Place of Birth: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Claire Trevor
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]
Movie | Cast | Year |
---|---|---|
Stagecoach | Dallas | 1939 |
Murder, My Sweet | Helen Grayle | 1944 |
Key Largo | Gaye Dawn | 1948 |
Baby Take a Bow | Kay Ellison | 1934 |
Hoodlum Empire | Connie Williams | 1952 |
How to Murder Your Wife | Edna | 1965 |
Marjorie Morningstar | Rose Morgenstern | 1958 |
Crack-Up | Terry Cordell | 1946 |
Raw Deal | Pat Cameron | 1948 |
Born to Kill | Helen Brent | 1947 |
Wild Gold | Jerry Jordan | 1934 |
Dead End | Francey | 1937 |
Dark Command | Miss Mary McCloud | 1940 |
The Velvet Touch | Marian Webster | 1948 |
Johnny Angel | Lilah 'Lily' Gustafson | 1945 |
Street of Chance | Ruth Dillon | 1942 |
Crossroads | Michelle Allaine | 1942 |
Man Without a Star | Idonee | 1955 |
The Stranger Wore a Gun | Josie Sullivan | 1953 |
The Cape Town Affair | Sam Williams | 1967 |
The Babe Ruth Story | Claire Hodgson Ruth | 1948 |
Allegheny Uprising | Janie MacDougall | 1939 |
Two Weeks in Another Town | Clara Kruger | 1962 |
I Stole a Million | Laura Benson | 1939 |
Borderline | Madeleine Haley | 1950 |
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse | Jo Keller | 1938 |
The High and the Mighty | May Holst | 1954 |
Kiss Me Goodbye | Charlotte | 1982 |
Hard, Fast and Beautiful | Millie Farley | 1951 |
Texas | Michael 'Mike' King | 1941 |
The Mountain | Marie | 1956 |
Stop, You're Killing Me | Nora Marko | 1952 |
The Desperadoes | Countess Maletta | 1943 |
Honky Tonk | "Gold Dust" Nelson | 1941 |
Best of the Badmen | Lily | 1951 |
Career Woman | Carroll Aiken | 1936 |
Lucy Gallant | Lady MacBeth | 1955 |
Good Luck, Mr. Yates | Ruth Jones | 1943 |
The Lucky Stiff | Marguerite Seaton | 1949 |
Dante's Inferno | Elizabeth "Betty" McWade Carter | 1935 |
Black Sheep | Janette Foster | 1935 |
One Mile from Heaven | Lucy 'Tex' Warren | 1937 |
15 Maiden Lane | Jane Martin | 1936 |
Second Honeymoon | Marcia | 1937 |
The Stripper | Helen Baird | 1963 |
Valley of the Giants | Lee Roberts | 1938 |
Spring Tonic | Betty Ingals | 1935 |
Five of a Kind | Christine Nelson | 1938 |
The Bachelor's Daughters | Cynthia Davis | 1946 |
The Woman of the Town | Dora Hand | 1943 |
The Mad Game | Jane Lee | 1933 |
Going Hollywood: The '30s | (archive footage) | 1984 |
My Man and I | Mrs. Elena Ames | 1952 |
Human Cargo | Bonnie Brewster | 1936 |
To Mary - with Love | Kitty Brant | 1936 |
Life in the Raw | Judy Halloway | 1933 |
The Adventures of Martin Eden | Connie Dawson | 1942 |
Song and Dance Man | Julia Carroll | 1936 |
Navy Wife | Vicky Blake | 1935 |
Time Out for Romance | Barbara Blanchard | 1937 |
Big Town Girl | Fay Loring | 1937 |
Hold That Girl | Tonie Bellamy | 1934 |
King of Gamblers | Dixie Moore | 1937 |
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story | Self | 2008 |
The Last Trail | Patricia Carter | 1933 |
Star for a Night | Nina Lind | 1936 |
Jimmy and Sally | Sally Johnson | 1933 |
Elinor Norton | Elinor Norton | 1934 |
My Marriage | Carol Barton | 1936 |
Walking Down Broadway | Joan Bradley | 1938 |
A Star Is Born World Premiere | Self | 1954 |
Breaking Home Ties | Grace Porter | 1987 |
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs | 1936 | |
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year | Self (archive footage) | 2009 | Series | Cast | Year |
General Electric Theater | Cora Leslie | 1953 |
Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mary Prescott | 1955 |
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | 1958 | |
Lux Video Theatre | Ellen Creed | 1950 |
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Mary Hunter | 1951 |
Climax! | Phyllis Talbot | 1954 |
Dr. Kildare | Nurse Veronica Johnson | 1961 |
The Oscars | Self | 1953 |
Wagon Train | C.L. Harding | 1957 |
Lux Video Theatre | Mary Scott | 1950 |
Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Meade | 1955 |
Murder, She Wrote | Judith Harlan | 1984 |
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Self | 1962 |