Claire Trevor Photo

Claire Trevor

Acting

1.5 Popularity Mar 08, 1910 (90 years old) Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

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...

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]

Filmography 88

2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year Movie

as Self (archive footage)

1987
Breaking Home Ties Movie

as Grace Porter

1984
Murder, She Wrote TV

as Judith Harlan

1984
Going Hollywood: The '30s Movie

as (archive footage)

1982
Kiss Me Goodbye Movie

as Charlotte

1967
The Cape Town Affair Movie

as Sam Williams

1965
1963
The Stripper Movie

as Helen Baird

1962
1962
Two Weeks in Another Town Movie

as Clara Kruger

1961
Dr. Kildare TV

as Nurse Veronica Johnson

1958
Marjorie Morningstar Movie

as Rose Morgenstern

1957
Wagon Train TV

as C.L. Harding

1956
The Mountain Movie

as Marie

1955
Lucy Gallant Movie

as Lady MacBeth

1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV

as Mary Prescott

1955

Photos 8

Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo
Claire Trevor Photo

Personal Details

Known For Acting
Gender Female
Birthday March 08, 1910 (90 years old)
Died April 08, 2000
Place of Birth Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As Claire Wemlinger, The Queen of Film Noir
Years Active 1933 - 2009
Popularity 1.5
Career Stats
88 Total Credits
74 Movie Roles
14 TV Roles
8 Photos