Stewart, Squadron Commander" in the documentary.

After the war, Stewart served as Air Force Reserve commander of Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the early 1950s. In 1966, Brigadier General James Stewart flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on a bombing mission during the Vietnam War. At the time of his B-52 flight, he refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation, as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve. After 27 years of service, Stewart retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968. After his retirement, he was promoted to Major General by President Ronald Reagan.

Post-war success

After the war, Stewart took time off to reassess his career, and he spent much time with his friend Henry Fonda. He was an early investor in Southwest Airways, founded by Leland Hayward, and considered going into the aviation industry if his re-started film career did not prosper. Upon Stewart's return to Hollywood in fall 1945, he decided not to renew his MGM contract. He signed with an MCA talent agency. His former agent Leland Hayward got out of the talent business in 1944 after selling his A-list of stars, including Stewart, to MCA. The move made Stewart one of the first independently contracted actors, and gave him more freedom to choose roles. Stewart was able to work without limits on director and studio availability for the remainder of his career.

After viewing ''It's a Wonderful Life'', President Harry S Truman concluded, "If Bess and I had a son we'd want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart."

For his first film in five years, Stewart appeared in his third and final Frank Capra production, ''It's a Wonderful Life''. Capra paid RKO for the rights to the story and formed his own production company, Liberty Films. The female lead went to Donna Reed, after Capra's perennial first choice, Jean Arthur, was unavailable, and after turn-downs from Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Dvorak and Martha Scott. Stewart appeared as George Bailey, an upstanding small-town man who becomes increasingly frustrated by his ordinary existence and financial troubles. Driven to suicide on Christmas Eve, he is led to reassess his life by Clarence Odbody AS2, an "angel, second class", played by Henry Travers. Although the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Stewart's third Best Actor nomination, it received mixed reviews and only disappointingly moderate success at the box office, possibly due to its dark nature. However, in the decades since the film's release, it grew to define Stewart's film persona and is widely considered as a sentimental Christmas film classic and, according to the American Film Institute, one of the best movies ever made. The movie had actually fallen into public domain for years and was rebroadcast often by television stations during this period as a result, establishing a huge audience familiarity.

In the aftermath of the film, Capra's production company went into bankruptcy, while Stewart started to have doubts about his ability to act after his military hiatus. His father kept insisting he come home and marry a local girl. Meanwhile in Hollywood, his generation of actors were fading and a new wave of actors would soon remake the town, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

After a poorly received ''Magic Town'' (1947) and the completion of ''Rope'' (1948) and ''Call Northside 777'' (1948), Stewart had two flops with ''On Our Merry Way'' (1948), a comedic musical ensemble in which Stewart and Henry Fonda played two musicians named "Slim" and "Lank," and ''You Gotta Stay Happy'' (1949), for which the posters depicted Stewart being kissed on one cheek by top-billed Joan Fontaine and on the other by a chimpanzee. In the documentary film ''James Stewart: A Wonderful Life'' (1987), hosted by Johnny Carson, Stewart said that he went back to Westerns in 1950 in part because a string of films that were flops.

Stewart decided to return to the stage for the Mary Chase-penned comedy, ''Harvey'', which had opened to nearly universal praise in November 1944. Elwood P. Dowd, the protagonist and Stewart's character, is a wealthy eccentric living with his sister and his niece, and whose best friend is an invisible rabbit as large as a man. Dowd's eccentricity, especially the friendship with the rabbit, is ruining the niece's hopes of finding a husband. While trying to have Dowd committed to a sanatorium, his sister is committed herself while the play follows Dowd on an ordinary day in his not-so-ordinary life. Stewart took over the role from Frank Fay and gained an increased Broadway following in the unconventional play. Stewart received his fourth Best Actor nomination for his performance in the film.

After ''Harvey'', the comedic adventure film ''Malaya'' (1949) with Spencer Tracy and the conventional but highly successful biographical film ''The Stratton Story'' in 1949, Stewart's first pairing with "on-screen wife" June Allyson, his career took another turn. During the 1950s, he expanded into the western and suspense genres, thanks largely to collaborations with directors Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock.

Other notable performances by Stewart during this time include the critically acclaimed 1950 Delmer Daves western ''Broken Arrow'', which featured Stewart as an ex-soldier and Indian agent making peace with the Apache; a troubled clown in the 1952 Best Picture ''The Greatest Show on Earth''; and Stewart's role as Charles Lindbergh in Billy Wilder's 1957 film ''The Spirit of St. Louis''. He also starred in the western radio show ''The Six Shooter'' for its one-season run from 1953 to 1954. During this time Stewart wore the same cowboy hat and rode the same horse, named "Pie", in most of his Westerns.

Collaborations with Hitchcock and Mann

James Stewart's collaborations with director Anthony Mann increased Stewart's popularity and sent his career into the realm of the western. Stewart's first appearance in a film directed by Mann came with the 1950 western, ''Winchester '73''. In choosing Mann (after first choice Fritz Lang declined), Stewart cemented a powerful partnership. The film, which became a massive box office hit upon its release, set the pattern for their future collaborations. In it, Stewart is a tough, revengeful sharpshooter, the winner of a prized rifle which is stolen and then passes through many hands, until the showdown between Stewart and his brother (Stephen McNally).

