Clara Bow

Clara Bow

1905-07-29 – 1965-09-27 (age 60) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
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Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 โ€“ 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.

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Known For

Wings
Wings

1927

as Mary Preston

Hula
Hula

1927

as Hula Calhoun

Edith Head: The Paramount Years
Edith Head: The Paramount Years

2002

as (archive footage)

It
It

1927

as Betty Lou Spence

Poisoned Paradise
Poisoned Paradise

1924

as Margot LeBlanc

Wine
Wine

1924

as Angela Warriner

Mantrap
Mantrap

1926

as Alverna

Red Hair
Red Hair

1928

as Bubbles McCoy

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Free to Love
Free to Love

1925

as Marie Anthony

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

1986

as archive footage

Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

1988

as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl
Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

1999

as Self / Various Roles (archive footage)

Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films

2011

as Herself (archive footage)

Call Her Savage
Call Her Savage

1932

as Nasa Springer

Hodgepodge
Hodgepodge

2025

as Self (archive footage, as Mary Preston)

The Casting Couch
Three Week Ends
Three Week Ends

1928

as Gladys O'Brien

Sigrid Holmquist
Sigrid Holmquist

2010

as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)

Children of Divorce
Children of Divorce

1927

as Kitty Flanders