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![star of the silver screen star of the silver screen](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nvaF-i3kH9M/TpzsHF9VZoI/AAAAAAAAA5E/CnLN0tNNBBQ/s640/grolier.jpeg)
When she starred in 1934's It Happened One Night, the starlet finally put her foot down. Nevertheless, the same year she wrapped up Cleopatra, Claudette Colbert was done being typecast as a Hollywood lush. So, how was Colbert in the role? As Cinemagraphe notes, this version of Cleopatra involved some seriously cool Depression-era feminism, with Colbert playing "a gal who can take anything life throws at her, and whose own suicide is played as a clever triumph over one more foolish Roman." Teaming up again for Cleopatra, DeMille's flick "cost about $1,000,000 to produce, employed 5,000 people, was 14 months in the making" (via Vanity Fair). As Vanity Fair explains, she also starred as "Poppaea, Emperor Nero's lascivious wife," in the director's 1932 historical drama, The Sign of the Cross. It wasn't the first time Colbert worked with the legendary DeMille, either. As noted by The Guardian, Suzman directed Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall as Cleopatra in an on-stage production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Liverpool Playhouse. It looks like playing Cleopatra really left a mark on Janet Suzman, as in 2011, she decided to step back into the ruler's sandals - yet this time as a director. Starring in a plethora of Shakespearean roles throughout the '60s and '70s such as "Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Ophelia in Hamlet," the actress mused to the outlet that she believes Tinseltown is "conservative." Elaborating, Suzman explained, "If you've worn a tiara, they are always looking for tiara parts for you." As The Guardian wrote years later in 2011, "Janet Suzman was one of the giants of the British stage in the 60s and 70s," adding that she was even poised for Hollywood - yet never made it. The starlet is truly mesmerizing to look at as the queen of the Nile, and as it turns out, she was already an acting heavyweight at the time.