Stewart and Mann also collaborated on other films outside the western genre. 1954's ''The Glenn Miller Story'' was critically acclaimed, garnering Stewart a BAFTA Award nomination, and (together with ''The Spirit of St. Louis'') cemented the popularity of Stewart's portrayals of 'American heroes'. ''Thunder Bay'', released the same year, transplanted the plot arc of their western collaborations to a more contemporary setting, with Stewart as a Louisiana oil driller facing corruption. ''Strategic Air Command'', released in 1955, allowed Stewart to use his experiences in the United States Air Force on film.

Stewart's starring role in ''Winchester '73'' was also a turning point in Hollywood. Universal Studios, who wanted Stewart to appear in both that film and ''Harvey,'' balked at his $200,000 asking price. Stewart's agent, Lew Wasserman, brokered an alternate deal, in which Stewart would appear in both films for no pay, in exchange for a percentage of the profits and cast and director approval. Stewart ended up earning about $600,000 for ''Winchester '73'' alone.

The second collaboration to define Stewart's career in the 1950s was with acclaimed mystery and suspense director Alfred Hitchcock. Like Mann, Hitchcock uncovered new depths to Stewart's acting, showing a protagonist confronting his fears and his repressed desires. Stewart's first movie with Hitchcock was the technologically innovative 1948 film ''Rope'', shot in long "real time" takes.

The two collaborated for the second of four times on the 1954 hit ''Rear Window'', widely considered one of Hitchcock's masterpieces. Stewart portrays photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, loosely based on ''Life'' photographer Robert Capa, who projects his fantasies and fears onto the people he observes out his apartment window while on hiatus due to a broken leg. Jeffries gets into more than he can handle, however, when he believes he has witnessed a salesman (Raymond Burr) commit a murder, and when his glamorous girlfriend (Grace Kelly), at first disdainful of his voyeurism and skeptical about any crime, eventually is drawn in and tries to help solve the mystery. Limited by his wheelchair, Stewart is led by Hitchcock to react to what his character sees with mostly facial responses. It was a landmark year for Stewart, becoming the highest grossing actor of 1954 and the most popular Hollywood star in the world, displacing John Wayne. Hitchcock and Stewart formed a corporation, Patron Inc., to produce the film, which later became the subject of a Supreme Court case ''Stewart v. Abend'' (1990).

After starring in Hitchcock's remake of the director's earlier production, ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), with co-star Doris Day, Stewart starred, with Kim Novak, in what many consider Hitchcock's most personal film, ''Vertigo'' (1958). The movie starred Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson, a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who develops an obsession with a woman he is shadowing. Scottie's obsession inevitably leads to the destruction of everything he once had and believed in. Though the film is widely considered a classic today, ''Vertigo'' met with negative reviews and poor box office receipts upon its release, and marked the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock. Stewart was also disappointed. The director blamed the film's failure on Stewart looking too old to still attract audiences, and cast Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill in ''North by Northwest'' (1959), a role Stewart had very much wanted (Grant was actually four years older than Stewart). Today, ''Vertigo'' is ranked second only to ''Citizen Kane'' in the 2002 ''Sight & Sound'' critics poll for the greatest films ever made.

Career in the 1960s and 1970s

In 1960, James Stewart was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and received his fifth and final Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for his role in the 1959 Otto Preminger film ''Anatomy of a Murder''. The early courtroom drama starred Stewart as Paul Biegler, the lawyer of a hot-tempered soldier (played by Ben Gazzara) who claims temporary insanity after murdering a tavern owner who raped his wife. The film featured a career-making performance by George C. Scott as the prosecutor. The film was sexually frank for its time (some thought it sordid), and its provocative promotional campaign helped gain it box office success, though ''Ben-Hur'' outgrossed all movies by a huge margin and swept the Academy Awards that year. Stewart's nomination was one of seven for the film (Charlton Heston was the winner), and saw his transition into the final decades of his career.

On January 1, 1960, Stewart received the devastating news of the death of Margaret Sullavan (her death was later identified as apparent suicide; the county coroner, however, officially ruled the death an accident). As a friend, mentor, and focus of his early romantic urges, she had a unique influence on Stewart's life. On April 17, 1961, longtime friend Gary Cooper was too ill to attend the 33rd Academy Awards ceremony, so Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and the next day newspapers ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer." One month later, on May 13, 1961, six days after his 60th birthday, Cooper died.

In the early 1960s Stewart took leading roles in three John Ford films, his first work with the acclaimed director. The first, ''Two Rode Together'', paired him with Richard Widmark in a Western with thematic echoes of Ford's ''The Searchers''. The next, 1962's ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (with John Wayne), is a classic "psychological" western, shot in black and white film noir style featuring powerful use of shadows in the climactic sequence, with Stewart as an Eastern attorney who goes against his non-violent principles when he is forced to confront a psychopathic outlaw (played by Lee Marvin) in a small frontier town. At story's end, Stewart's character—now a rising political figure—faces a difficult ethical choice as he attempts to reconcile his actions with his personal integrity. The film's billing is unusual in that Stewart was given top billing over Wayne in the trailers and on the posters but Wayne had top billing in the film itself, a system later repeated by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in ''All the President's Men''. The film garnered mixed reviews but was an instant hit at the box office, and is now ranked as one of Ford's foremost classics.

''How the West Was Won'' (which Ford co-directed, though without directing Stewart's scenes) and ''Cheyenne Autumn'' were western epics released in 1962 and 1964 respectively. One of only a handful of movies filmed in true Cinerama, shot with three cameras and exhibited with three simultaneous projectors in theatres, ''How the West Was Won'' went on to win three Oscars and reap massive box office figures. ''Cheyenne Autumn'', in which a white-suited Stewart played Wyatt Earp in a long semi-comedic sequence in the middle of the movie, failed domestically and was quickly forgotten. The historical drama was Ford's final Western and Stewart's last feature film with Ford. Stewart's entertaining middle sequence is not directly connected with the rest of the film and was often excised in later theatrical exhibition prints and some television broadcasts.

