Clara Bow
Born: 1905-07-29 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Died: 1965-09-27
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent films 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 and is described as its leading sex symbol. Bow 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. Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost two-to-one, a "safe return". At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929). Two years 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.
Filmography
2025
- Hodgepodge as Self (archive footage, as Mary Preston)
2011
- Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films as Herself (archive footage)
2010
- Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
- Sigrid Holmquist as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
2007
- Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema as Self (archive footage)
2002
- Edith Head: The Paramount Years as (archive footage)
1999
- Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl as Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
1995
- The Casting Couch
- Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons as Self (archive footage)
1994
- 100 Years at the Movies as Self (archive footage)
1988
- Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1986
- Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend as archive footage
1953
- Yesterday and Today as (archive footage)
1949
- Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner as Clara Bow
1933
- Hoopla as Lou
- The Film Parade as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1932
- Call Her Savage as Nasa Springer
1931
- The House That Shadows Built as (archive footage)
- No Limit as Helen 'Bunny' O'Day
- Kick In as Molly Hewes
1930
- Paramount on Parade as Herself
- Love Among the Millionaires as Pepper Whipple
- True to the Navy as Ruby Nolan
- Her Wedding Night as Norma Martin
1929
- The Wild Party as Stella Ames
- Dangerous Curves as Pat Delaney
- The Saturday Night Kid as Mayme Barry
1928
- Red Hair as Bubbles McCoy
- Three Week Ends as Gladys O'Brien
- Ladies of the Mob as Yvonne
- The Fleet's In as Trixie Deane
1927
- Wings as Mary Preston
- Hula as Hula Calhoun
- It as Betty Lou Spence
- Children of Divorce as Kitty Flanders
- Get Your Man as Nancy Worthington
- Rough House Rosie as Rosie O'Reilly
1926
- Kid Boots as Clara McCoy
- Mantrap as Alverna
- Fascinating Youth as Clara Bow
- Shadow of the Law as Mary Brophy
- Two Can Play as Dorothy Hammis
- The Runaway as Cynthia Meade
- Dancing Mothers as Kittens Westcourt
1925
- The Scarlet West as Miriam
- My Lady's Lips as Lola Lombard
- The Plastic Age as Cynthia Day
- The Best Bad Man as Peggy Swain
- My Lady of Whims as Prudence Severn
- Eve's Lover as Rena D'Arcy
- The Lawful Cheater as Molly Burns
- The Primrose Path as Marilyn Merrill
- Free to Love as Marie Anthony
- Capital Punishment as Delia Tate
- Kiss Me Again as Grizette
- The Ancient Mariner as Doris
- Parisian Love as Marie
- The Keeper of the Bees as Lolly Cameron
- The Adventurous Sex as The Girl
1924
- Wine as Angela Warriner
- Helen's Babies as Alice Mayton
- This Woman as Aline Sturdevant
- Daughters of Pleasure as Lila Millas
- Grit as Orchid McGonigle
- Poisoned Paradise as Margot LeBlanc
- Empty Hearts as Rosalie
- Black Lightning as Martha Larned
1923
- The Daring Years as Mary
- Maytime as Alice Tremaine
- Black Oxen as Janet Ogelthorpe
- Enemies of Women as Dancing Girl (uncredited)
- The Pill Pounder
1922
- Down to the Sea in Ships as 'Dot' Morgan
- Beyond the Rainbow as Virginia Gardener