Claire Adams
Encyclopedia
Claire Adams was a Canadian silent film
actress and benefactor. She was born in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
, as the daughter of Stanley Wells Adams, a Welsh
-born accountant
, and his Canadian wife, Lillian Adams (née
Kennedy). Educated in Canada and England
, Claire Adams worked briefly as a nurse with the Red Cross
during World War I
.
producer and her future husband. She later moved to California
where she acted in more than forty silent film
s, including melodrama
s, comedies
and westerns
.
Described as "patricianly beautiful", Adams worked with many of Hollywood's leading actors, including Adolphe Menjou
, Tom Mix
, Wallace Beery
, and Lon Chaney
. In 1923 she was Rin Tin Tin
's leading lady in Where the North Begins, which was a huge success and is often credited with saving Warner Bros.
from bankruptcy
. She later maintained that Rin Tin Tin was her "favourite leading man".
Her best known film was The Big Parade
, the second largest grossing silent film in cinematic history. It was directed by King Vidor
and Adams starred alongside John Gilbert
. Perhaps her most memorable role came in 1920 as Barbara, the undercover detective who humanizes the crippled crime boss played by Lon Chaney
in The Penalty
.
and three weeks later they married on April 1 in Mayfair
. They remained childless.
After a protracted honeymoon, in March 1938, Mackinnon brought Adams to Victoria
, Australia
. The couple divided their time between Mooramong, a Western District grazing property, and their Melbourne
townhouse at 220 Domain Road South Yarra
. They entertained often at Mooramong, which they transformed from a staid Victorian
homestead into a Jazz Age
folly
. On their frequent trips to Melbourne to attend the races and innumerable cocktail parties, they travelled in their Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
. Adorned in smart hats and chic
outfits, and often graced with diamonds, Adams was an exotic figure at Government House
functions and at the race course.
She was a life governor of Skipton
Hospital and vice president of Lort Smith Hospital for sick animals.
On his death in 1974, Scobie Mackinnon's estate was worth A$
2,111, 729, which was left entirely to Adams. She died on September 25, 1978, in Windsor, Victoria
and was cremated. After generous bequests to family, friends, and animal welfare
bodies, she left the remainder of her estates to the National Trust of Victoria
for the creation of a wildlife sanctuary
and fauna
and flora
park at Mooramong.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
actress and benefactor. She was born in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, as the daughter of Stanley Wells Adams, a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
-born accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
, and his Canadian wife, Lillian Adams (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Kennedy). Educated in Canada and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Claire Adams worked briefly as a nurse with the Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Career
In 1920 Adams signed a five year contract with Benjamin Bowles Hampton, a HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
producer and her future husband. She later moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where she acted in more than forty silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s, including melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s, comedies
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
and westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
.
Described as "patricianly beautiful", Adams worked with many of Hollywood's leading actors, including Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
, Tom Mix
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
, Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, and Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
. In 1923 she was Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
's leading lady in Where the North Begins, which was a huge success and is often credited with saving Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
from bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. She later maintained that Rin Tin Tin was her "favourite leading man".
Her best known film was The Big Parade
The Big Parade
The Big Parade is a 1925 silent film. It tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.The film was...
, the second largest grossing silent film in cinematic history. It was directed by King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
and Adams starred alongside John Gilbert
John Gilbert (actor)
John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
. Perhaps her most memorable role came in 1920 as Barbara, the undercover detective who humanizes the crippled crime boss played by Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
in The Penalty
The Penalty (film)
The Penalty is an American crime film, originally released in 1920. It was directed by Wallace Worsley, and written by Philip Lonergan and Charles Kenyon, based upon the pulp novel by Gouverneur Morris. It starred Lon Chaney, Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, and Claire Adams.-Cast:*Charles...
.
Personal life and death
She married film producer Benjamin B. Hampton in Hollywood on September 18, 1924. They had no children. He died in 1932 leaving her very wealthy. Later that year Adams met Scobie Mackinnon, the second son of L.K.S. Mackinnon, at a party in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and three weeks later they married on April 1 in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. They remained childless.
