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Book Review: Claire Trevor: The Life and Films of the Queen of Noir


There is a scene in William Wyler’s “Dead End” (1937), when Humphrey Bogart, playing a notorious gangster who changed his face with plastic surgery, goes to his old neighborhood to see his mother and (especially) his old girlfriend Francie (Claire Trevor). When he gets there, he tries to rekindle their old friendship when suddenly she says, “you’re seeing me the way I used to look!” She then stands in a better lit area and Bogart’s reaction is one of shock and disgust. Although the production code did not allow for the script to reveal this, we understand that Francie is now a prostitute with venereal disease. “Why didn’t you starve first?” asks the disillusioned gangster. “Why didn’t you?” is Francie’s retort. It is one of the very best scenes in the entire film.

Derek Sculthorpe’s new biography of Claire Trevor reveals that the actress turned down co-starring with James Cagney for three times the pay she got for “Dead End.” Cagney had just walked out on Warner Brothers, found a spot on poverty row at Grand National, and wanted Claire to co-star with him on his first low budget indie, “Great Guy” (1936). Despite more money and more screen time, Trevor’s foresight was such that she realized the smaller role in “Dead End” was the better one. It ended up netting her an Oscar nomination, and ignited her career, while Mae Clarke got the co-starring role in the unremarkable Cagney movie.

This is just one of the many revelations found in Sculthorpe’s enlightening and fascinating biography. This author is one of the finest biographers working today, conducting years of painstaking research and compiling it in an entertaining and informative manner. His book on Trevor takes us through her toiling at Fox with no real advancement, and the impact she made in “Dead End.” From that point, we are led through career that includes such classics as “Stagecoach” (1939), “Murder My Sweet” (1944), “Key Largo” (1948), and “The High and the Mighty” (1954).

Claire Trevor worked with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, and Charlton Heston, but was particularly fond of John Wayne, with whom she’d work often. Sculthorpe gives fascinating details about each of these films, as well as events going on in Trevor’s life that affected her performances in either a positive or negative way.

Trevor was nominated four times for an Oscar, winning a Best Supporting Actress award for “Key Largo.” During an era where top drawer actresses were in abundance, Claire Trevor emerged as one of the very best. She remained active into the 1980s and died in the year 2000 at the age of 90.

When a biography offers this much detail, and is this well written and entertaining, it has to be recommended at every level. This includes libraries, research centers, fans of vintage Hollywood, fans of classic movies, and those who simply enjoy reading a strong biography.

The book is available here.

James L. Neibaur
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