Claire Du Brey
Claire Du Brey | |
---|---|
Born | Clara Violet Dubreyvich August 31, 1892 Bonners Ferry, Idaho, U.S. |
Died | August 1, 1993 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 100)
Other names | Claire Du Bray Claire Dubrey |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1916–1959 |
Spouse(s) | Mark G. Gates, M.D. (m. November 25, 1911–1920s; divorced) |
Claire Du Brey (August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films between 1916 and 1959. Her name is sometimes seen as Claire Du Bray or Claire Dubrey.[1]
Early years
Du Brey was born Clara Violet Dubreyvich in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho,[1] to an ethnic Croat father from Dalmatia (who anglicized his name to Matthew Dubrey before his marriage),[citation needed] and an Irish-American mother, Lilly (née Henry), later Mrs. Richard Fugitt. Her parents married on November 9, 1891 in Pocatello, Bannock County, Idaho. She was raised Catholic and attended a convent school.[2]
Du Brey "had trained as a nurse".[3] She related that in 1897 she traveled west from Idaho in a covered wagon with her mother and her grandfather.[3]
Career
Du Brey's screen career began with Universal Studios and she played at one time or another with almost all the larger companies. More notable films in which she appeared were Anything Once (1917), Social Briars (1918), The Devil's Trail (1919), What Every Woman Wants (1919) and Dangerous Hours (1919). Other films include The Wishing Ring Man, The Spite Bride, The World Aflame, and The Walk Offs. Her career declined with the sound era and she later played mostly small roles.
Du Brey was proficient in athletics, excelling in swimming, riding, golfing, tennis and motoring. She was five feet seven inches high, weighed 130 pounds and had auburn hair and brown eyes, and took a lively interest in horticulture.[4]
Personal life
According to two biographies of Marie Dressler published in the late 1990s, Dressler and Du Brey had a long-term romantic relationship.[3][2] However other sources indicate that Du Brey, who had trained as a nurse, was the elder actress's assistant and caregiver while Dressler was ill with terminal cancer.[4]
Du Brey was married to, and divorced from, Norman Gates, a doctor in Los Angeles.[3]
Death
On August 1, 1993, Du Brey died in Los Angeles[1] at age 100.
Selected filmography
- The Piper's Price (1917)
- The Drifter (1917)
- The Fighting Gringo (1917)
- Hair-Trigger Burke (1917)
- The Honor of an Outlaw (1917)
- A 44-Calibre Mystery (1917)
- The Almost Good Man (1917)
- Six-Shooter Justice (1917)
- The Rescue (1917)
- Pay Me! (1917)
- Triumph (1917)
- Anything Once (1917)
- Social Briars (1918)
- The Border Raiders (1918)
- The Devil's Trail (1919)
- Dangerous Hours (1919)
- What Every Woman Wants (1919)
- The Wishing Ring Man (1919)
- When Fate Decides (1919)
- The Heart of a Child (1920)
- That Girl Montana (1921)
- The Bronze Bell (1921)
- The Hole in the Wall (1921)
- The Ordeal (1922)
- The Voice from the Minaret (1923)
- Two Sisters (1929)
- Ramona (1936)
- The Affairs of Annabel (1938)
- The Baroness and the Butler (1938)
- Jesse James (1939)
- The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
- Juke Box Jenny (1942)
- Oh, What a Night (1944)
- Dakota (1945)
- Star in the Night (1945) short film
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
- The Bishop's Wife (1947)
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Destination Big House (1950)
- Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953)
References
- ^ a b c Gmür, Leonhard (2013). Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen. epubli. p. 182. ISBN 9783844246018. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
- ^ a b Kennedy, Matthew (2006). Marie Dressler: A Biography; with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography. Jefferson NC: McFarland. pp. 143–144.
- ^ a b c d Lee, Betty (1997). Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 186–187.
- ^ a b Charles Donald Fox & Milton L. Silver (1920). "Claire Du Brey". Who's Who on the Screen. New York City: Ross Publishing. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
Bibliography
- Kennedy, Matthew (1999). Marie Dressler: A Biography, With a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography And a Discography. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0520-1.
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(help) - Lee, Betty (1997). Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star. University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0-8131-2036-5.
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