After a protracted honeymoon, in March 1938, Mackinnon brought Adams to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The couple divided their time between Mooramong, a Western District grazing property, and their Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
townhouse at 220 Domain Road South Yarra
South Yarra, Victoria
South Yarra is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Stonnington and Melbourne...
. They entertained often at Mooramong, which they transformed from a staid Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
homestead into a Jazz Age
Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...
folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
. On their frequent trips to Melbourne to attend the races and innumerable cocktail parties, they travelled in their Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost refers both to a car model and to one specific car from that series.Originally named the "40/50 h.p." the chassis was originally produced at Royce's Manchester works, before moving to Derby in July 1908 and also, between 1921 and 1926, in Springfield, Massachusetts....
. Adorned in smart hats and chic
Chic (style)
Chic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
outfits, and often graced with diamonds, Adams was an exotic figure at Government House
Government House
Government House is the name of many of the residences of Governors-General, Governors and Lieutenant-Governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. It serves as the venue for the Governor's official business, as well as the many receptions and functions hosted by...
functions and at the race course.
She was a life governor of Skipton
Skipton, Victoria
Skipton is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is situated on the Glenelg Highway 166 kilometres west of the state capital, Melbourne and 52 kilometres south west of the regional centre, Ballarat. Part of Corangamite Shire Local government area, Skipton is on the banks...
Hospital and vice president of Lort Smith Hospital for sick animals.
On his death in 1974, Scobie Mackinnon's estate was worth A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
2,111, 729, which was left entirely to Adams. She died on September 25, 1978, in Windsor, Victoria
Windsor, Victoria
Windsor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Windsor had a population of 6394....
and was cremated. After generous bequests to family, friends, and animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
bodies, she left the remainder of her estates to the National Trust of Victoria
National Trust of Australia
The Australian Council of National Trusts is the peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage....
for the creation of a wildlife sanctuary
Animal sanctuary
An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until his or her natural death...
and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
and flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
park at Mooramong.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Empire | Debbie | Television series, episode "Between Friday and Monday" (credited as Peggy Adams) |
| 1934 1934 in film -Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade... |
What a Mother-in-Law! | Frances | |
| 1927 1927 in film -Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to... |
Combat | Wanda | |
| Married Alive | Viola Helmesley Duxbury | ||
| The Lunatic | |||
| 1926 1926 in film -Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film.... |
The Sea Wolf | Maud Brewster | |
| The Combat | |||
| Yellow Fingers | Nona Deering | ||
| 1925 1925 in film -Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :... |
The Big Parade The Big Parade The Big Parade is a 1925 silent film. It tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.The film was... |
Justyn Reed | |
| The Wheel | Kate O'Hara | ||
| Souls for Sables | Helen Ralston | Uncredited | |
| The Kiss Barrier | Marion Weston | ||
| Men and Women | Agnes Prescott | ||
| The Devil's Cargo The Devil's Cargo The Devil's Cargo is a 1925 film by Victor Fleming.-Cast:*Wallace Beery ... Ben*Pauline Starke ... Far Sampson*Claire Adams ... Martha Joyce*William Collier Jr. ... John Joyce*Raymond Hatton ... Mate*George Cooper ... Jerry Dugan... |
Martha Joyce | ||
| 1924 1924 in film -Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer... |
The Brass Bowl | Sylvia | |
| The Fast Set | Fay Colleen | ||
| The Painted Flapper | Eunice Whitney | ||
| Helen's Babies | Helen Lawrence | ||
