Sunday, March 8, 2009

Happy Birthday, Claire Trevor (1910-2000),



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


Dead End (1937)


Dead End (1937)







The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
with Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart


The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
with Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart


The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) with Edward G. Robinson



Stagecoach (1939)

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.


Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne


Donald Meek, John Wayne, Andy Devine, Claire Trevor, George Bancroft, Louise Platt,
Tim Holt, John Carradine, Berton Churchill, and Thomas Mitchell in

Stagecoach (1939)



Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne





with George Raft in I Stole a Million (1939)


Allegheny Uprising (1939) with John Wayne and Chill Wills


Allegheny Uprising (1939) with John Wayne and Chill Wills



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 Desperadoes (1943) with Randolph Scott




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.




Johnny Angel (1945) with George Raft



Crack-Up (1946)


Crack-Up (1946)






Born to Kill (1947) with Lawrence Tierney



Raw Deal (1948)


Raw Deal (1948)


with Dennis O'Keefe and Marsha Hunt in Raw Deal (1948)


with Dennis O'Keefe and Marsha Hunt in Raw Deal (1948)


Key Largo (1948)


with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Key Largo (1948)


with Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson
and Lauren Bacall on the set of Key Largo (1948)



Borderline (1950)


Borderline (1950)


Borderline (1950)


Jose Torvay and Claire Trevor in Borderline (1950)



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)






with Natalie Wood and Everett Sloane in 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.


1 comment:

  1. 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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