Claire Trevor
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 8, 1910
- Died
- April 8, 2000 (aged 90)
- Birthplace
- Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Claire Trevor (née Wemlinger; March 8, 1910 – April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Key Largo (1948), and received nominations for her roles in The High and the Mighty (1954) and Dead End (1937). Trevor received top billing, ahead of John Wayne, for Stagecoach (1939). Trevor's acting career spanned more than seven decades and included successes in stage, radio, television, and film. She often played the hard-boiled blonde, and every conceivable type of 'bad girl' role. She made her stage debut in the summer of 1929 with a repertory company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She subsequently returned to New York, where she appeared in a number of Brooklyn-filmed Vitaphone short films and performed in summer stock theatre. In 1932, she starred on Broadway as the female lead in Whistling in the Dark. Trevor made her film debut in Jimmy and Sally (1933). From 1933 to 1938, Trevor starred in 29 films, often having either the lead role or the role of heroine. In 1937, she was the second lead actress (after top-billed Sylvia Sidney) in Dead End, with Humphrey Bogart, which led to her nomination 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. In the early 1940s, she also was a regular on The Old Gold Don Ameche Show on the NBC Red Radio Network, starring with Ameche in presentations of plays by Mark Hellinger. In 1939, she was well established as a solid leading lady. One of her more memorable performances during this period includes the Western Stagecoach (1939). Two of Trevor's most memorable roles were opposite Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944) and with Lawrence Tierney in Born to Kill (1947). In Key Largo (1948), Trevor played Gaye Dawn, a washed-up, alcoholic nightclub singer and gangster's moll. For that role, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her third and final Oscar nomination was for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954). In 1957, she won an Emmy for her role in the Producers' Showcase episode entitled "Dodsworth". Trevor moved into supporting roles in the 1950s, with her appearances becoming very rare after the mid-1960s. She played Charlotte, the mother of Kay (Sally Field) in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982). Her final television role was for the 1987 television film, Norman Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties. Trevor made a guest appearance at the 70th Academy Awards in 1998. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]
Known For
Photos
Filmography
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
Movie · as Self
Breaking Home Ties
Movie · as Grace Porter
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Movie · as (archive footage)
Murder, She Wrote
TV · as Judith Harlan · 1 ep
Kiss Me Goodbye
Movie · as Charlotte
The Cape Town Affair
Movie · as Sam Williams
How to Murder Your Wife
Movie · as Edna
The Stripper
Movie · as Helen Baird
Two Weeks in Another Town
Movie · as Clara Kruger
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Merv Griffin Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Dr. Kildare
TV · as Nurse Veronica Johnson · 1 ep
The Investigators
TV · as Kitty Harper · 1 ep
Marjorie Morningstar
Movie · as Rose Morgenstern
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV · 1 ep
If You Knew Elizabeth
Movie · as Elizabeth Owen
Wagon Train
TV · as C.L. Harding · 1 ep
The Mountain
Movie · as Marie
Man Without a Star
Movie · as Idonee
Lucy Gallant
Movie · as Lady MacBeth
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Mary Prescott, Mrs. Meade · 1 ep
The High and the Mighty
Movie · as May Holst
A Star Is Born World Premiere
Movie · as Self
Climax!
TV · as Phyllis Talbot · 1 ep
The Stranger Wore a Gun
Movie · as Josie Sullivan
General Electric Theater
TV · as Cora Leslie · 1 ep
The Oscars
TV · as Self · 4 eps
Hoodlum Empire
Movie · as Connie Williams
Stop, You're Killing Me
Movie · as Nora Marko
My Man and I
Movie · as Mrs. Elena Ames
Hard, Fast and Beautiful!
Movie · as Millie Farley
Best of the Badmen
Movie · as Lily
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · as Mary Hunter · 1 ep
Borderline
Movie · as Madeleine Haley
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Ellen Creed, Mary Scott · 1 ep
The Lucky Stiff
Movie · as Marguerite Seaton
Key Largo
Movie · as Gaye Dawn
Raw Deal
Movie · as Pat Cameron
The Velvet Touch
Movie · as Marian Webster
The Babe Ruth Story
Movie · as Claire Hodgson Ruth
Born to Kill
Movie · as Helen Brent
Crack-Up
Movie · as Terry Cordell
The Bachelor's Daughters
Movie · as Cynthia Davis
Johnny Angel
Movie · as Lilah 'Lily' Gustafson
Murder, My Sweet
Movie · as Helen Grayle
The Desperadoes
Movie · as Countess Maletta
Good Luck, Mr. Yates
Movie · as Ruth Jones
The Woman of the Town
Movie · as Dora Hand
Street of Chance
Movie · as Ruth Dillon
Crossroads
Movie · as Michelle Allaine
The Adventures of Martin Eden
Movie · as Connie Dawson
Texas
Movie · as Michael 'Mike' King
Honky Tonk
Movie · as "Gold Dust" Nelson
Dark Command
Movie · as Miss Mary McCloud
Stagecoach
Movie · as Dallas
Allegheny Uprising
Movie · as Janie MacDougall
I Stole a Million
Movie · as Laura Benson
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse
Movie · as Jo Keller
Valley of the Giants
Movie · as Lee Roberts
Five of a Kind
Movie · as Christine Nelson
Walking Down Broadway
Movie · as Joan Bradley
Dead End
Movie · as Francey
One Mile from Heaven
Movie · as Lucy 'Tex' Warren
Second Honeymoon
Movie · as Marcia
Time Out for Romance
Movie · as Barbara Blanchard
Big Town Girl
Movie · as Fay Loring
King of Gamblers
Movie · as Dixie Moore
Career Woman
Movie · as Carroll Aiken
15 Maiden Lane
Movie · as Jane Martin
Human Cargo
Movie · as Bonnie Brewster
To Mary - with Love
Movie · as Kitty Brant
Song and Dance Man
Movie · as Julia Carroll
Star for a Night
Movie · as Nina Lind
My Marriage
Movie · as Carol Barton
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
Movie
Dante's Inferno
Movie · as Elizabeth "Betty" McWade Carter
Black Sheep
Movie · as Janette Foster
Spring Tonic
Movie · as Betty Ingals
Navy Wife
Movie · as Vicky Blake
Baby Take a Bow
Movie · as Kay Ellison
Wild Gold
Movie · as Jerry Jordan
Hold That Girl
Movie · as Tonie Bellamy
Elinor Norton
Movie · as Elinor Norton
The Mad Game
Movie · as Jane Lee
Life in the Raw
Movie · as Judy Halloway
The Last Trail
Movie · as Patricia Carter
Jimmy and Sally
Movie · as Sally Johnson