Claire Adams
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Claire Adams (September 24, 1896 – September 25, 1978) 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.
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[edit] Career
In 1920 Adams signed a five year contract with Benjamin Bowles Hampton, a Hollywood producer and her future husband. She later moved to California where she acted in more than forty silent films, including melodramas, 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.
[edit] 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 London 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 AUD$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.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Empire | Debbie | Television series, episode "Between Friday and Monday" (credited as Peggy Adams) |
| 1934 | What a Mother-in-Law! | Frances | |
| 1927 | Combat | Wanda | |
| Married Alive | Viola Helmesley Duxbury | ||
| The Lunatic | |||
| 1926 | The Sea Wolf | Maud Brewster | |
| The Combat | |||
| Yellow Fingers | Nona Deering | ||
| 1925 | The Big Parade | Justyn Reed | |
| The Wheel | Kate O'Hara | ||
| Souls for Sables | Helen Ralston[1] | Uncredited | |
| The Kiss Barrier | Marion Weston | ||
| Men and Women | Agnes Prescott | ||
| The Devil's Cargo | Martha Joyce | ||
| 1924 | 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 | ||
| Missing Daughters | Claire Mathers | ||
| The Night Hawk | Clia Milton | ||
| Daddies | Bobette Audrey | ||
| 1923 | 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 | 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 | 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 | The Dwelling Place of Light | Janet Butler | |
| The Penalty | 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 | The Invisible Bond | Leila Templeton | Also known as Should a Wife Forgive? (USA) |
| A Misfit Earl | Phyllis Burton | ||
| Speedy Meade | Alice Hall | ||
| The End of the Road | Mary Lee | ||
| 1918 | The Spirit of the Red Cross | Ethel | |
| Adam and Some Eves | |||
| The Man-Eater | Credited as Peggy Adams | ||
| 1917 | Nutty Knitters | ||
| Faint Heart and Fair Lady | |||
| Your Obedient Servant | |||
| Chris and His Wonderful Lamp | Betty | ||
| 1913 | 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 | 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 |
[edit] References
- Photoplay Dec,1924
- Film Index, No 3, 1970, p.12
- Social History Report on Morramong, Skipton by D. Hellier (1989). National Trust of Australia, Victoria branch.
