Claire Trevor

American actress

Also known as: Claire Wemlinger

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Last Updated: Apr 4, 2025 • Article History

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:: Clark Andrews (1938–1942); Cylos William Dunsmoor (1943–1947); Milton H. Bren (1948–1979 [his death])

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

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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.

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

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