Claire Trevor photo

Claire Trevor

Acting
1910-03-08
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) 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 88 titles
Song and Dance Man (1936) subtitle poster
Song and Dance Man
1936 Movie
as Julia Carroll
Subtitles
Street of Chance (1942) subtitle poster
Street of Chance
1942 Movie
as Ruth Dillon
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The Cape Town Affair (1967) subtitle poster
The Cape Town Affair
1967 Movie
as Sam Williams
Subtitles
King of Gamblers (1937) subtitle poster
King of Gamblers
1937 Movie
as Dixie Moore
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Wild Gold (1934) subtitle poster
Wild Gold
1934 Movie
as Jerry Jordan
Subtitles
Walking Down Broadway (1938) subtitle poster
Walking Down Broadway
1938 Movie
as Joan Bradley
Subtitles
Time Out for Romance (1937) subtitle poster
Time Out for Romance
1937 Movie
as Barbara Blanchard
Subtitles
The Mad Game (1933) subtitle poster
The Mad Game
1933 Movie
as Jane Lee
Subtitles
The Bachelor's Daughters (1946) subtitle poster
The Bachelor's Daughters
1946 Movie
as Cynthia Davis
Subtitles
Life in the Raw (1933) subtitle poster
Life in the Raw
1933 Movie
as Judy Halloway
Subtitles
Dante's Inferno (1935) subtitle poster
Dante's Inferno
1935 Movie
as Elizabeth "Betty" McWade Carter
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The Last Trail (1933) subtitle poster
The Last Trail
1933 Movie
as Patricia Carter
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The Lucky Stiff (1949) subtitle poster
The Lucky Stiff
1949 Movie
as Marguerite Seaton
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Hold That Girl (1934) subtitle poster
Hold That Girl
1934 Movie
as Tonie Bellamy
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Jimmy and Sally (1933) subtitle poster
Jimmy and Sally
1933 Movie
as Sally Johnson
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If You Knew Elizabeth (1957) subtitle poster
If You Knew Elizabeth
1957 Movie
as Elizabeth Owen
Subtitles
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