 After attending a party with writer Anne Morrison, Colbert was offered a bit part in Morrison's play and appeared on the Broadway stage in a small role in "The Wild Westcotts" (1923).She had been using the name Claudette instead of her first name Lily since high school, and for her stage name, she added her maternal grandmother's maiden name, Colbert.Her father, Georges, died in 1925 and her grandmother, Marie Loew, died in New York in 1930.