Acting · Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA · Born March 8, 1910
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]
Movie1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
as Self (archive footage)
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2008
as Self
MovieBreaking Home Ties
1987
as Grace Porter
TVMurder, She Wrote
1984
as Judith Harlan
MovieGoing Hollywood: The '30s
1984
as (archive footage)
MovieKiss Me Goodbye
1982
as Charlotte
MovieThe Cape Town Affair
1967
as Sam Williams
MovieHow to Murder Your Wife
1965
as Edna
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1963
as Helen Baird
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1962
as Self
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1962
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1962
as Clara Kruger
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1961
as Kitty Harper
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1961
as Nurse Veronica Johnson
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1958
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1958
as Rose Morgenstern
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1957
as C.L. Harding
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1957
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1956
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1955
as Lady MacBeth
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1955
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1955
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1954
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1954
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1954
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1953
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1953
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1953
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1952
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1952
as Mrs. Elena Ames
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1952
as Connie Williams
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1951
as Mary Hunter
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1951
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1950
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1950
as Madeleine Haley
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1949
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1948
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1948
as Gaye Dawn
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1948
as Marian Webster
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1948
as Pat Cameron
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1947
as Helen Brent
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1946
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1946
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1945
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1944
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1943
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1943
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1943
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1942
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1942
as Michelle Allaine
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1942
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1941
as Michael 'Mike' King
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1941
as "Gold Dust" Nelson
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1940
as Miss Mary McCloud
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1939
as Janie MacDougall
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1939
as Laura Benson
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1939
as Dallas
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1938
as Christine Nelson
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1938
as Lee Roberts
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1938
as Jo Keller
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1938
as Joan Bradley
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1937
as Fay Loring
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1937
as Marcia
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1937
as Francey
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1937
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1937
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1937
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1936
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1935
as Vicky Blake
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1935
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1935
as Janette Foster
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1935
as Betty Ingals
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1934
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1934
as Kay Ellison
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1934
as Jerry Jordan
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1934
as Tonie Bellamy
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1933
as Sally Johnson
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1933
as Jane Lee
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1933
as Patricia Carter
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1933
as Judy Halloway
