Editing Claudette Colbert (section)

===Middle years, 1945–1961===
[[File:CLAUDETTE COLBERT Screenland.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Colbert on ''[[Screenland]]'' cover before release of ''[[Guest Wife]]'' (1945)]]

In 1945, Colbert ended her association with Paramount and continued to freelance in such films as ''[[Guest Wife]]'' (1945) with Don Ameche. She starred opposite [[John Wayne]] in [[RKO Pictures|RKO's]] ''[[Without Reservations]]'' (1946), which grossed $3&nbsp;million in the U.S. While working on it, director [[Mervyn LeRoy]] described Colbert as an "interesting" lady to work with, recalling her habit of not watching where she was going and constantly bumping into things.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/96061/without-reservations#articles-reviews|title=Without Reservations (1946)|author=Stephanie Thames|work=TCM|access-date=January 31, 2013}}</ref> Praised for her sense of style and fashion, Colbert ensured throughout her career that she was impeccably groomed and costumed. For the melodrama ''[[Tomorrow Is Forever]]'' (1946), [[Jean Louis]] was hired to create 18 changes of wardrobe for her.<ref>Jewell and Harbin, p. 209.</ref> ''Tomorrow is Forever'' and ''[[The Secret Heart]]'' (also 1946) were also substantial commercial successes,<ref name="ultimate" /> and Colbert's popularity during 1947 led her to place 9th in Quigley's "''Top Ten Money-Making Stars Poll''".<ref name="Quigley" />

She achieved great success opposite Fred MacMurray in the comedy ''[[The Egg and I (film)|The Egg and I]]'' (1947), which was [[1947 in film|the year's second-highest grossing picture]], and later acknowledged as the 12th-most profitable American film of the 1940s.<ref>Finler, p. 216.</ref> The suspense film ''[[Sleep, My Love]]'' (1948) with [[Robert Cummings]] was a modest commercial success. By 1949, she still ranked as the 22nd-highest box-office star.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18154454|title=Filmdom Ranks Its Money-Spinning Stars Best At Box-Office|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=March 30, 1950|access-date=October 13, 2016|page=12|publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The romantic comedy ''[[Bride for Sale]]'' (1949), wherein Colbert played part of a love triangle that included [[George Brent]] and [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]], was well-reviewed.<ref name="Jewell and Harbin, p. 248">Jewell and Harbin, p. 248.</ref> Her performance in the Pacific war film ''[[Three Came Home]]'' (1950) was also praised by critics.<ref name="Pace1996" /> However, the mystery melodrama ''[[The Secret Fury]]'' (1950), distributed by RKO Studios, received mixed reviews.<ref name="Jewell and Harbin, p. 248" /> During this period, Colbert was unable to work beyond 5 p.m. each day due to orders from her doctor.<ref name="Anderson">{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Christopher|year=1997|title=An Affair to Remember, The Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy|publisher=William Morrow and Co. Inc.|isbn=0-688-15311-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/affairtoremember00ande/page/191 191–192]|url=https://archive.org/details/affairtoremember00ande/page/191}}</ref> While Colbert still looked like a young woman,<ref name="A Perfect Star"/> she found it difficult making the transition to playing more mature characters as she entered middle age.<ref name="ShipmanMovieTalk">{{cite book |last=Shipman|first=David|year=1988|title=Movie Talk|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=0-312-03403-2|page=126}}</ref> She said, "I'm a very good comedienne, but I was always fighting that image, too."<ref name="Obituary" />

In 1949, Colbert was asked to play the lead role in ''[[All About Eve]]'', because the producer felt that she best represented the style he envisioned for the part. However, Colbert severely injured her back, forcing her to abandon the picture shortly before filming began. [[Bette Davis]] was cast, instead. In later life, Colbert said, "I just never had the luck to play bitches."<ref name="Obituary" />
[[File:Claudette Colbert-Patric Knowles in Three Came Home.jpg|thumb|Patric Knowles and Colbert in ''Three Came Home'', 1950]]
In the early 1950s, Colbert traveled to Europe for tax purposes<ref name="A Perfect Star" /> and joined fewer films. ''[[The Planter's Wife (1952 film)|The Planter's Wife]]'' (1952) was a success in British market.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23230346 |title=Phillip to see 'Cruel Sea' premiere |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=33,225 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=February 27, 1953 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She played a small role in ''[[Royal Affairs in Versailles]]'' (1954), her only film with a French director ([[Sacha Guitry]]). Colbert had found the directorial method disappointing, which was on the heavy-handed and ponderous.<ref>Quirk, p. 36.</ref> It was screened in the United States in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/03/09/archives/screen-royal-affairs-in-versailles-french-import-aims-at-palace.html |title=Screen: 'Royal Affairs in Versailles'; French Import Aims at Palace Pageantry Guitry, the Director, Stars as Louis XIV The Cast |author= Bosley Crowther |date=March 9, 1957
|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1954, Colbert turned down a million-dollar broadcast deal with [[NBC|NBC-TV]],<ref name="A Perfect Star">{{cite magazine|title=A Perfect Star|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=January 1998|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/a-perfect-star-199801|access-date=May 13, 2018}}</ref> but made a pact with [[CBS|CBS-TV]] to star in several [[teleplay]]s. After a successful appearance in a television version of ''[[The Royal Family (play)|The Royal Family]]'' (a parody of the [[Barrymore family]] in ''[[The Best of Broadway]]'' series),<ref name="tcmdb" /> she took on more than 20 television works. She starred in [[television movie|television adaptations]] of ''[[Blithe Spirit (play)|Blithe Spirit]]'' in 1956 and ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's]]'' in 1959, and guest-starred on ''[[Robert Montgomery Presents]]'' and ''[[Playhouse 90]]''.

In 1956, Colbert hosted the [[28th Academy Awards]] ceremony.

In 1957, she was cast as Lucy Bradford, wife of schoolteacher Jim Bradford ([[Jeff Morrow]]), in the "Blood in the Dust" episode of [[CBS]]'s ''[[Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre]]''. In the story, Jim refuses to back down when a gunman orders him to leave town, and Lucy is distressed because Jim hasn't fired a weapon since he was in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0754221/|title=Blood in the Dust on 'Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre'|publisher=IMDb|access-date=June 6, 2021}}</ref>
In the show's 1960 episode "So Young the Savage Land", she played Beth Brayden, who becomes disillusioned with her rancher-husband Jim ([[John Dehner]]) when he turns to violence to protect their property.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/zane-grey-theater/so-young-the-savage-land-108166/ |title=So Young the Savage Land on ''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre''|publisher=tv.com |access-date=June 6, 2021}}</ref>

In 1958, she returned to Broadway in ''[[The Marriage-Go-Round]]'', for which she was nominated for a Best Actress [[Tony Award]].

[[File:Claudette colbert 1959.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=|Colbert during TV production in 1959]]
She made a brief return to the screen, played the supporting role as the mother of [[Troy Donahue]] in ''[[Parrish (film)|Parrish]]'' (1961). It was her last appearance on the big screen. The film was a commercial success,<ref>"All-Time Top Grossers", ''Variety'', 8 January 1964 p 69</ref> but Colbert received little attention, and she directed her agent to end any further attempts to generate interest in her as a TV actress.<ref name="Shipman119">Shipman, ''The Great Movie Stars'', p. 119.</ref> Even at this period, she still looked younger than her actual age.<ref name="Quirk 181">Quirk, "Claudette Colbert", p. 181.</ref>