Claire Trevor

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Claire Trevor
Born	Claire Wemlinger March 8, 1910(1910-03-08) Brooklyn, New York
Died	April 8, 2000 (aged 90) Newport Beach, California
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.

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.

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 appearences, Trevor retired from acting in 1987. She made a special appearance at the 70th annual Academy Awards in 1998.

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.

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.

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.

Filmography

References

External links

• Claire Trevor at the Internet Movie Database
• Claire Trevor at TV.com
• Claire Trevor School of the Arts
• Photographs of Claire Trevor
• Claire Trevor at Find a Grave