Having played his last romantic lead in 1958's ''Bell, Book and Candle'', and silver-haired (although not all was his—he wore a partial hairpiece starting with ''It's a Wonderful Life'' and in every film thereafter), Stewart transitioned into more family-related films in the 1960s when he signed a multi-movie deal with 20th Century Fox. These included the successful Henry Koster outing ''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation'' (1962), and the less memorable films ''Take Her, She's Mine'' (1963) and ''Dear Brigitte'' (1965), which featured French model Brigitte Bardot as the object of Stewart's son's mash notes. The Civil War period film ''Shenandoah'' (1965) and the western family film ''The Rare Breed'' fared better at the box office; the Civil War movie, with strong antiwar and humanitarian themes, was a smash hit in the South.

As an aviator, Stewart was particularly interested in aviation films and had pushed to appear in several in the 1950s; most notably ''Strategic Air Command'' and ''The Spirit of St. Louis. '' He continued in this vein in the 1960s, most notably in a role as a hard-bitten pilot in ''The Flight of the Phoenix'' (1965). Subbing for Stewart, famed stunt pilot and air racer Paul Mantz was killed when he crashed the "Tallmantz Phoenix P-1", the specially made, single-engine movie model, in an abortive "touch-and-go". Stewart also narrated the film ''X-15'' in 1961. In 1964, he and several other military aviators, including Curtis LeMay, Paul Tibbets, and Bruce Sundlun were founding directors of the board of Tibbets' Executive Jet Aviation Corporation.

After a progression of lesser western films in the late 1960s and early 1970s, James Stewart transitioned from cinema to television. In the 1950s he had made guest appearances on the ''Jack Benny Program'' (Benny was his real life neighbor and good friend). Stewart first starred in the NBC comedy ''The Jimmy Stewart Show'', on which he played a college professor, and was the only time in his career in which he was formally billed in the credits as "Jimmy" instead of "James." He followed it with the CBS mystery ''Hawkins'', in which he played a small town lawyer investigating his cases, similarly to his earlier film ''Anatomy of a Murder''. The series garnered Stewart a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic TV Series, but failed to gain a wide audience, possibly because it rotated with ''Shaft'', another high-quality series but with a starkly conflicting demographic, and was cancelled after one season. (Andy Griffith fared much better later in ''Matlock'', based on a similar formula.) During this time, Stewart periodically appeared on Johnny Carson's ''The Tonight Show'', sharing poems he had written at different times in his life. His poems were later compiled into a short collection titled ''Jimmy Stewart and His Poems'' (1989).

Stewart returned to films after an absence of five years with a major supporting role in John Wayne's final film, ''The Shootist'' (1976) where Stewart played a doctor giving Wayne's gunfighter a terminal cancer diagnosis. At one point, both Wayne and Stewart were flubbing their lines repeatedly and Stewart turned to director Don Siegel and said, "You'd better get two better actors". Stewart also appeared in supporting roles in ''Airport '77'', the 1978 remake of ''The Big Sleep'' with Robert Mitchum as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and ''The Magic of Lassie'' (1978). The latter film received poor reviews and flopped at the box office. Some critics expressed their dismay at seeing the 70-year-old veteran singing as the grandfather. Stewart responded it was the only script he had been offered without any sex, profanity or graphic violence.

Later career and death

Following the failure of ''The Magic of Lassie'', Stewart went into semi-retirement from acting. He donated his papers, films, and other records to Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library in 1983. Stewart had diversified investments including real estate, oil wells, a charter-plane company and membership on major corporate boards, and he became a multimillionaire. In the 1980s and 1990s, he did voiceovers for commercials for Campbell's Soups.

Stewart's best friend Henry Fonda died in 1982 and his long-time friend Grace Kelly, his favorite female co-star, was killed in a car crash shortly afterwards. A few months later, Stewart starred with Bette Davis in ''Right of Way'', the first made-for-cable movie. He filmed several television movies in the 1980s, including ''Mr. Krueger's Christmas'', which allowed him to fulfill a lifelong dream to conduct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He made frequent visits to the Reagan White House and traveled on the lecture circuit. The re-release of his Hitchcock films gained Stewart renewed recognition. ''Rear Window'' and ''Vertigo'' were particularly praised by film critics, which helped bring these pictures to the attention of younger movie-goers. He was presented an Academy Honorary Award by his friend Cary Grant in 1985, "for his 50 years of memorable performances, for his high ideals both on and off the screen, with respect and affection of his colleagues."

Stewart became a real life "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" in 1988, when he made an impassioned plea in Congressional hearings, along with colleagues Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and film director Martin Scorsese, against Ted Turner's decision to 'colorize' classic black and white films, including ''It's a Wonderful Life''. Stewart stated, "the coloring of black-and-white films is wrong. It's morally and artistically wrong and these profiteers should leave our film industry alone".

In 1989, Stewart joined Peter F. Paul in founding the American Spirit Foundation to apply entertainment industry resources to developing innovative approaches to public education and to assist the emerging democracy movements in the former Iron Curtain countries. Paul arranged for Stewart, through the offices of President Boris Yeltsin, to send a special print of ''It's a Wonderful Life'', translated by Lomonosov Moscow State University, to Russia as the first American program ever to be broadcast on Russian television. On January 5, 1992, coinciding with the first day of the existence of the democratic Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, and the first free Russian Orthodox Christmas Day, Russian TV Channel 2 broadcast ''It's a Wonderful Life'' to 200 million Russians who celebrated an American holiday tradition with the American people for the first time in Russian history.

