Claire Luce

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Claire Luce, 1930s

Claire Luce (born October 15, 1903 in Syracuse , United States , † August 31, 1989 in New York City , United States) was an American stage and film actress.

Live and act

Claire Luce, a child of divorce since she was 14, danced in front of an audience in Ludlow, Massachusetts as a teenager, and when she was 15 she joined a Russian opera touring company that used her as a ballerina. Not yet 20 years old, she was hired as a dancer on Broadway in New York. From August 1923, Claire Luce played several roles in music reviews such as Little Jessie James, Music Box Revue, Dear Sir, No Foolin ' or Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 , which demanded her dancing and singing skills. From 1929 there were also appearances in comedies and dramas such as Scarlet Pages and Society Girl , in which Luce's acting talent was in demand. In 1930, curly blond Luce made her Hollywood debut in front of the camera in the early talkie Up the River by John Ford . At her side were two other unknown film novices: Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart . Claire Luce then returned to Broadway and performed with great success on the side of Fred Astaire in the musical Gay Divorce . She had a total of 248 performances here. Luce then went to England for other films from 1935 to 1937, but without leaving any major traces with these works on screen. In the fall of 1937 she found herself in New York again and was now able to convince as a character interpreter in John Steinbeck's drama Von Mäusen und Menschen in 207 performances until May 1938.

With this piece Claire Luce returned to Great Britain in the same year, where the American was surprised by the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 . She stayed in the British Isles and was involved in troop support (from 1941 also for US soldiers). In 1942, Claire Luce was seen as Katharina in Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew . She was considered the first US artist to play leading roles at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater in Stratford-on-Avon . Even after the war ended in 1945, Luce was seen in numerous Shakespeare roles. Back in the US, Claire Luce returned home to Broadway and appeared in the drama Portrait in Black from May to July 1947 . The New Yorker returned in front of the camera in 1949 and appeared in television adaptations of literary sources such as Vanity Fair (Becky Sharp) and Peer Gynt , which were broadcast in series such as Colgate Theater, Broadway Television Theater and Matinee Theater until 1955. Almost at the same time, from 1950 to 1952, Claire Luce also appeared again on Broadway: she played central roles in the plays With a Silk Thread, The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing . Since the mid-1960s, when she was seen with her one-woman show at various university campuses, Claire Luce hardly appeared in front of an audience. Instead, she recorded poetry albums (the covers of which she also designed herself) and began to paint. Luce works have been seen in galleries in Manhattan as well as in museums in Rochester and Southampton.

Filmography

  • 1930: Up the River
  • 1935: Lazybones
  • 1935: Vintage Vine
  • 1937: Let's Make a Night of It
  • 1937: Over She Goes
  • 1937: Under Secret Orders
  • 1949: Becky Sharp (TV movie)
  • 1949: The Queen Bee (TV movie)
  • 1952: Peer Gynt (TV film, three parts)
  • 1952: Death Trap
  • 1953: Candlelight (TV movie)
  • 1953: Interference (TV movie)
  • 1954: Reflected Glory (TV movie)
  • 1955: Technique (TV movie)
  • 1955: Roman Fever (TV movie)
  • 1956: Hold My Hand and Run (TV movie)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Ragan: Who's Who in Hollywood 1900–1976. Arlington House Publishers. New Rochelle, New York. P. 261
personal data
SURNAME Luce, Claire
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American stage and film actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Syracuse , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1989
Place of death New York City , United States