Claire Trevor
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| Claire Trevor | |
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| Born | Claire Wemlinger March 8, 1910 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 8, 2000 (aged 90) Newport Beach, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1933–1987 |
| Spouse(s) | Clark Andrews (1938-1942) Cyclos William Dunsmoore (1943-1947) Milton H. Bren (1948-1979) |
Claire Trevor (March 8, 1910[1][2] – April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers. She appeared in over 60 films.
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[edit] Early life
Trevor was born as Claire Wemlinger in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York in 1910 (some sources state 1909, 1911 or 1912),[3][4] the only child of a 5th Avenue merchant-tailor and his wife. Her family was of Irish American and French American descent.
[edit] Career
Trevor's acting career spanned more than seven decades and included success in stage, radio, television and film. Trevor often played the hard-boiled blonde, and every conceivable type of "bad girl" role. After attending American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she began her acting career in the late '20s in stock. By 1932 she was starring on Broadway; that same year she began appearing in Brooklyn-filmed Vitaphone shorts. Her first credited film role was in the 1933 film Life in the Raw, with her feature film debut coming that same year in Jimmy and Sally (1933), with her portraying "Sally Johnson". From 1933 through 1938 Trevor starred in twenty nine films, often having either the lead role or the role of heroine. In 1937 she starred with Humphrey Bogart in Dead End, which would lead to her being nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
By 1939 she was well established as a solid "leading lady". Some of her most memorable performances during this period were opposite John Wayne, including the classic 1939 western Stagecoach, which was Wayne's breakthrough role. She also starred opposite Wayne in Allegheny Uprising that same year, and again in 1940 in Dark Command. Over a decade later, she would again costar with Wayne, gaining her final Oscar nomination for The High and the Mighty.
Another two of Trevor's more memorable roles come starring opposite Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet and Born to Kill, in the latter playing a divorcee who gets more than she bargained for by falling in love with a bad boy who impulsively murders. Key Largo the following year, gave Trevor the role of Gaye Dawn, the washed up nightclub singer and gangster's moll. She won the Academy Award for Best supporting Actress for the film.
Trevor moved into supporting roles in the 1950s, with her appearances becoming increasingly rare after the mid 1960's. She returned for one final film, playing Sally Field's mother in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982). Following a few television appearances, Trevor retired from acting in 1987. She made a special appearance at the 70th annual Academy Awards in 1998.
[edit] Personal life
Trevor married film producer Clark Andrews in 1938, but they divorced four years later. Her second marriage to Cylos William Dunsmoore produced a son, Charles. The marriage ended in divorce in 1947. The next year, Trevor married Milton Bren, another film producer and soon after moved to Newport Beach, California.
In 1978 her son Charles Dunsmoore died in an airliner crash and her last husband, Milton Bren, died from a brain tumor in 1979.
[edit] Death
Claire Trevor died of respiratory failure in Newport Beach, April 8, 2000 at the age of 90.[5] For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Claire Trevor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] Legacy
The Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine was named in Trevor's honor. Both her Oscar and Emmy trophies are on display in the Arts Plaza there, next to the Claire Trevor Theatre.
[edit] Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1933 | Jimmy and Sally | Sally Johnson | |
| The Mad Game | Jane Lee | ||
| The Last Trail | Patricia Carter | ||
| Life in the Raw | Judy Halloway | ||
| 1934 | Elinor Norton | Elinor Norton | |
| Baby Take a Bow | Kay Ellison | ||
| Wild Gold | Jerry Jordan | ||
| Hold That Girl | Tonie Bellamy | ||
| 1935 | Spring Tonic | Betty Ingals | |
| Black Sheep | Jeanette Foster | ||
| My Marriage | Carol Barton | ||
| Navy Wife | Vicky Blake | ||
| Dante's Inferno | Betty McWade | ||
| 1936 | Career Woman | Carroll Aiken | |
| Star for a Night | Nina Lind | ||
| To Mary - with Love | Kitty Brant | ||
| Human Cargo | Bonnie Brewster | ||