In association with politicians and celebrities such as President Ronald Reagan, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, California Governor George Deukmejian, Bob Hope and Charlton Heston, Stewart worked from 1987 to 1993 on projects that enhanced the public appreciation and understanding of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

In 1991, James Stewart voiced the character of Sheriff Wylie Burp in the movie ''An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'', which was his last film role.

Shortly before his 80th birthday, he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. "As someone who 'believed in hard work and love of country, love of family and love of community.'" Stewart died from a pulmonary embolism on July 2, 1997, at his home in Beverly Hills. His death came one day after fellow screen legend and ''The Big Sleep'' co-star Robert Mitchum had died. Stewart is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. American President Bill Clinton commented on Stewart's death, saying: "America lost a national treasure today. Jimmy Stewart was a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot."

Personal life

James Stewart was almost universally described by his collaborators as a kind, soft-spoken man and a true professional. Joan Crawford, Stewart's co-star in the early period, praised him as an "endearing perfectionist" with "a droll sense of humor and a shy way of watching you to see if you react to that humor."

When Henry Fonda moved to Hollywood in 1934, he was again a roommate with Stewart in an apartment in Brentwood and the two gained a reputation as playboys. Once married, both men's children noted that their favorite activity when not working seemed to be quietly sharing time together while building and painting model airplanes, a hobby they had taken up in New York, years earlier.

After World War II, Stewart settled down, at age 41, marrying former model Gloria Hatrick McLean (1918–1994) on August 9, 1949. As Stewart loved to recount in self-mockery, "I, I, I pitched the big question to her last night and to my surprise she, she, she said yes!" Stewart adopted her two sons, Michael and Ronald, and with Gloria he had twin daughters, Judy and Kelly, on May 7, 1951. The couple remained married until her death from lung cancer on February 16, 1994. Ronald McLean was killed in action on June 8, 1969, at the age of 24, while serving as a Marine Corps Lieutenant in Vietnam. Kelly Stewart is an anthropologist at the University of California, Davis.

James Stewart was active in philanthropic affairs over the years. His signature charity event, "The Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon Race", held each year since 1982, has raised millions of dollars for the Child and Family Development Center at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was a lifelong supporter of Scouting, having been a Second Class Scout when he was a youth, an adult Scout leader, and a recipient of the prestigious Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In later years, he made advertisements for BSA, which led to him sometimes ''incorrectly'' being identified as an Eagle Scout. An award for Boy Scouts, "The James M. Stewart Good Citizenship Award" has been presented since May 17, 2003.

One of Stewart's lesser-known talents was his homespun poetry. He once read a poem that he had written about his dog, entitled "Beau," while on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. By the end of this reading, Carson's eyes were welling with tears. This was later parodied on a late 1980s episode of the NBC sketch show ''Saturday Night Live'', with Dana Carvey as Stewart reciting the poem on ''Weekend Update'' and bringing anchor Dennis Miller to tears. He was also an avid gardener. Stewart purchased the house next door to his own home at 918 North Roxbury Drive, razed the house, and installed his garden in the lot.

Politics

Stewart was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. He was a "hawk" on the Vietnam War, forcefully maintaining that his stepson "did not die in vain." Following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Stewart, Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck issued a statement calling for support of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.

One of his best friends was fellow actor Henry Fonda, despite the fact that the two men had very different political ideologies. A political argument in 1947 resulted in a fist fight between them, but the two apparently maintained their friendship by never discussing politics again. There is a brief reference to their political differences in character in their movie ''The Cheyenne Social Club''. In the last years of his life, he donated to the campaign of Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election and to Democratic Florida governor Bob Graham in his successful run for the Senate.

Filmography

From the beginning of Stewart's career in 1935, through his final theatrical project in 1991, he appeared in 92 films, television programs and shorts. Five of his movies were included on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films: ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', ''The Philadelphia Story'', ''It's a Wonderful Life'', ''Rear Window'' and ''Vertigo''. His roles in ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', ''The Philadelphia Story'', ''It's a Wonderful Life'', ''Harvey'', and ''Anatomy of a Murder'' earned him Academy Award nominations—with one win for ''The Philadelphia Story''. Stewart worked in a range of genres throughout his career, encompassing screwball comedies, suspense thrillers, westerns, biographies and family films.

Broadway performances

''Carry Nation'' (October–November 1932)

''Goodbye Again'' (December 1932 – July 1933)

''Spring in Autumn'' (October–November 1933)

''All Good Americans'' (December 1933 – January 1934)

''Yellow Jack'' (May 1934)

''Divided By Three'' (October 1934)

''Page Miss Glory'' (November 1934 – March 1935)

''A Journey By Night'' (April 1935)

''Harvey'' (July–August 1947, July–August 1948, replacing vacationing Frank Fay)

''Harvey'' (revival, February–May 1970)

Legacy

Throughout his seven decades in Hollywood, Stewart cultivated a versatile career and recognized screen image in such classics as ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', ''The Mortal Storm'', ''The Philadelphia Story'', ''Harvey'', ''It's a Wonderful Life'', ''Shenandoah'', ''Rear Window'', ''Rope'', ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', ''The Shop Around the Corner'', ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' and ''Vertigo''. He is the most represented leading actor on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) and AFI's 10 Top 10 lists. He is also the most represented leading actor on the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list presented by ''Entertainment Weekly''. As of 2007, ten of his films have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry.

