Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor is pure femme fatale material. Some of her best performances were in film noir. Her eyes and mouth can look all vulnerable, but her voice can be that of a "tough broad", hinting at the tigress within.
And the expression in her big dark eyes vacillates between wounded and lost to sizzling and dangerous.
Out of all the feature films she's been in, roughly a quarter can be considered film noir. Here they are in chronological order:
Street Of Chance, (1942)
A Cornell Woolrich adaptation about an amnesiac (Burgess Meredith) wanted for the murder his supposed fiancee (Claire Trevor) actually committed.
Murder, My Sweet, (1944)
Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) is hired to find a thug's girlfriend Velma, while an upper class Mrs. Grayle hires him to find the man who killed her friend who was trying to help her get her stolen jewels back. Greadually, Marlowe discovers Mrs. Grayle and Velma are the same person (Claire Trevor).
Johnny Angel, (1945)
Johnny (George Raft) is a ship captain who searches New Orleans for his father's killer. Lilah (Claire Trevor) is the sexy, greedy wife behind the culprit.
Crack-Up, (1946)
Trevor plays terry Cordeu, a newspaper columnist who is helping a Scotland Yard agent (Herbert Marshall) bust an art forgery ring. Oh, and her boyfriend (Pat O'Brien) happens to be embroiled deep in the mess between the police and the criminals.
Born To Kill, (1947)
My personal favorite. Helen (Trevor) and the passionately violent Sam (Lawrence Tierney)have a steamy attraction for each other. Too bad she's already engaged. He goes for her wealthy sister instead. Murder, cover-up, lust, betrayal, adultery, jealousy, suspicion and mayhem all rolled up into one helluva (strange) noir film.
Raw Deal, (1948)
Claire Trevor plays Pat, (who is also the narrator), the girlfriend of a gangster (Dennis O'Keefe), whom she helps spring from jail. But then she slowly loses him to the nice girl (Marsha Hunt) who falls for him after he has lured her into his world of crime.
Key Largo, (1948)
Claire Trevor won an Oscar for her portrayal of a pitiful, drunk abused by her man, the evil Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson).
Claire Trevor and her husband donated millions of dollars to UC Irvine's School Of Arts to further theater and arts education. It is now called "the Claire Trevor School Of The Arts".
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