| Oh, You Tony! | Betty Faine | ||
| Honor Among Men | Patricia Carson | ||
| The Girl in the Limousine The Girl in the Limousine The Girl in the Limousine is a 1924 film featuring Oliver Hardy. It is considered to be lost.-Cast:* Larry Semon - Tony* Claire Adams - The Girl* Charles Murray - The Butler* Lucille Ward - Aunt Cicily* Larry Steers - Dr. Jimmy... |
The Girl | ||
| Missing Daughters | Claire Mathers | ||
| The Night Hawk The Night Hawk The Night Hawk is a 1924 Western film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - 'The Hawk'* Claire Adams - Clia Milton* Joseph W. Girard - Sheriff Milton * Fred Malatesta - José Valdez... |
Clia Milton | ||
| Daddies Daddies (1924 film) Daddies is a 1924 silent film romantic comedy produced and distributed by Warner Brothers and directed by William A. Seiter. The film stars Mae Marsh and Harry Myers and survives today in 16mm format.-Cast:*Mae Marsh - Ruth Atkins... |
Bobette Audrey | ||
| 1923 1923 in film -Events:*April 15 - Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1923:U.S.A... |
The Clean-Up | Phyllis Andrews | |
| Legally Dead | Minnie O'Reilly | ||
| Where the North Begins | Felice McTavish | ||
| Stepping Fast | Helen Durant | ||
| Brass Commandments | Ellen Bosworth | ||
| The Scarlet Car | Beatrice Forbes | ||
| 1922 1922 in film -Events:* June 11 - United States première of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature length documentary film.... |
Do and Dare | Juanita Sánchez | |
| Heart's Haven | Vivian Breed | ||
| Just Tony | Marianne Jordan | ||
| Golden Dreams | Mercedes McDonald | ||
| When Romance Rides | Lucy Bostil | ||
| The Gray Dawn | Nan Bennett | ||
| 1921 1921 in film -Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway... |
The Mysterious Rider | Columbine | |
| Man of the Forest | Helen Raynor | ||
| A Certain Rich Man | Molly Culpepper | ||
| The Lure of Egypt | Margaret Lampton | ||
| Black Beauty | |||
| The Killer | Ruth Emory | ||
| The Spenders | Avice Milbrey | ||
| 1920 1920 in film The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 27 - The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks opens.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1920:U.S.A. unless stated*The $1,000,000 Reward... |
The Dwelling Place of Light | Janet Butler | |
| The Penalty The Penalty (film) The Penalty is an American crime film, originally released in 1920. It was directed by Wallace Worsley, and written by Philip Lonergan and Charles Kenyon, based upon the pulp novel by Gouverneur Morris. It starred Lon Chaney, Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, and Claire Adams.-Cast:*Charles... |
Barbara | ||
| Riders of the Dawn | Lenore Anderson | ||
| The White Dove | Ella De Fries | Credited as Clare Adams | |
| The Key to Power | Ann Blair | ||
| The Money Changers | Lucy Hegan | ||
| The Great Lover | Ethel | ||
| 1919 1919 in film The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists... |
The Invisible Bond | Leila Templeton | Also known as Should a Wife Forgive? (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... ) |
| A Misfit Earl | Phyllis Burton | ||
| Speedy Meade | Alice Hall | ||
| The End of the Road | Mary Lee | ||
| 1918 1918 in film The year 1918 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Patents Company to disband.... |
The Spirit of the Red Cross | Ethel | |
| Adam and Some Eves | |||
| The Man-Eater | Credited as Peggy Adams | ||
| 1917 1917 in film The year 1917 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Foundation of Universum Film AG , as a propaganda film company, in Berlin.*Technicolor System 1, a two-color process, is introduced... |
Nutty Knitters | ||
| Faint Heart and Fair Lady | |||
| Your Obedient Servant | |||
| Chris and His Wonderful Lamp | Betty | ||
| 1913 1913 in film The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W... |
The Widow's Suitors | Credited as Clara Adams | |
| Boy Wanted | As Clara Adams | ||
| A Shower of Slippers | As Clara Adams | ||
| Aunt Elsa's Visit | As Clara Adams | ||
| The Office Boy's Birthday | As Clara Adams | ||
| Bragg's New Suit | As Clara Adams | ||
| 1912 1912 in film The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios... |
Kitty at Boarding School | ||
| Revenge Is Sweet | As Clara Adams | ||
| The Artist's Joke | As Clara Adams | ||
| An Intelligent Camera | |||
| Apple Pies | As Clara Adams | ||
| Kitty's Holdup | |||
| Eddie's Exploit | As Clara Adams | ||
| Curing the Office Boy | As Clara Adams | ||
| A Heroic Rescue | As Clara Adams |