Stewart left his mark on a wide range of film genres, including westerns, suspense thrillers, family films, biographies, and screwball comedies. He worked for many renowned directors during his career, most notably Frank Capra, George Cukor, Henry Hathaway, Cecil B. DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Borzage, George Stevens, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder, Don Siegel, and Anthony Mann. He won many of the industry's highest honors and earned Lifetime Achievement awards from every major film organization. He died at age 89, leaving behind a legacy of classic performances, and is considered one of the finest actors of the "Golden Age of Hollywood". He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Honors and tributes

James Stewart was presented various kinds of film industry awards, military and civilian medals, honorary degrees, memorials and tributes over the years for his contribution to performing arts, humanitarianism, and military service.

See also

List of film collaborations

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography

Beaver, Jim. "James Stewart." ''Films in Review'', October 1980.

Coe, Jonathan. ''James Stewart: Leading Man''. London: Bloomsbury, 1994. ISBN 0-7475-1574-3.

Collins, Thomas W. Jr. "Stewart, James." ''American National Biography Online''. "Stewart, James." Retrieved: February 18, 2007.

Cox, Stephen. ''It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book''. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2003. ISBN 1-58182-337-1.

Eliot, Mark. ''Jimmy Stewart: A Biography''. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-5221-1.

''The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page''. The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page, Access date: February 18, 2007.

Fonda, Henry as told to Howard Teichmann. ''Fonda: My Life''. New York: A Signet Book, New American Library, 1981. ISBN 0-451-11858-8.

Houghton, Norris. ''But Not Forgotten: The Adventure of the University Players''. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1951.

Jackson, Kenneth T., Karen Markoe and Arnie Markoe. ''The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives'' (5). New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0-68480-663-0.

Jones, Ken D., Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey. ''The Films of James Stewart''. New York: Castle Books, 1970.

McGowan, Helene. ''James Stewart''. London: Bison Group, 1992, ISBN 0-86124-925-9.

Pickard, Roy. ''Jimmy Stewart: A Life in Film''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. ISBN 0-312-08828-0.

Prendergast, Tom and Sara, eds. "Stewart, James". ''International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 4th edition''. London: St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55862-450-3.

Prendergast, Tom and Sara, eds. "Stewart, James". ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 5th edition''. London: St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55862-529-1.

Robbins, Jhan. ''Everybody's Man: A Biography of Jimmy Stewart''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985. ISBN 0-399-12973-1.

Smith, Starr. ''Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2005. ISBN 0-7603-2199-X.

Thomas, Tony. ''A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart''. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8065-1081-1.

Wayne, Jane Ellen.''The Leading Men of MGM''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-78671-475-1.

Wright, Stuart J. ''An Emotional Gauntlet: From Life in Peacetime America to the War in European Skies – A History of 453rd Bomb Group Crews''. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. ISBN 0-29920-520-7.

External links

Feaster, Felicia. Turner Classic Movies">James Stewart Profile at Turner Classic Movies

Kronenberg, Harold. Flying with Jimmy Stewart

Obituary: "James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89," ''The New York Times'' (July 3, 1997)

CNN, (July 2, 1997)">Obituary: "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89," CNN, (July 2, 1997)

News: Princeton University (1997)">"Princeton to Honor Famed Alumnus Jimmy Stewart '32 With Tribute and Theater Dedication," Princeton University (1997)

Centennial Tribute to James Stewart

The Jimmy Stewart Museum

National Museum of the United States Air Force">Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart at the National Museum of the United States Air Force

A Kennedy Center Honors: James Stewart

Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time – Entertainment Weekly

Interview at the National Film Theatre in 1972 – British Film Institute

Mr. Stewart Goes to Vietnam, article from Vietnam magazine about Stewart's B-52 mission in 1966

University of Alabama">Images: Stewart Pictures. Telecommunication & Film Department, University of Alabama

Images: "Col. James M. Stewart stands with his father outside of the family's hardware store," ''Life Magazine'' (1945)

A Wonderful Life: Jimmy Stewart, Actor and B-24 Bomber Pilot

James Stewart in the 1910 US Census, 1920 US Census, 1930 US Census, and the Social Security Death Index.

Category:1908 births Category:1997 deaths Category:People from Indiana, Pennsylvania Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:American film actors Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:American Presbyterians Category:American stage actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:California Republicans Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Category:Deaths from pulmonary embolism Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:20th-century actors Category:Mercersburg Academy alumni Category:People from California Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Princeton University alumni Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:Recipients of the Air Medal Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:United States Air Force generals Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II

an:James Stewart ca:James Stewart co:James Stewart cy:James Stewart (actor) da:James Stewart de:James Stewart el:Τζέιμς Στιούαρτ es:James Stewart eo:James Stewart eu:James Stewart fa:جیمز استوارت fr:James Stewart fy:James Stewart ga:James Stewart gd:James Stewart gl:James Stewart ko:제임스 스튜어트 hy:Ջեյմս Ստյուարտ hr:James Stewart id:James Stewart (aktor) it:James Stewart he:ג'יימס סטיוארט la:Iacobus Stewart lv:Džeimss Stjuarts hu:James Stewart (színész) mk:Џејмс Стјуарт nl:James Stewart (acteur) ja:ジェームズ・ステュアート (俳優) no:James Stewart nds:James Stewart (Schauspeler) pl:James Stewart pt:James Stewart ro:James Stewart ru:Стюарт, Джеймс (актёр) sq:James Stewart simple:James Stewart sr:Џејмс Стјуарт sh:James Stewart (glumac) fi:James Stewart sv:James Stewart tl:James Stewart tr:James Stewart uk:Джеймс Стюарт vi:James Stewart yo:James Stewart (actor) zh-yue:占士史超活 zh:詹姆斯·史都華

Coordinates	26°11′0″N91°44′0″N
Name	Charles Coburn
Birth name	Charles Douville Coburn
Birth date	June 19, 1877
Birth place	Macon, Georgia, United States
Death date	August 30, 1961
Death place	Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Actor
Yearsactive	1901–61
Spouse	Ivah Wills (1906-37)Winifred Natzka (1959-61)}}

Charles Douville Coburn (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961) was an American film and theater actor.

