A remarkable actress, Claire Trevor was famous for playing molls, floozies and broads, and was cast as the owner of a rowdy saloon in many a western. She made her debut in 1933, and became a glamorous leading lady, opposite the likes of John Wayne, Clark Gable, Glenn Ford or William Holden. Brilliant in Stagecoach (1939), the film that catapulted her to success, she won an Academy Award for Key Largo (1948).
Claire Trevor in 1932
Jimmy and Sally (1933)
in Navy Wife (1935) with Ralph Bellamy
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
Director John Ford tapped her for his first big sound western, Stagecoach (1939), the film that made a star of John Wayne. All her abilities to bring complexity to a character showed in her kicked-around dance hall girl "Dallas", one of the great early female roles. She and Wayne were electric, and they were paired in three more films during their careers.
Donald Meek, John Wayne, Andy Devine, Claire Trevor, George Bancroft, Louise Platt,
Tim Holt, John Carradine, Berton Churchill, and Thomas Mitchell in
Stagecoach (1939)
I Stole a Million (1939)
with George Raft in I Stole a Million (1939)
Clark Gable, Lana Turner and Claire Trevor in Honky Tonk (1941)
Clark Gable, Albert Dekker and Claire Trevor in Honky Tonk (1941)
The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942) with Glenn Ford
The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942) with Glenn Ford
with Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Claire really came into her own in the genre that would later come to be known as film-noir. Her film-noir resume includes Street of Chance (1942), Murder, My Sweet (1944), Johnny Angel (1945), Crack-Up (1946), Born to Kill (1947), Raw Deal (1948), Key Largo (1948) and Hoodlum Empire (1952). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of washed-up, boozy nightclub singer Gaye Dawn in Key Largo (1948). The film hangs on her wrenching performance during a pathetic rendition of the torch song "Moanin' Low", sung in humiliation to gain a desperately wanted drink.
Raw Deal (1948)
with Dennis O'Keefe and Marsha Hunt in Raw Deal (1948)
The High and the Mighty (1954)
John Wayne, John Qualen, Paul Kelly, Claire Trevor
and Jan Sterling in The High and the Mighty (1954)
John Wayne, Paul Kelly, Claire Trevor
and Jan Sterling in The High and the Mighty (1954)
John Wayne, John Qualen, Paul Kelly, Claire Trevor
and Jan Sterling in The High and the Mighty (1954)
John Wayne, Paul Kelly, Claire Trevor
and Jan Sterling in The High and the Mighty (1954)
Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor
Trevor and her third husband, producer Milton H. Bren, had long been residents of tony Newport Beach, CA, to which they returned in 1987 when Trevor finally retired from screen work. However, she did maintain an active interest in stage work, and became associated with The School of Arts at the University of California, Irvine. She and her husband contributed some $10 million to further its development for the visual and performing arts, including three endowed professorships. After her passing in April 2000 at age 91, the University renamed the school The Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Her Oscar for Key Largo (1948) stands in an exterior glass window on view in the school's Arts Plaza complex.
I just watched Borderline last night, and I was really surprised at how good it is. I'll be doing a review of it in a few days. Claire Trevor is a fantastic actress and is not as popular as she should be.
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