Clara Bow
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.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (50)
Hodgepodge
as Self (archive footage, as Mary Preston)
2025
Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess
2012
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
as Herself (archive footage)
2011
Sigrid Holmquist
as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
2010
Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
2010
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
as Self (archive footage)
2007
Edith Head: The Paramount Years
as (archive footage)
2002
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
as Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
1999
Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons
as Self (archive footage)
1995
100 Years at the Movies
1994
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
1988
Yesterday and Today
as (archive footage)
1953
Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner
as Clara Bow
1949
Hoopla
as Lou
1933
The Film Parade
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1933
Call Her Savage
as Nasa Springer
1932
The House That Shadows Built
as (archive footage)
1931
Kick In
as Molly Hewes
1931
No Limit
as Helen 'Bunny' O'Day
1931
Her Wedding Night
as Norma Martin
1930
Love Among the Millionaires
as Pepper Whipple
1930
True to the Navy
as Ruby Nolan
1930
Paramount on Parade
as Herself
1930
The Saturday Night Kid
as Mayme Barry
1929
Dangerous Curves
as Pat Delaney
1929
The Wild Party
as Stella Ames
1929
Three Week Ends
as Gladys O'Brien
1928
The Fleet's In
as Trixie Deane
1928
Ladies of the Mob
as Yvonne
1928
Red Hair
as Bubbles McCoy
1928
Get Your Man
as Nancy Worthington
1927
Hula
as Hula Calhoun
1927
Wings
as Mary Preston
1927
Rough House Rosie
as Rosie O'Reilly
1927
Children of Divorce
as Kitty Flanders
1927
It
as Betty Lou Spence
1927
Kid Boots
as Clara McCoy
1926
Mantrap
as Alverna
1926
The Runaway
as Cynthia Meade
1926
Fascinating Youth
as Clara Bow
1926
Dancing Mothers
as Kittens Westcourt
1926
Two Can Play
as Dorothy Hammis
1926
Shadow of the Law
as Mary Brophy
1926
The Ancient Mariner
as Doris
1925
The Plastic Age
as Cynthia Day
1925
My Lady of Whims
as Prudence Severn
1925
The Best Bad Man
as Peggy Swain
1925
Free to Love
as Marie Anthony
1925
The Primrose Path
as Marilyn Merrill
1925
The Keeper of the Bees
as Lolly Cameron
1925