Biography

Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs, ushering, or being the doorman. By the age of 17 or 18, he was the theater manager. He later became an actor, making his debut on Broadway in 1901. Coburn formed an acting company with Ivah Wills in 1905. They married in 1906. In addition to managing the company, the couple performed frequently on Broadway.

After his wife's death in 1937, Coburn relocated to Los Angeles, California and began film work. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a retired millionaire playing Cupid in ''The More the Merrier'' in 1943. He was also nominated for ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' in 1941 and ''The Green Years'' in 1946. Other notable film credits include ''Of Human Hearts'' (1938), ''The Lady Eve'' (1941), ''Kings Row'' (1942), ''The Constant Nymph'' (1943), ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943), ''Wilson'' (1944), ''Impact'' (1949), ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), ''Everybody Does It'' (1950), ''Has Anybody Seen My Gal?'' (1952), ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953) and ''John Paul Jones'' (1959). He usually played comedic parts, but ''Kings Row'' and ''Wilson'' were dramatic parts, showing his versatility.

For his contributions to motion pictures, Coburn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard.

Politics

[[Image:resscoburn.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Irving Leroy Ress (left), Charles Coburn (right), ca 1950. ]] In the 1940s, Coburn served as vice-president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group opposed to alleged Communist infiltration and proselytization in Hollywood during the Cold War.

Marriages

Coburn's first wife was Ivah Wills (ca. 1882–1937), an American actress and theatrical producer. In 1959, Coburn married Winifred Natzka (June 16, 1921 – December 11, 1998), who was more than 40 years his junior and the widow of Oscar Natzka, a famed New Zealand operatic bass baritone.

Death

He died from a heart attack on August 30, 1961, in New York City, aged 84.

Selected filmography

''Of Human Hearts'' (1938)

''Vivacious Lady'' (1938)

''Lord Jeff'' (1938)

''Idiot's Delight'' (1939)

''Made for Each Other'' (1939)

''Bachelor Mother'' (1939)

''Stanley and Livingstone'' (1939)

''In Name Only'' (1939)

''Road to Singapore'' (1940)

''Three Faces West'' (1940)

''The Lady Eve'' (1941)

''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941)

''H. M. Pulham, Esq.'' (1941)

''Kings Row'' (1942)

''In This Our Life'' (1942)

''George Washington Slept Here'' (1942)

''The More the Merrier'' (1943)

''The Constant Nymph'' (1943)

''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943)

''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943)

''Wilson'' (1944)

''The Impatient Years'' (1944)

''A Royal Scandal'' (1945)

''Over 21'' (1945)

''The Green Years'' (1946)

''Colonel Effingham's Raid'' (1946)

''Lured'' (1947)

''The Paradine Case'' (1947)

''Green Grass of Wyoming'' (1948)

''B.F.'s Daughter'' (1948)

''Impact'' (1949)

''Everybody Does It'' (1949)

''Louisa'' (1950)

''Trouble Along the Way'' (1952)

''Has Anybody Seen My Gal?'' (1952)

''Monkey Business'' (1952)

''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953)

''The Long Wait'' (1954)

''The Best of Broadway'' episode "The Royal Family" (1954) (TV)

''Town on Trial'' (1957)

''How to Murder a Rich Uncle'' (1957)

''The Story of Mankind'' (1957)

''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (1958) (cameo)

''John Paul Jones'' (1959)

References

External links

Category:1877 births Category:1961 deaths Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:California Republicans Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:People from Macon, Georgia Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent

an:Charles Coburn ca:Charles Coburn da:Charles Coburn de:Charles Coburn es:Charles Coburn fr:Charles Coburn it:Charles Coburn no:Charles Coburn pl:Charles Coburn pt:Charles Coburn ro:Charles Coburn ru:Кобёрн, Чарльз sh:Charles Coburn fi:Charles Coburn sv:Charles Coburn tr:Charles Coburn yo:Charles Coburn

Coordinates	26°11′0″N91°44′0″N
name	Hector Lombard
other names	Shango Lightning
birth date	February 02, 1978
birth place	Matanzas, Cuba
residence	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
nationality	Cuban Australian
height
weight lb	185
weight class	Middleweight Light Heavyweight
reach in	73
style	Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing
stance	Southpaw
fighting out of	Coconut Creek, Florida, United States
team	American Top Team
rank	''Olympian and 4th dan black belt in Judo'' ''Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu''
years active	1997-present
mma kowin	16
mma subwin	6
mma decwin	7
mma decloss	2
mma draw	1
mma nc	1
sherdog	11292
updated	}}

Hector Lombard (born February 2, 1978) is a Cuban-Australian mixed martial artist. Lombard was a Judo Olympian competing at the Sydney 2000 Olympic games, and is a multiple time national champion and world finalist. After 2000, Lombard began pursuing a career in mixed martial arts. Lombard is currently the middleweight champion of the Australian-based Cage Fighting Championship as well as currently being the middleweight champion of Bellator Fighting Championships.

