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Quick Facts
- NAME: Clara Gordon Bow
- OCCUPATION: Film Actress
- BIRTH DATE: July 29, 1905
- DEATH DATE: September 27, 1965
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
- PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
Best Known For
American motion-picture actress Clare Bow personified the flapper of the 1920s. From 1927 to 1930 she was one of the top five Hollywood box-office attractions.
Clara Bow. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 01:56, Feb 09, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851
Clara Bow [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851, February 09
" Clara Bow." 2012. Biography.com 09 Feb 2012, 01:56 http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851
' Clara Bow', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851 [accessed Feb 09, 2012]
" Clara Bow," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851 (accessed Feb 09, 2012).
Clara Bow [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 Feb 09]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851.
Clara Bow, http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851 (last visited Feb 09, 2012).
Clara Bow, http://www.biography.com/people/clara-bow-9221851 (last visited Feb 09, 2012).
Synopsis
Actress Clara Bow was born July 29, 1905, Brooklyn, N.Y. She went to Hollywood by way of a beauty contest while still in high school. A small part in Beyond the Rainbow (1922) brought her considerable attention, and she was soon playing starring roles, including her part in the 1927 film It, which proved a tremendous box office success and lent her the nickname the "It" Girl. She retired in 1931.
Profile
(born July 29, 1905, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 27, 1965, Los Angeles, Calif.) American motion-picture actress called the “It” Girl after she played in It (1927), the popular silent-film version of Elinor Glyn's novel of that name. She personified the vivacious, emancipated flapper of the 1920s. From 1927 to 1930 she was one of the top five Hollywood box-office attractions.
Clara Bow was born into a poor family; she was sexually abused by her father and neglected by her mentally unbalanced mother. She went to Hollywood by way of a beauty contest while still in high school. A small part in Beyond the Rainbow (1922) brought her considerable attention, and she was soon playing starring roles in such movies as Down to the Sea in Ships (1922), The Plastic Age (1925), Mantrap (1926), Kid Boots (1926), and Dancing Mothers (1926).
In 1927 Bow was chosen by Glyn to star in It, which proved a tremendous box office success. Thereafter known universally as the “It” Girl, Bow was the embodiment of beauty, abandon, and sex appeal for the moviegoers of the Jazz Age. Others of the 30-odd movies in which she starred include Rough House Rosie (1927), Ladies of the Mob (1928), Three Weekends (1928), Dangerous Curves (1929), and The Saturday Night Kid (1929).
Unable to make the transition from silent movies to those with sound, in part because of her strong Brooklyn accent, and further hampered by some highly publicized scandals, she retired in 1931. After unsuccessful comeback attempts in Call Her Savage (1932) and Hoopla (1933), she spent most of the rest of her life living quietly on a Nevada cattle ranch owned by her husband, former cowboy star Rex Bell, whom she had married in 1931. In her later years she suffered from psychiatric problems.
Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com
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