Claire McDowell

Acting

Claire McDowell

Born October 31, 1877 · New York City, New York, USA

Died October 23, 1966 · aged 88

Claire McDowell (2 November 1877 – 23 October 1966) was an American actress. She appeared in 360 films between 1908 and 1945. Still somewhat of a youthful beauty when she started in early silent films, McDowell appeared in numerous films, eventually graduating to playing character and mother types. She can be seen to good advantage in Douglas Fairbanks's 1920 The Mark of Zorro. McDowell appeared …

Known For

It Happened One NightIt Happened One Night · 1934
It Happened One Night
★ 7.81934
MovieComedyRomance
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the PresidentJoe and Ethel Turp Call on the President · 1939
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
★ 5.01939
MovieComedy
Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the ChristBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ · 1925
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
★ 7.31925
MovieAdventureDrama
Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.
Keeper of the FlameKeeper of the Flame · 1943
Keeper of the Flame
★ 6.61943
MovieDramaMystery
Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Hangmen Also Die!Hangmen Also Die! · 1943
Hangmen Also Die!
★ 6.91943
MovieDramaThriller
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda, a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal "Hangman of Europe", Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, and is wounded in the process. In his attempt to escape, he is helped by history professor Stephen Novotny and his daughter Mascha.
The Mark of ZorroThe Mark of Zorro · 1920
The Mark of Zorro
★ 7.21920
MovieWesternAdventure
Don Diego Vega pretends to be an indolent fop as a cover for his true identity, the masked avenger Zorro. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Boys TownBoys Town · 1938
Boys Town
★ 6.81938
MovieDrama
Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.
Dollar DownDollar Down · 1925
Dollar Down
★ 7.01925
MovieDrama
Just before he propelled the crime melodrama to new, macabre heights in The Unholy Three, Browning directed this partially lost morality tale pertaining to a different kind of horror: that of a middle-class family living beyond their means and falling prey to moneylenders. Produced by and starring Ruth Roland for FBO Studios, a small operation that later became RKO Pictures, Dollar Down follows Roland as the spendthrift daughter of a manufacturing firm’s general manager (Henry Walthall), who pawns a ring purchased on credit to throw an extravagant party and sends the family’s livelihood into a tailspin. Because its last reel completely disintegrated before it could be copied, the film remains an ultra-rare curio that nonetheless captures an important chapter in Browning’s career before his successful string of films made for MGM.

Filmography

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Dollar DownDollar Down · 1925
Dollar Down
★ 7.01925
MovieDrama
Just before he propelled the crime melodrama to new, macabre heights in The Unholy Three, Browning directed this partially lost morality tale pertaining to a different kind of horror: that of a middle-class family living beyond their means and falling prey to moneylenders. Produced by and starring Ruth Roland for FBO Studios, a small operation that later became RKO Pictures, Dollar Down follows Roland as the spendthrift daughter of a manufacturing firm’s general manager (Henry Walthall), who pawns a ring purchased on credit to throw an extravagant party and sends the family’s livelihood into a tailspin. Because its last reel completely disintegrated before it could be copied, the film remains an ultra-rare curio that nonetheless captures an important chapter in Browning’s career before his successful string of films made for MGM.

Mrs. Meadows

The Famous Ferguson CaseThe Famous Ferguson Case · 1932
The Famous Ferguson Case
★ 6.61932
MovieCrimeDrama
A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed. Two types of New York City journalists descend on Cornwall, one interested in facts, the other in getting sensational "news". Mrs. Ferguson is known to have been friendly with a local banker. The Fergusons quarrel the evening he is killed (by "burglars", his wife tells the police later), and she is arrested, spurred on by the "bad" journalists, who also manage to badger the banker's wife into the hospital. Meanwhile, young Bruce Foster runs the Cornwall Courier, and shows the big city reporters how to dig out real news while they attempt to subvert justice for their own ends.

Brooks' Landlady (uncredited)