Claire Trevor

American actress
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Also known as: Claire Wemlinger
Quick Facts
Original name:
Claire Wemlinger
Born:
March 8, 1910, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died:
April 8, 2000, Newport Beach, California, U.S.
Awards And Honors:
Emmy Award (1957)
Academy Award (1949)
Academy Award (1949): Actress in a Supporting Role
Emmy Award (1957): Best Single Performance by an Actress
Married To:
Milton H. Bren (1948–1979 [his death])
Cylos William Dunsmoor (1943–1947)
Clark Andrews (1938–1942)
Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):
"Murder, She Wrote" (1987)
"The Love Boat" (1983)
"Kiss Me Goodbye" (1982)
"The Cape Town Affair" (1967)
"How to Murder Your Wife" (1965)
"The Stripper" (1963)
"Dr. Kildare" (1962)
"Two Weeks in Another Town" (1962)
"The Investigators" (1961)
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1956–1961)
"The United States Steel Hour" (1960)
"The Untouchables" (1959)
"Wagon Train" (1959)
"Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" (1959)
"Marjorie Morningstar" (1958)
"Playhouse 90" (1957)
"The Mountain" (1956)
"Producers' Showcase" (1956)
"Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" (1956)
"Climax!" (1956)
"Lucy Gallant" (1955)
"Lux Video Theatre" (1954–1955)
"Man Without a Star" (1955)
"The Ford Television Theatre" (1953–1954)
"The High and the Mighty" (1954)
"General Electric Theater" (1954)
"The Stranger Wore a Gun" (1953)
"Stop, You're Killing Me" (1952)
"My Man and I" (1952)
"Hoodlum Empire" (1952)
"Best of the Badmen" (1951)
"Hard, Fast and Beautiful" (1951)
"Borderline" (1950)
"The Lucky Stiff" (1949)
"The Babe Ruth Story" (1948)
"Key Largo" (1948)
"The Velvet Touch" (1948)
"Raw Deal" (1948)
"Born to Kill" (1947)
"Crack-Up" (1946)
"The Bachelor's Daughters" (1946)
"Johnny Angel" (1945)
"Murder, My Sweet" (1944)
"The Woman of the Town" (1943)
"Good Luck, Mr. Yates" (1943)
"The Desperadoes" (1943)
"Street of Chance" (1942)
"Crossroads" (1942)
"The Adventures of Martin Eden" (1942)
"Texas" (1941)
"Honky Tonk" (1941)
"Dark Command" (1940)
"Allegheny Uprising" (1939)
"I Stole a Million" (1939)
"Stagecoach" (1939)
"Five of a Kind" (1938)
"Valley of the Giants" (1938)
"The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" (1938)
"Walking Down Broadway" (1938)
"Big Town Girl" (1937)
"Second Honeymoon" (1937)
"Dead End" (1937)
"One Mile from Heaven" (1937)
"King of Gamblers" (1937)
"Time Out for Romance" (1937)
"Career Woman" (1936)
"15 Maiden Lane" (1936)
"Star for a Night" (1936)
"To Mary - with Love" (1936)
"Human Cargo" (1936)
"Song and Dance Man" (1936)
"My Marriage" (1936)
"Navy Wife" (1935)
"Dante's Inferno" (1935)
"Spring Tonic" (1935)
"Black Sheep" (1935)
"Elinor Norton" (1934)
"Baby, Take a Bow" (1934)
"Wild Gold" (1934)
"Hold That Girl" (1934)
"Jimmy and Sally" (1933)
"The Mad Game" (1933)
"The Last Trail" (1933)
"Life in the Raw" (1933)

Claire Trevor (born March 8, 1910, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died April 8, 2000, Newport Beach, California, U.S.) was an American actor who appeared in dozens of motion pictures during her half-century-long career, often as a tough-talking though vulnerable and kindhearted floozy. Films of the 1930s and ’40s provided many of her most notable roles, among them a prostitute in Stagecoach (1939); a duplicitous gold digger in Murder, My Sweet (1944); and sadistic gangster Edward G. Robinson’s mistress, a pathetic liquor-craving nightclub singer, in Key Largo (1948), for which she received an Academy Award for best supporting actress.

Following studies in New York City at Columbia University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Trevor began performing in repertory theatre and short films. In 1932 she made her Broadway debut in Whistling in the Dark, and the following year she appeared in The Party’s Over. Later in 1933 she made her feature film debut in Life in the Raw. Notable among the many other films she made in the mid-1930s were Dante’s Inferno (1935); Dead End (1937), which gained her her first Oscar nomination; and The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), and from 1937 to 1940 she also performed on the radio drama Big Town.

Among Trevor’s later films were Johnny Angel (1945); The High and the Mighty (1954), for which she received her third Oscar nomination; Marjorie Morningstar (1958); How to Murder Your Wife (1965); and Kiss Me Goodbye (1982), her final film. Trevor occasionally returned to the stage, and she also made a number of television appearances. For one of her TV performances, in a revival of Dodsworth (1956), she was honoured with an Emmy Award.

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