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Claire Du Brey

{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}

{{short description|American actor}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Claire Du Brey

| image = Claire Du Brey Evans.jpg

| caption = Du Brey, {{circa}} 1920

| birth_name = Clara Violet Dubreyvich

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|8|31}}

| birth_place = Bonners Ferry, Idaho

| death_date = {{death date and age|1993|8|1|1892|8|31}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California

| spouse = Mark G. Gates
({{abbr|m.|married}} 1911; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 192?)

| yearsactive = 1916–1959

| occupation = Actress

| other_names = Claire Du Bray
Claire Dubrey

}}

Claire Du Brey (born Clara Violet Dubreyvich, August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films from 1916 to 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey.{{cite book|last1=Gmür|first1=Leonhard|title=Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen|date=2013|publisher=epubli|isbn=9783844246018|page=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjkgAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Claire+Du+Brey%22&pg=PA182|access-date=July 23, 2017|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Early years

Du Brey was born in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, to an Irish-American mother, Lilly (née Henry), later Mrs. Richard Fugitt. Her parents married on November 9, 1891 in Pocatello, Bannock County, Idaho. She was raised Catholic and attended a convent school.

Du Brey "had trained as a nurse". She related that in 1897 she traveled west from Idaho in a covered wagon with her mother and her grandfather.

Career

Du Brey's screen career began with Universal Studios and she played at one time or another with almost all the larger companies. More notable films in which she appeared were Anything Once (1917), Social Briars (1918), The Devil's Trail (1919), What Every Woman Wants (1919) and Dangerous Hours (1919). Other films include The Wishing Ring Man, The Spite Bride, The World Aflame, and The Walk Offs. Her career declined with the sound era and she later played mostly small roles.{{Citation needed |date=September 2023}}

In the 1930s, Du Brey was an agent for other actors. Her clients included Mary Carlisle, Richard Cromwell, and Kitty Kelly. Late in 1934, Anna Q. Nilsson joined Du Brey's operation, making contacts with producers and directors, while Du Brey handled the office part of the business.{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Harrison |title=Behind the Scenes in Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92463646/the-bristol-daily-courier/ |access-date=January 13, 2022 |work=The Bristol Daily Courier |agency=King Features Syndicate, Inc. |date=December 17, 1934 |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}}

Du Brey was proficient in athletics, excelling in swimming, riding, golfing, tennis and motoring. She was five feet seven inches high, weighed 130 pounds and had auburn hair and brown eyes, and took a lively interest in horticulture.{{cite book|title=Who's Who on the Screen|year=1920|author=Charles Donald Fox & Milton L. Silver|location=New York City|publisher=Ross Publishing|url=http://silentladies.com/BDuBrey.html|chapter=Claire Du Brey|access-date=July 27, 2015}}

Later life and death

According to two biographies of Marie Dressler published in the late 1990s, Dressler and Du Brey had a long-term romantic relationship.{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Betty|title=Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star|year=1997|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=Lexington|pages=186–187|isbn=0813126703|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkLtQAoHOZoC&q=dubrey+lesbian&pg=PA187}}{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Matthew|authorlink=Matthew Kennedy (author)|title=Marie Dressler: A Biography; with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography|year=2006|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson NC|pages=143–144|isbn=9780786428441|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-h8Qy3pZGnoC&q=dubrey+&pg=PA144}} However one other (perhaps less reliable) source from 1920 indicates that Du Brey, who had trained as a nurse, was the elder actress's "assistant and caregiver" while Dressler was ill with terminal cancer.

Du Brey married Los Angeles medical doctor Norman Gates on November 25, 1911; the couple divorced sometime in the 1920s. On August 1, 1993, Du Brey died in Los Angeles, aged 100.

Selected filmography

File:Claire Du Brey 1919.jpg

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References

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Bibliography

  • {{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Matthew|year=1999|title=Marie Dressler: A Biography, With a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography And a Discography|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0-7864-0520-1}}
  • {{cite book|last=Lee|first=Betty|year=1997|title=Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|isbn=0-8131-2036-5}}

External links

{{commons category|Claire Du Brey}}

  • {{IMDb name|0238855}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubrey, Claire}}

Category:1892 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:American women centenarians

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:American people of Croatian descent

Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from Idaho

Category:People from Bonners Ferry, Idaho