Intending to become a fashion designer, she attended the Art Students League of New York, where she paid for her art education by working in a dress shop. 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 used the name Claudette, instead of 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.