- Claire Trevor
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Claire Trevor 
Trevor in Murder, My Sweet (1944)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 Clark Andrews (1938-1942)
Cylos William Dunsmoore (1943 -1947) 1 son
Milton H. Bren (1948-1979) (his death)Claire Trevor (March 8, 1910[1][2] – April 8, 2000) was an Academy Award-winning 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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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 Noel and Betty Wemlinger, a Fifth Avenue merchant tailor and his wife, and grew up in Larchmont, New York.[5] Her family was of German, Irish American and French American descent.
Career
According to her biography on the website of Claire Trevor School of the Arts, "Trevor's acting career spanned more than seven decades and included successes in stage, radio, television and film. . . . [S]he often played the hard-boiled blonde, and every conceivable type of 'bad girl' role."[6]
After completing high school, Trevor began her career with six months of art classes at Columbia University and six months at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, performing in stock in the late 1920s . 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 29 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. From 1937 to 1940, she appeared with Edward G. Robinson in the popular radio series Big Town, while continuing to make movies.
Trevor in The High and the Mighty, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination 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.
Two of Trevor's memorable roles were 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 commits a murder. Key Largo, the following year, gave Trevor the role of Gaye Dawn, the washed-up nightclub singer and gangster's moll, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1957 she won an Emmy for her role in the Producers' Showcase episode entitled Dodsworth.[7]
Trevor moved into supporting roles in the 1950s, with her appearances becoming increasingly rare after the mid-1960s. She returned for one final theatrical film, playing Sally Field's caustic mother, Charlotte in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982). Her last film was the 1987 television movie Norman Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties. She made a special appearance at the 70th annual Academy Awards in 1998.
Personal life
Trevor married Clark Andrews, director of her radio show, in 1938, but they divorced four years later. Her second marriage, in 1943, to Navy lieutenant Cylos William Dunsmoore produced a son, Charles. The marriage ended in divorce in 1947. The next year, Trevor married Milton Bren, a film producer with two sons from a previous marriage, and soon after moved to Newport Beach, California.
In 1978, her son Charles Dunsmoore Bren died in the crash of PSA Flight 182 in San Diego, followed by the death of her husband Milton Bren from a brain tumor in 1979. Devastated by these losses, she returned to New York for a number of years, living in a Fifth Avenue apartment and taking a few acting roles amid a busy social life. Eventually she returned to California, where she became a generous supporter of the arts.[8]
Death
Claire Trevor died of respiratory failure in Newport Beach, April 8, 2000 at the age of 90.[9] For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Claire Trevor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
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 statuettes are on display in the Arts Plaza there, next to the Claire Trevor Theatre.
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
Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama1956–1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Mary Prescott
Mrs. Meade2 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 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.
- ^ "About Claire Trevor," Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine
- ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Netwok and Cable TV Shows, 1946- Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. pp. 1413. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
External links
- "Claire Trevor, 91, Versatile Actress, Dies" The New York Times, April 10, 2000
- Claire Trevor at the Internet Movie Database
- Claire Trevor at the Internet Broadway Database
- Claire Trevor School of the Arts
- Photographs of Claire Trevor
- Claire Trevor at Find a Grave
- Claire Trevor and her young son
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (1941–1960) Mary Astor (1941) · Teresa Wright (1942) · Katina Paxinou (1943) · Ethel Barrymore (1944) · Anne Revere (1945) · Anne Baxter (1946) · Celeste Holm (1947) · Claire Trevor (1948) · Mercedes McCambridge (1949) · Josephine Hull (1950) · Kim Hunter (1951) · Gloria Grahame (1952) · Donna Reed (1953) · Eva Marie Saint (1954) · Jo Van Fleet (1955) · Dorothy Malone (1956) · Miyoshi Umeki (1957) · Wendy Hiller (1958) · Shelley Winters (1959) · Shirley Jones (1960)
Complete list · (1936–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–2020) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie (1952–1975) Judith Anderson (1954) · Mary Martin (1955) · Claire Trevor (1956) · Polly Bergen (1957) · Julie Harris (1959) · Ingrid Bergman (1960) · Judith Anderson (1961) · Julie Harris (1962) · Kim Stanley (1963) · Shelley Winters (1964) · Lynn Fontanne (1965) · Simone Signoret (1966) · Geraldine Page (1967) · Maureen Stapleton (1968) · Geraldine Page (1969) · Patty Duke (1970) · Lee Grant (1971) · Glenda Jackson (1972) · Cloris Leachman (1973) · Susan Hampshire / Cicely Tyson / Mildred Natwick (1974) · Katharine Hepburn / Jessica Walter (1975)
Complete List · (1952–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025) Categories:- American film actors
- American television actors
- Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners
- Deaths from respiratory failure
- Emmy Award winners
- People from Brooklyn
- 1910 births
- 2000 deaths
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