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IMDbPro

Clara Bow(1905-1965)

  • Actress
  • Music Department
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Clara Bow 1928 Paramount
Two young men -- one rich, one middle class -- who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Play trailer1:10
Wings (1927)
1 Video
99+ Photos
Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become "The It Girl", was born on July 29, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in poverty and violence. Her often absentee and brutish father could not or did not provide and her schizophrenic mother tried to slit Clara's throat when the girl spoke of becoming an actress. Bow, nonetheless, won a photo beauty contest which launched her movie career that would eventually number 58 films, from 1922 to 1933.

The movie It (1927) defined her career. The film starred Clara as a shopgirl who was asked out by the store's owner. As you watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared for her date with the boss, her friend trying hard to assist her. She used a pair of scissors to modify her dress to try to look "sexier." The movie did much to change society's mores as there were only a few years between World War I and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. In the film she presented a worldly wisdom that somehow sex meant having a good time. But the movie shouldn't mislead the viewer, because when her boss tries to kiss her goodnight, she slaps him. At the height of her popularity she received over 45,000 fan letters a month. Also, she was probably the most overworked and underpaid star in the industry. With the coming of sound, her popularity waned. Clara was also involved in several court battles ranging from unpaid taxes to being in divorce court for "stealing" women's husbands. After the court trials, she made a couple of attempts to get back in the public eye. One was Call Her Savage (1932) in 1932. It was somewhat of a failure at the box office and her last was in 1933 in a film called Hoopla (1933).

She then married cowboy star Rex Bell at 26 and retired from the film world at 28. She doted on her two sons and did everything to please them. Haunted by a weight problem and a mental imbalance, she never re-entered show business. She was confined to sanitariums from time to time and prohibited access to her beloved sons. She died of a heart attack in West Los Angeles, on September 26, 1965 at age 60. Today she is finding a renaissance among movie buffs, who are recently discovering the virtues of silent film. The actress who wanted so much to be like the wonderful young lady in It (1927) has the legacy of her films to confirm that she was a wonderful lady and America's first sex symbol.
BornJuly 29, 1905
DiedSeptember 27, 1965(60)
BornJuly 29, 1905
DiedSeptember 27, 1965(60)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 1 win & 1 nomination

Photos1030

Clara Bow, Robert Edeson, and Robert Frazer in The Scarlet West (1925)
Clara Bow in Children of Divorce (1927)
Clara Bow, James Hall, and Bodil Rosing in The Fleet's In (1928)
Jean Arthur, Clara Bow, and James Hall in The Saturday Night Kid (1929)
Clara Bow, Willard Robertson, and Estelle Taylor in Call Her Savage (1932)
Clara Bow and Stanley Smith in Love Among the Millionaires (1930)
Clara Bow in The Fleet's In (1928)
Clara Bow and Ralph Forbes in Her Wedding Night (1930)
Clara Bow in Rough House Rosie (1927)
Clara Bow in Ladies of the Mob (1928)
Clara Bow and Phillips Holmes in The Wild Party (1929)
Clara Bow and Douglas Gilmore in Rough House Rosie (1927)

Known for

Wings (1927)
Wings
7.6
  • Mary Preston
  • 1927
It (1927)
It
7.2
  • Betty Lou
  • 1927
Clara Bow and Fredric March in The Wild Party (1929)
The Wild Party
6.3
  • Stella Ames
  • 1929
Call Her Savage (1932)
Call Her Savage
7.0
  • Nasa Springer
  • 1932

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner
    • Clara Bow
    • Short
    • 1949
  • Hollywood on Parade
    • Short
    • 1934
  • Clara Bow in Hoopla (1933)
    Hoopla
    • Lou
    • 1933
  • Call Her Savage (1932)
    Call Her Savage
    • Nasa Springer
    • 1932
  • Clara Bow in Kick In (1931)
    Kick In
    • Molly Hewes
    • 1931
  • No Limit (1931)
    No Limit
    • Helen 'Bunny' O'Day
    • 1931
  • Clara Bow in Her Wedding Night (1930)
    Her Wedding Night
    • Norma Martin
    • 1930
  • Love Among the Millionaires (1930)
    Love Among the Millionaires
    • Pepper Whipple
    • 1930
  • Clara Bow in True to the Navy (1930)
    True to the Navy
    • Ruby Nolan
    • 1930
  • Paramount on Parade (1930)
    Paramount on Parade
    • Episode 'True to the Navy'
    • 1930
  • Clara Bow in The Saturday Night Kid (1929)
    The Saturday Night Kid
    • Mayme Barry
    • 1929
  • Clara Bow and Richard Arlen in Dangerous Curves (1929)
    Dangerous Curves
    • Pat Delaney
    • 1929
  • Clara Bow and Fredric March in The Wild Party (1929)
    The Wild Party
    • Stella Ames
    • 1929
  • Clara Bow in Three Week Ends (1928)
    Three Week Ends
    • Gladys O'Brien
    • 1928
  • Clara Bow, Eddie Dunn, James Hall, Jack Oakie, and Dan Wolheim in The Fleet's In (1928)
    The Fleet's In
    • Trixie Deane
    • 1928

Music Department

  • Hollywood on Parade No. B-9
    • theme music
    • Short
    • 1934

Soundtrack

  • Love Among the Millionaires (1930)
    Love Among the Millionaires
    • performer: "Believe It or Not, I've Found My Man", "Love Among the Millionaires", "Rarin' to Go", "That's Worth While Waiting For" (uncredited)
    • 1930
  • Paramount on Parade (1930)
    Paramount on Parade
    • performer: "I'm True to the Navy Now"
    • 1930

Videos1

Restored Version
Trailer 1:10
Restored Version

Personal details

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  • Official site
    • Fan Site
  • Height
    • 5′ 3½″ (1.61 m)
  • Born
    • July 29, 1905
    • Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
  • Died
    • September 27, 1965
    • West Los Angeles, California, USA(heart attack)
  • Spouse
    • Rex BellDecember 3, 1931 - July 4, 1962 (his death, 2 children)
  • Children
    • Rex Bell Jr.
  • Parents
      Robert Bow
  • Other works
    Wrote foreword to an adaptation of her film The Fleet's In (1928), novelized by Russell Holman, Grosset & Dunlap, NY.
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Biographical Movies
    • 5 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 35 Articles
    • 5 Pictorials
    • 6 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    As soon as Bow started to make money, she brought her father to live with her in Hollywood. For the next few years, she funded numerous business ventures for him, including a restaurant and a dry cleaners, all of which failed. He soon became a drunken nuisance on her sets, where he would try to pick up young girls by telling them his daughter was Clara Bow.
  • Quotes
    The more I see of men, the more I like dogs.
  • Nickname
    • The "It" Girl
  • Salaries
      Call Her Savage
      (1932)
      $125,000

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