CLAIRE TREVOR BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Claire Trevor was born on March 8th, 1910 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York.  She was an only child to parents Noel and Betty Wemlinger.  Once Trevor finished High School she went on to study in college with art classes at Columbia University and also followed with six months of schooling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. 

In 1920, she began her acting career performing in various stock theatrical stage performances and by 1932 she was getting cast on roles on Broadway.  Trevor was also very interested in pursuing a career in the film industry and she started with filming shorts.  From there, Trevor received her first credited film role in, "Life in the Raw" (1933).  Trevor starred that same year in her first feature debut, "Jimmy and Sally" (1933). 

For the next five years, her career was going strong with a total of 29 film roles where she normally was cast as the lead of the film.  Trevor even worked with Humphrey Bogart in, "Dead End" (1937) where she was nominated for Best actress.   

Often, Trevor would portray the 'bad girl' image and was therefore given the nickname, "Queen of Film Noir".  By the end of the 30's, Trevor had established herself in Hollywood as one of the most solid leading lady actresses.  She had many wonderful performances such as her roles in, "Stagecoach" (1939) and "Dark Command" (1940) with John Wayne.  Throughout her career she appeared in over 60 films. 

Trevor won the  Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in, "Key Largo" (1948) and received another nomination for Best Supporting Actress later on in her career for her role in, "The High and Mighty" (1954).  As she entered them into the 50's, Trevor continued to act in film, but took only supporting roles. 

Claire Trevor still in the 80's was involved in acting as she did one final appearance in a theatrical film role on, "Kiss Me Goodbye" (1982) where she portrayed Sally Field's mother.

Throughout her lifetime she married three times, first to the director of her radio show, Clark Andrews in 1938, however four years later the couple divorced.  She then married a Navy lieutenant Cylos William Dunsmore in 1943 and had one child with him, Charles.  The couple also divorced four years later.   Trevor only waited one year before entering her third marriage to Milton Bren who was a film producer.  The couple moved to reside in Newport Beach with her son Charles and his two sons from a previous marriage.  Sadly, in 1978, Trevor's only biological son Charles died in an airplane crash and a year later she lost her third husband to a brain tumor. 

Trevor moved back from California to the east coast devastated at the loss of her family.  A couple years later, she decided to relocate back to California and became a big supporter of the arts.

Claire Trevor passed away in Newport Beach on April 8th, 2000 at the age of ninety from respiratory failure.  She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry.  
 

Filmography
 
1933  Jimmy and Sally 
1933  The Mad Game 
1933  The Last Trail 
1933  Life in the Raw 
1934  Elinor Norton 
1934  Baby Take a Bow
1934  Wild Gold 
1934  Hold That Girl 
1935  Spring Tonic 
1935  Black Sheep 
1935  My Marriage 
1935  Navy Wife 
1935  Dante's Inferno
1936  Career Woman 
1936  Star for a Night 
1936  To Mary - with Love 
1936  Human Cargo 
1936  Song and Dance Man 
1936  15 Maiden Lane
1937  Big Town Girl 
1937  Second Honeymoon
1937  One Mile from Heaven 
1937  King of Gamblers 
1937  Time Out for Romance 
1937  Dead End
1938  Five of a Kind 
1938  Valley of the Giants 
1938  Walking Down Broadway 
1938  The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse
1939  Stagecoach
1939  I Stole a Million
1939  Allegheny Uprising
1940  Dark Command
1941  Texas 
1941  Honky Tonk
1942  The Adventures of Martin Eden 
1942  Crossroads
1942  Street of Chance
1943  The Woman of the Town 
1943  Good Luck, Mr. Yates 
1943  The Desperadoes 
1944  Murder, My Sweet
1945  Johnny Angel
1946  The Bachelor's Daughters 
1946  Crack-Up
1947  Born to Kill
1948  Raw Deal
1948  The Velvet Touch
1948  The Babe Ruth Story
1948  Key Largo
1949  The Lucky Stiff 
1950  Borderline
1951  Best of the Badmen 
1951  Hard, Fast and Beautiful
1952  Stop, You're Killing Me 
1952  My Man and I 
1952  Hoodlum Empire 
1953  The Stranger Wore a Gun
1953–1954 The Ford Television Theatre
1954–1955 Lux Video Theatre
1954–1956 General Electric Theater 
1954  The High and the Mighty
1955  Man Without a Star
1955  Lucy Gallant
1955  Stage 7  
1956  The Mountain
1956  Climax!1956
1956  Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1956  Producers' Showcase
1956–1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1957  Playhouse 90
1958  Marjorie Morningstar
1959  Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1959  Wagon Train
1959  The Untouchables
1960  The United States Steel Hour
1961  The Investigators
1962  Two Weeks in Another Town
1962  Dr. Kildare
1963  The Stripper
1965  How to Murder Your Wife
1967  The Cape Town Affair 
1982  Kiss Me Goodbye 
1983  The Love Boat
1987  Murder, She Wrote
1987  Breaking Home Times