
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.
Filmography

Hodgepodge
2025
as Self (archive footage, as Mary Preston)

Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess
2012

Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
2011
as Herself (archive footage)

Sigrid Holmquist
2010
as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)

Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
2010

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007
as Self (archive footage)

Edith Head: The Paramount Years
2002
as (archive footage)

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl
1999
as Self / Various Roles (archive footage)

The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
1995
as Self (archive footage)

Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons
1995
as Self (archive footage)

The Casting Couch
1995

Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
1988
as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
1986
as archive footage

The Muppets Go to the Movies
1981
as Mary Preston (archive footage) (uncredited)

Yesterday and Today
1953
as (archive footage)

Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner
1949
as Clara Bow

Hoopla
1933
as Lou

The Film Parade
1933
as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Call Her Savage
1932
as Nasa Springer

The House That Shadows Built
1931
as (archive footage)

Kick In
1931
as Molly Hewes

No Limit
1931
as Helen 'Bunny' O'Day

Her Wedding Night
1930
as Norma Martin

Love Among the Millionaires
1930
as Pepper Whipple