| Song and Dance Man | Julia Carroll | ||
| 15 Maiden Lane | Jane Martin | ||
| 1937 | Big Town Girl | Fay Loring | |
| Second Honeymoon | Marcia | ||
| One Mile from Heaven | Lucy 'Tex' Warren | ||
| King of Gamblers | Dixie Moore | ||
| Time Out for Romance | Barbara Blanchard | ||
| Dead End | Francey | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| 1938 | Five of a Kind | Christine Nelson | |
| Valley of the Giants | Lee Roberts | ||
| Walking Down Broadway | Joan Bradley | ||
| The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse | Jo Keller | ||
| 1939 | Stagecoach | Dallas | |
| I Stole a Million | Laura Benson | ||
| Allegheny Uprising | Janie MacDougall | ||
| 1940 | Dark Command | Miss Mary Cloud | |
| 1941 | Texas | Mike King | |
| Honky Tonk | 'Gold Dust' Nelson | ||
| 1942 | The Adventures of Martin Eden | Connie Dawson | |
| Crossroads | Michelle Allaine | ||
| Street of Chance | Ruth Dillon | ||
| 1943 | The Woman of the Town | Dora Hand | |
| Good Luck, Mr. Yates | Ruth Jones | ||
| The Desperadoes | Countess Maletta | ||
| 1944 | Murder, My Sweet | Mrs. Helen Grayle | |
| 1945 | Johnny Angel | Lilah 'Lily' Gustafson | |
| 1946 | The Bachelor's Daughters | Cynthia | |
| Crack-Up | Terry Cordell | ||
| 1947 | Born to Kill | Helen Trent | |
| 1948 | Raw Deal | Pat Cameron | |
| The Velvet Touch | Marian Webster | ||
| The Babe Ruth Story | Claire (Hodgson) Ruth | ||
| Key Largo | Gaye Dawn | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| 1949 | The Lucky Stiff | Marguerite Seaton | |
| 1950 | Borderline | Madeleine Haley, aka Gladys LaRue | |
| 1951 | Best of the Badmen | Lily | |
| Hard, Fast and Beautiful | Millie Farley | ||
| 1952 | Stop, You're Killing Me | Nora Marko | |
| My Man and I | Mrs. Ansel Ames | ||
| Hoodlum Empire | Connie Williams | ||
| 1953 | The Stranger Wore a Gun | Josie Sullivan | |
| 1954 | The High and the Mighty | May Holst | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1955 | Man Without a Star | Idonee | |
| Lucy Gallant | Lady MacBeth | ||
| 1956 | The Mountain | Marie | |
| 1958 | Marjorie Morningstar | Rose Morgenstern | |
| 1962 | Two Weeks in Another Town | Clara Kruger | |
| 1963 | The Stripper | Helen Baird | |
| 1965 | How to Murder Your Wife | Edna | |
| 1967 | The Cape Town Affair | Sam Williams | |
| 1982 | Kiss Me Goodbye | Charlotte Banning | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1953-1954 | The Ford Television Theatre | Felicia Crandell | 2 episodes |
| 1954-1955 | Lux Video Theatre | 2 episodes | |
| 1954-1956 | General Electric Theater | Cora Leslie | 2 episodes |
| 1955 | Stage 7 | 1 episode | |
| 1956 | Climax! | 1 episode | |
| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | 1 episode | ||
| Producers' Showcase | Fran Dodsworth | 1 episode | |
| 1956-1961 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mary Prescott Mrs. Meade |
2 episodes |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Elizabeth Owen | 1 episode |
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Savannah Brown | 1 episode |
| Wagon Train | C.L. Harding | 1 episode | |
| The Untouchables | Kate Clark 'Ma' Barker | 1 episode | |
| 1960 | The United States Steel Hour | 1 episode | |
| 1961 | The Investigators | Kitty Harper | 1 episode |
| 1962 | Dr. Kildare | Veronica Johnson | 1 episode |
| 1983 | The Love Boat | 1 episode | |
| 1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Judith Harlan | 1 episode |
| Breaking Home Times | Grace Porter | Television movie | |
[edit] References
- ^ Drew, William M. (1999). At the Center of the Frame: Leading Ladies of the Twenties and Thirties. Vestal Press. pp. 319. ISBN 1-879-51142-8.
- ^ Hagen, Ray; Laura Wagner (2004). Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames. McFarland. pp. 222. ISBN 0-786-41883-4.
- ^ "Oscar Winner Claire Trevor Dies". highbeam.com. 2000-04-08. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-25742873.html. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
- ^ "Claire Trevor Biography (1909-2000)". filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Claire-Trevor.html. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
- ^ "Claire Trevor, 91, Versatile Actress, Dies". New York Times. 2000-04-10. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFDB163EF933A25757C0A9669C8B63&n=Top%2FFeatures%2FMovies%2FNews%20and%20Features%2FObituaries. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
[edit] External links
- Claire Trevor at the Internet Movie Database
- Claire Trevor at the Internet Broadway Database
- Claire Trevor at TV.com
- Claire Trevor School of the Arts
- Photographs of Claire Trevor
- Claire Trevor at Find a Grave
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