# Claire Trevor
**Claire Trevor** (born Claire Wemlinger; March 8, 1909 or 1910 – April 8, 2000) was an American actress whose career in film, stage, radio, and television spanned more than five decades, and who won the [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actress) for her role as the alcoholic singer Gaye Dawn in *Key Largo* (1948).[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) Known for playing tough, morally compromised women in 1940s film noir, she was nicknamed the Queen of Film Noir.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Claire Wemlinger, born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York; sources give March 8, 1909 or March 8, 1910[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [3](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/claire-trevor/) |
| Signature roles | Dallas in *Stagecoach* (1939); the streetwalker in *Dead End* (1937); Gaye Dawn in *Key Largo* (1948)[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) |
| Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress for *Key Largo*, awarded March 24, 1949; also nominated for *Dead End* (1937) and *The High and the Mighty* (1954)[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/awards/) |
| Emmy | Best Live Television Performance by an Actress for *Dodsworth* on NBC's *Producer's Showcase* (1956)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) |
| Film output | More than 60 films from 1933 to 1982, plus hundreds of radio and television appearances[3](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/claire-trevor/) |
| Marriages | Producer Clark Andrews (1938, divorced 1942); Cylos William Dunsmoore (1943, divorced 1947); producer Milton Bren (1948, died 1979)[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/trevor-claire-1909-2000) |
| Death | April 8, 2000, in Newport Beach, California, of a respiratory illness[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) |
## Early life and stage beginnings
Trevor was the only child of Noel Wemlinger, a Paris-born merchant tailor with a shop on [Fifth Avenue](https://www.edgepedia.org/fifth-avenue), and his Belfast-born wife Benjamina, known as Betty.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) Her interest in acting began at age 11. After starting classes at Columbia University, she spent six months at the [American Academy of Dramatic Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-academy-of-dramatic-arts) in New York, leaving when her father's business failed during the [Depression](https://www.edgepedia.org/depression) and she needed to earn money.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html)
She gained her adult acting experience in stock companies in the late 1920s, appearing with Robert Henderson's Repertory Players in [Ann Arbor, Michigan](https://www.edgepedia.org/ann-arbor-michigan), in 1930, and made her Broadway debut in 1932 in *Whistling in the Dark*.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) In 1933, a telegram from 20th Century Fox offering a five-year contract brought her to Hollywood.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html)
## Hollywood career
At Fox she made one picture after another, many on 18-day shooting schedules, playing [Shirley Temple](https://www.edgepedia.org/shirley-temple)'s mother in *Baby Take a Bow* (1934) and supporting [Spencer Tracy](https://www.edgepedia.org/spencer-tracy) in *Dante's Inferno* (1935).[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html) • [1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) Her breakthrough came with [Samuel Goldwyn](https://www.edgepedia.org/samuel-goldwyn)'s *Dead End* (1937), directed by William Wyler, in which she played Humphrey Bogart's ex-girlfriend, a woman reduced to streetwalking. Although on screen for barely five minutes, she earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries)
**Stagecoach and the 1940s.** Director John Ford cast her as Dallas, the dance hall girl driven out of town, in *Stagecoach* (1939), the film that made a star of [John Wayne](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-wayne); she was top billed over Wayne in this and two other early Wayne vehicles, *Allegheny Uprising* and *Dark Command*.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) The Guardian's obituary describes *Stagecoach* as one of the few films that sanctioned her character's happiness.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries)
The rise of 1940s film noir suited her established image. She played the two-faced Mrs. Grayle in *Murder, My Sweet* (1944), a mercenary divorcee in *Born to Kill* (1947), and the betrayed girlfriend whose narration anchors Anthony Mann's *Raw Deal* (1948), one of the rare noir films narrated by a woman.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) In *Key Largo* (1948), directed by [John Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-huston), she played Gaye Dawn, the fading alcoholic mistress of [Edward G. Robinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-g-robinson)'s gangster, pathetically singing "Moanin' Low" at his command; the performance won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/awards/)
**Later work.** Her film career slowed in the 1950s and she turned to television, winning an Emmy in 1956 for *Dodsworth* opposite [Fredric March](https://www.edgepedia.org/fredric-march).[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/trevor-claire-1909-2000) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) Later film roles included Edward G. Robinson's wife in *Two Weeks in Another Town* (1962) and the man-hating wife in *How to Murder Your Wife* (1965); her final film role was as [Sally Field](https://www.edgepedia.org/sally-field)'s mother in *Kiss Me Goodbye* (1982).[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) She retired from acting in 1987.[3](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/claire-trevor/)
## Personal life
Trevor married three times: the producer Clark Andrews in 1938 (divorced 1942), Cylos William Dunsmoore in 1943 (divorced 1947), with whom she had her only child, Charles, and the producer Milton Bren in 1948.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/trevor-claire-1909-2000) Bren, a onetime Hollywood agent who produced *Topper* and helped develop the [Sunset Strip](https://www.edgepedia.org/sunset-strip), had two sons, Donald and Peter; the couple settled in Newport Beach in the mid-1950s.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html) In a 1995 interview she said family always took priority over her career.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html) Her son Charles died in an air crash in 1978, and Milton Bren died in 1979.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/trevor-claire-1909-2000)
## Philanthropy and legacy
In her later years Trevor became a patron of the arts in Orange County, associated with the [University of California, Irvine](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california-irvine)'s School of the Arts, which she and her husband supported with contributions of about $10 million, including three endowed professorships.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/) The school was renamed the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and its Village Theater, which she helped renovate in 1999, bears her name.[7](https://uag.arts.uci.edu/news/legacy-worth-celebrating) After her death, her sons Peter and Donald Bren made a gift in her honor that created an endowed deanship and an educational arts program with local schools.[7](https://uag.arts.uci.edu/news/legacy-worth-celebrating)
Her birth year remains a matter of conflicting records: the Guardian and Encyclopedia.com give March 8, 1909, while IMDb and the Los Angeles Times' Hollywood Star Walk give March 8, 1910.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries) • [3](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/claire-trevor/)
## References
1. [Obituary: Claire Trevor, The Guardian (April 10, 2000)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/10/news.obituaries)
2. [Claire Trevor – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/bio/)
3. [Claire Trevor – Hollywood Star Walk, Los Angeles Times](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/claire-trevor/)
4. [Claire Trevor – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/awards/)
5. [Trevor, Claire (1909–2000), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/trevor-claire-1909-2000)
6. [A Hollywood Reputation: Claire Trevor Bren, Los Angeles Times (May 28, 1995)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-28-ls-6886-story.html)
7. [A Legacy Worth Celebrating, UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts](https://uag.arts.uci.edu/news/legacy-worth-celebrating)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Su to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license