Mixed martial arts

Hector Lombard, a 4th degree black belt in Judo and former Olympic Judo competitor, emigrated to Queensland, Australia from Cuba. Lombard currently trains at the world-renowned American Top Team facility in Miami, Florida. He resides in Sydney, Australia, which he considers his second home after competing in the Olympics. Marcus "Conan" Silveira (ATT Head Coach) awarded Lombard with a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu following his victory at CFC 12.

PRIDE

In 2006, Lombard fought twice in Pride Fighting Championship, losing two unanimous decisions to Akihiro Gono and Gegard Mousasi. The only losses on his record to date.

Cage Fighting Championship

Lombard headlined the first Cage Fighting Championship show on July 28, 2007, where he fought top Australian fighter Kyle Noke. The result was a controversial draw. On November 23, 2007, Lombard defeated French Kickboxer and Actor Jean-François Lénogue to be the CFC Middleweight Champion. He has defended his title six times with the last title defense coming against Art Santore. Lombard next successfully defended his belt against UFC veteran Joe Doerksen at CFC 16 on March 25.

EliteXC

On April 18, 2008, EliteXC released a press statement citing the signing of Hector Lombard. His first opponent was scheduled to be Scott Smith in November, but the fight was later canceled after the collapse of the promotion.

Bellator Fighting Championships

On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Hector Lombard signed an exclusive agreement with Bellator Fighting Championships.

He fought and defeated Virgil Lozano and Damien Stelly to make it to the finals and fight for the first Bellator middleweight championship belt. Lombard defeated Jared Hess via doctor stoppage in the fourth round to win the middleweight title. Lombard would later be matched up against Alexander Shlemenko, who won the second season middleweight tournament.

Lombard was scheduled to face former WEC Middleweight champion Paulo Filho in a non-title bout on May 13, 2010 at Bellator 18, but Filho pulled out of the bout on May 10 due to an alleged visa issue and was replaced by Jay Silva. Lombard scored the fastest knockout in Bellator history by recording a six second win, surpassing Eddie Sanchez and his ten second KO win over Jay White.

Lombard then faced former NFL player Herbert Goodman in a non-title fight on August 12, 2010 at Bellator 24. He won the fight via KO (Punches) in the first round.

On October 28, 2010 Lombard went on to defeat Alexander Shlemenko in a 1st season winner vs. a 2nd season winner matchup to retain the Bellator Middleweight Championship at Bellator 34. He also is the first man in Bellator history to successfully defend his title belt in any weight division. After the fight, Lombard called out Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza.

Lombard next fought Falaniko Vitale in a non-title bout at Bellator 44. He won via KO in third round, extending his win streak to 22 fights in a row with 1 draw.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

Bellator Fighting Championships

*Bellator Middleweight Championship (One time; First; Current)

*Bellator Season 1 Middleweight Tournament Winner

*Fastest Recorded Knockout (0:06)

Cage Fighting Championship

*CFC Middleweight Championship (One time; First; Current)

Xtreme Fighting Championships

*XFC Light Heavyweight Championship (One time; First)

HDNet

*2009 Bazzie Awards: Bloodbath of the Year vs. Jared Hess on June 19

Judo

International Judo Federation

*2004 Gold : Australian Open, 81 kg and Open Weight (+100 kg)

*2002 Bronze : International Open Tre Torri, Italy – 73 kg

*2002 Silver : International Open Guido Sieni Tournament, Italy – 73 kg

*2001 Gold : Torneo International Jose Ramon Rodrigues City Santiago de Cuba – 73 kg

