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Claire Trevor

Claire Trevor

Actor · 1910 – 2000 · 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]

Movies24

  • Movie7.6

    Stagecoach

    1939 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie7.5

    Key Largo

    1948 · 601 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Man Without a Star

    1955 · 125 votes

  • Movie5.9

    The High and the Mighty

    1954 · 90 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Murder, My Sweet

    1944 · 268 votes

  • Movie6.3

    How to Murder Your Wife

    1965 · 155 votes

  • Movie5.9

    The Desperadoes

    1943 · 31 votes

  • Movie7.0
  • Movie6.4

    Dark Command

    1940 · 63 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Texas

    1941 · 25 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Best of the Badmen

    1951 · 17 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Mountain

    1956 · 51 votes

  • Movie5.9
  • Movie5.5

    The Stranger Wore a Gun

    1953 · 33 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Honky Tonk

    1941 · 18 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Dead End

    1937 · 158 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Born to Kill

    1947 · 93 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Allegheny Uprising

    1939 · 33 votes

  • Movie7.5
  • Movie5.9

    Kiss Me Goodbye

    1982 · 47 votes

  • Movie8.0

    I Stole a Million

    1939 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Baby Take a Bow

    1934 · 21 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Raw Deal

    1948 · 113 votes

  • Movie7.0

    My Man and I

    1952 · 6 votes

Series13

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV5.7

    Dr. Kildare

    1961 · 19 votes

  • TV6.6

    Wagon Train

    1957 · 31 votes

  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV7.8

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    1955 · 266 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV6.3
  • TV6.7

    Lux Video Theatre

    1950 · 7 votes

  • TV6.0

    The Investigators

    1961 · 2 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV7.2