Clara Bow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Clara Bow
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in Rough House Rosie (1927)
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| Born |
Clara Gordon Bow
July 29, 1905 |
| Died | September 27, 1965 (aged 60) Culver City, California, U.S.
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| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1921–1933 |
| Known for | The original "It" Girl |
| Spouse(s) |
Rex Bell
(m. 1931; died 1962) |
| Children | 2 |
Clara Gordon Bow ( July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" after 1927. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties.
She appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929).
Max Fleischer's cartoon character Betty Boop was modeled after Bow and entertainer Helen Kane (the "boop-boop-a-doop-girl").
After marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada. Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. In September 1965, Bow died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
Death
Bow spent her last years in Culver City, Los Angeles, under the constant care of a nurse, living off an estate worth about $500,000 at the time of her death. She died of a heart attack on September 27, 1965, at the age of 60. An autopsy revealed that she suffered from atherosclerosis, a disease of the heart that can begin in early adolescence. Bow's heart showed scarring from an earlier undetected heart attack.
She was interred in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Her pallbearers were Harry Richman, Richard Arlen, Jack Oakie, Maxie Rosenbloom, Jack Dempsey, and Buddy Rogers.
Legacy
In 1999, film historian Leonard Maltin said, "You think of Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, all these great names, great actresses, Clara Bow was more popular in terms of box-office dollars, in terms of consistently bringing audiences into the theaters, she was right on top."
Awards and honors
- For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Bow was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
- In 1994, she was honored with an image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
Filmography
Images for kids
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Bay Ridge High, postcard 1920
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Bow was chosen the foremost "baby" by WAMPAS
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Cartooned: Bow as "Orchid McGonigle" in Grit, having a hard time keeping her boyfriend "Kid Hart" (Glenn Hunter) on track.
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Frame of Bow comforting Ethel Shannon in Maytime (1923), which had been classified as a lost film until a partial copy was found in New Zealand in 2009
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Bow as Janet, the "horrid" flapper in Black Oxen (1923), holding Flaming Youth to her chest; with Kate Lester and Tom Ricketts
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Clara Bow in 1931 with her father, Robert, who married Clara's friend, Mary Lorraine Tui (Tui Lorraine) at Clara's insistence
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Bow in Stars of the Photoplay, 1924
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Bow's first lead role was in Wine (1924), a seven-reel feature currently classified as lost by the Library of Congress
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Bow as "Kittens" in Dancing Mothers (1926) is moments from realizing that her mother is her rival. Conway Tearle as "Jerry" is caught in between.
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Bow as "Rosie O'Reilly" in Rough House Rosie (1927)
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Bow as "Mary Preston" in Wings (1927)
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Bow in Call Her Savage, 1932
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Cattle brand from Clara Bow's & Rex Bell's Nevada ranch
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Argentinean magazine (1934)
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Bow's crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. The marker erroneously cites Bow's birth year as 1907, although she was born in 1905.
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