Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 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 Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

'' (1948), and received nominations for her roles in '' The High and the Mighty'' (1954) and ''

Dead End Dead End or dead end may refer to: * Dead end (street), a street connected only at one end with other streets, called by many other official names, including ''cul-de-sac''. Film and television * ''The Dead End'' (1914 film), directed by Davi ...

'' (1937). Trevor received top billing, ahead of John Wayne, for '' Stagecoach'' (1939).

Early life

Trevor was born on March 8, 1910, in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

, New York City, the only child of Noel Wemlinger, a Fifth Avenue merchant tailor (of French birth but German ancestry), and his wife, Benjamina ("Betty"), who was of Irish birth. She was raised in New York City, and from 1923 on, in

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...

. For many years, her year of birth was misreported as 1909, which is why her age at the time of her death was initially given as 91, not 90.

Career

According to her biography on the website of

Claire Trevor School of the Arts The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA, Claire Trevor) is an academic unit at the University of California, Irvine, focused on the performing and visual arts. The four departments housed in the school are for art, dance, drama, and music. ...

, "Trevor's acting career spanned more than seven decades and included successes in stage, radio, television, and film... heoften played the hard-boiled blonde, and every conceivable type of 'bad girl' role." After completing high school, Trevor began her career with six months of art classes at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and six months at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. 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 Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

short films and performed in

summer stock theatre In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock th ...

. In 1932, she starred on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

as the female lead in ''Whistling in the Dark''. Trevor made her film debut in ''

Jimmy and Sally ''Jimmy and Sally'' is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by James Tinling and written by Paul Schofield and Marguerite Roberts with additional dialogue by William Conselman. Starring James Dunn, Claire Trevor, Harvey Stephen ...

'' (1933), a film originally written for the popular screen duo of James Dunn and

Sally Eilers Dorothea Sally Eilers (December 11, 1908 – January 5, 1978) was an American actress. Early life Eilers was born in New York City to a Jewish-American mother, Paula (or Pauline) Schoenberger, and a German-American father, Hio Peter Eilers ( ...

. When Eilers declined the role, Trevor was cast in her place. 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 ''

'', 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 ''Big Town'' is a popular long-running radio drama featuring a corruption-fighting newspaper editor initially played from 1937 to 1942 by Edward G. Robinson in his first radio role, with echoes of the conscience-stricken tabloid editor he had ...

'', 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 Mark John Hellinger (March 21, 1903 – December 21, 1947) was an American journalist, theatre columnist and film producer. Biography Early life Hellinger was born into the Orthodox Jewish family of Mildred "Millie" (nee Fitch) and Pol Helli ...

. In 1939, she was well established as a solid leading lady. One of her more memorable performances during this period includes the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

''Stagecoach'' (1939). ClaireTrevorHighandMightyTrailerScreenshot1954

Two of Trevor's most memorable roles were opposite Dick Powell in ''

Murder, My Sweet ''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The film ...

'' (1944) and with Lawrence Tierney in '' Born to Kill'' (1947). In ''

'' (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 ''Producers' Showcase'' is an American anthology television series that was telecast live during the 1950s in compatible color by NBC. With top talent, the 90-minute episodes, covering a wide variety of genres, aired under the title every fourth ...

'' 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 The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 23, 1998, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the sh ...

in 1998.

Personal life and death

Trevor married Clark Andrews, director of her radio show, in 1938; they divorced four years later. She married

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

Lieutenant Cylos William Dunsmore in 1943. Their son Charles was her only child. The couple divorced in 1947. The next year, Trevor married Milton Bren, a film producer with two sons from a previous marriage, and moved to Newport Beach, California. In 1978, Trevor's son Charles, died in the crash of

PSA Flight 182 Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) Flight 182 was a scheduled flight of Pacific Southwest Airlines from Sacramento to Los Angeles and San Diego. On September 25, 1978, the Boeing 727-214 serving the flight, registration N533PS, collided with a p ...

, and this was followed by the death of her husband Milton from a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

in 1979. Devastated by these losses, she returned to Manhattan for some years, living in a Fifth Avenue apartment and taking a few acting roles amid a busy social life. She eventually returned to California, where she remained for the rest of her life, becoming a generous supporter of the arts. Trevor supported Thomas Dewey in the

1944 United States presidential election The 1944 United States presidential election was the 40th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. The election took place during World War II. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated ...

. On April 8, 2000, Trevor died at a hospital in Newport Beach, California. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard.

Legacy

The

at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, was named in Trevor's honor. Her Oscar and Emmy statuettes are on display in the Arts Plaza, next to the Claire Trevor Theatre.

Filmography

Radio appearances

References

External links

* * * https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/claire-trevor/
Claire Trevor School of the Arts

by

Ned Scott Ned Scott (April 16, 1907 – November 24, 1964) was an American photographer who worked in the Hollywood film industry as a still photographer from 1935–1948. As a member of the Camera Club of New York from 1930–34, he was heavily influ ...

Photographs of Claire Trevor

Guide to the Claire Trevor Memorabilia.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Claire Trevor and her young son Charles (photo)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevor, Claire 1910 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New York (state) American film actresses American people of French descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American stage actresses American television actresses Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Columbia University alumni Deaths from respiratory failure Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn People from Larchmont, New York Western (genre) film actresses