*2001 Silver : Tre Torri International Open – 73 kg

*2001 7th Place: Hungarian Open – 73 kg

*2001 Bronze : World Masters Germany – 73 kg

*2001 Silver : Austria Open – 73 kg

*2000 Member of the Cuban Olympic Team – 73 kg

*2000 Gold : Torneo International Jose Ramon Rodriges, City Santa Clara – 73 kg

*1999 7th Place: Paris Open – 73 kg

*1998 Silver : Campeonato Ibero Americano – 73 kg

Federacion Cuba de Judo

*2002 Undefeated: World Team Championships, Suiza – 73 kg

*2001 Gold : Cuban National Championships, City Santiago de Cuba – 73 kg

*2000 Gold : Cuban National Championships, City Santa Clara – 73 kg

*1999 Gold : Cuban National Championships – 73 kg

*1998 Silver : National Seniors Cuba Championship – 73 kg

*1997 Bronze : National Seniors Cuba Championship, Ciudad de la Havana – 73 kg

*1997 Gold : Junior Cuba Nationals Championship, Ciudad Santa Clara – 73 kg

Misc

*1994 College National Champion, City Las Tunas – 71 kg

*1993 College National Champion, City Ciudad de la Havana – 71 kg

*1991 College National Champion, City Isla de la Juventud – 52 kg

Mixed martial arts record

|- |align=center| |align=center| | Jesse Taylor |align=center| |Australian Fighting Championship 2 | |align=center| |align=center| |Melbourne, Victoria | |- |Win |align=center|29-2-1 (1) | Falaniko Vitale |KO (punch) |Bellator 44 | |align=center|3 |align=center|0:54 |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- |Win |align=center|28-2-1 (1) | Joe Doerksen |TKO (doctor stoppage) |Cage Fighting Championship 16 | |align=center|1 |align=center|4:13 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|27-2-1 (1) | Alexander Shlemenko |Decision (unanimous) |Bellator 34 | |align=center|5 |align=center|5:00 |Hollywood, Florida, United States | |- |Win |align=center|26-2-1 (1) | Herbert Goodman |KO (punches) |Bellator 24 | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:38 |Hollywood, Florida, United States | |- |Win |align=center|25-2-1 (1) | Jay Silva |KO (punches) |Bellator 18 | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:06 |Monroe, Louisiana, United States | |- |Win |align=center|24-2-1 (1) | Art Santore |TKO (doctor stoppage) |Cage Fighting Championship 12 | |align=center|1 |align=center|4:16 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|23-2-1 (1) | Joey Gorczynski |Decision (unanimous) |G-Force Fights: Bad Blood 3 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Miami, Florida, United States | |- |Win |align=center|22-2-1 (1) | Kalib Starnes |Submission (punches) |Cage Fighting Championship 11 | |align=center|1 |align=center|1:55 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|21-2-1 (1) | Jared Hess |TKO (doctor stoppage) |Bellator 12 | |align=center|4 |align=center|1:41 |Hollywood, Florida, United States | |- |Win |align=center|20-2-1 (1) | Damien Stelly |TKO (punches) |Bellator 9 | |align=center|1 |align=center|2:56 |Monroe, Louisiana, United States | |- |Win |align=center|19-2-1 (1) | Virgil Lozano |KO (punch) |Bellator 3 | |align=center|1 |align=center|1:10 |Norman, Oklahoma, United States | |- |Win |align=center|18-2-1 (1) | Ron Verdadero |TKO (suplex and punches) |CFC 7: Battle at the Big Top | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:20 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|17-2-1 (1) | Brian Ebersole |Submission (punches) |Cage Fighting Championship 5 | |align=center|4 |align=center|1:56 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|16-2-1 (1) | Fabiano Capoani |KO (elbows) |Cage Fighting Championship 4 | |align=center|2 |align=center|0:23 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|15-2-1 (1) | Tristan Yunker |TKO (corner stoppage) |Cage Fighting Championship 3 | |align=center|1 |align=center|3:10 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|14-2-1 (1) | Damir Mihajlovic |Decision (unanimous) |Serbia vs. Australia | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Australia | |- |Win |align=center|13-2-1 (1) | Jean-François Lenogue |Decision (unanimous) |Cage Fighting Championship 2 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|12-2-1 (1) | Tatsuya Kurisu |TKO (corner stoppage) |X-Agon 2 | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:48 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- | Draw |align=center|11-2-1 (1) | Kyle Noke |Draw |Cage Fighting Championship 1 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|11-2 (1) | Fabio Fernandes |KO (punches) |Oceania Fighting Championships | |align=center|1 |align=center|3:24 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|10-2 (1) | Yusaku Tsukumo |Decision (unanimous) |Warriors Realm 9 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |- |Win |align=center|9-2 (1) | James Te-Huna |Submission (shoulder injury) |Warriors Realm 8 | |align=center|1 |align=center|3:50 |Sydney, New South Wales | |- |Win |align=center|8-2 (1) | Eiji Ishikawa |TKO (punches) |DEEP: 28th Impact | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:50 |Bunkyo, Tokyo | |- |Loss |align=center|7-2 (1) | Gegard Mousasi |Decision (unanimous) |Pride Bushido 13 | |align=center|2 |align=center|5:00 |Yokohama, Kanagawa | |- |Win |align=center|7-1 (1) | Jae Young Kim |Submission (armbar) |Spirit MC 9: Welterweight Grand Prix Opening | |align=center|1 |align=center|1:36 |Seoul, South Korea | |- |Win |align=center|6-1 (1) | Michael Ravenscroft |Decision (unanimous) |Dojo KO: Second Elimination | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Melbourne, Victoria | |- |Loss |align=center|5-1 (1) | Akihiro Gono |Decision (unanimous) |Pride Bushido 11 | |align=center|2 |align=center|5:00 |Saitama, Saitama | |- |Win |align=center|5-0 (1) | Mathew Toa |Submission (armbar) |Ultimate Promotions: Total Termination | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:36 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |- |Win |align=center|4-0 (1) | Daiju Takase |KO (punch) |X-plosion 13 | |align=center|1 |align=center|4:40 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |- |Win |align=center|3-0 (1) | David Frendin |KO (punches) |Xtreme Fighting Championships 10 | |align=center|1 |align=center|0:52 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |- |Win |align=center|2-0 (1) | Adam Bourke |Submission (toe hold) |XFC 9: Lightweight GP | |align=center|1 |align=center|1:44 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |- |NC |align=center|1-0 (1) | Chris Brown |NC (accidental headbutt) |Warriors Realm 3 | |align=center|1 |align=center|N/A |Brisbane, Queensland | |- |Win |align=center|1-0 | Michael Grunindike |Decision (unanimous) |Spartan Reality Fight 11 | |align=center|2 |align=center|5:00 |Gold Coast, Queensland | |-

See also

List of current mixed martial arts champions

References

External links

Bellator profile

Category:Australian mixed martial artists Category:Cuban mixed martial artists Category:Middleweight mixed martial artists Category:Bellator Fighting Championships champions Category:Living people Category:1978 births Category:Cuban judoka Category:Cuban Muay Thai practitioners Category:Cuban people of Black African descent Category:Australian people of Black African descent Category:Australian people of Cuban descent Category:Australian people of Latin American descent Category:Olympic judoka of Cuba

es:Hector Lombard ja:ヘクター・ロンバード pt:Hector Lombard