Claire, Ina (1892–1985)

American actress and Broadway star of the 1920s. Born Ina Fagan on October 15, 1892, in Washington, D.C.; died from the effects of a stroke at her home in San Francisco, California, on February 21, 1985; married James Whittaker (a critic), in 1919 (divorced 1925); married John Gilbert (the actor), in 1929 (divorced 1931); married William R. Wallace (an attorney), in 1939 (died 1976).

Filmography:

Wild Goose Chase (1915); The Puppet Crown (1915); Polly with a Past (1920); The Awful Truth (1929); (portrayedEthel Barrymore ) The Royal Family of Broadway (1931); Rebound (1931); The Greeks Had a Name for It (1932); Ninotchka (1939); Stage Door Canteen (1943); Claudia (1943).

Later typed as a well-dressed, well-bred sophisticate, Ina Claire started out on the road as a vaudeville comedian, at age 13, accompanied by her mother. In 1909, she gained notice in New York with her impersonation of the Scottish entertainer Sir Harry Lauder. Two years later, she made her Broadway debut in Jumping Jupiter. By 1915, Claire was a featured star in the Ziegfeld Follies and returned to the Follies the following year. Her 1917 performance in Polly with a Past firmly established her as a consummate comedienne. Sealing her reputation in 1919 with The Gold Diggers, which ran for two years, Ina Claire was well-known in New York circles for her ready wit.

Though Claire made her screen debut in the silent Wild Goose Chase in 1915, she preferred the stage and was a reigning Broadway star throughout the 1920s. In 1922, she played the lead in The Awful Truth on Broadway, then starred in the film version in 1929, her first talkie. (The movie would be remade in 1937 with Irene Dunne .) Though she did other films, Claire was content to stay in New York, performing in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1925) and S.N. Behrman's smash hit Biography (1932). Ina Claire retired in 1954, after a successful run in T.S. Eliot's The Confidential Clerk.