1898-09-24 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
From Wikipedia Claire Adams (September 24, 1898 – 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. 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 artist who helps humanize the crippled crime boss played by Lon Chaney in The Penalty. 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. 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.
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Five Stars | 2009-03-13 | |
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What a Mother-in-Law! | Frances | 1934-09-07 |
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Married Alive | Viola Helmesley Duxbury | 1927-07-17 |
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Yellow Fingers | Nona Deering | 1926-03-21 |
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The Sea Wolf | Maud Brewster | 1926-07-26 |
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The Big Parade | Justyn Reed | 1925-11-05 |
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The Devil's Cargo | Martha Joyce | 1925-02-02 |
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Souls for Sables | 1925-01-01 | |
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Men and Women | Agnes Prescott | 1925-03-23 |
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Daddies | Bobette Audrey | 1924-02-09 |
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The Brass Bowl | Sylvia | 1924-11-06 |
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Oh, You Tony! | Betty Faine | 1924-09-21 |
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The Night Hawk | Clia Milton | 1924-02-17 |
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The Fast Set | Fay Collen | 1924-10-20 |
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The Girl in the Limousine | 1924-07-20 | |
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Brass Commandments | Ellen Bosworth | 1923-01-28 |
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Where the North Begins | Felice McTavish | 1923-07-01 |
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Stepping Fast | Helen Durant | 1923-05-13 |
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Legally Dead | Minnie O'Reilly | 1923-07-30 |
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Heart's Haven | Vivian Breed | 1922-08-08 |
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Golden Dreams | Mercedes McDonald | 1922-06-11 |
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Do and Dare | Juanita Sánchez | 1922-10-01 |
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Just Tony | Marianne Jordan | 1922-08-19 |
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When Romance Rides | Lucy Bostil | 1922-03-16 |
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The Man Of The Forest | Helen Raynor | 1921-06-01 |
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The Mysterious Rider | Columbine | 1921-10-23 |
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The Killer | Ruth Emory | 1921-01-30 |
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The Penalty | Barbara Ferris | 1920-08-15 |
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The Great Lover | Ethel | 1920-11-15 |
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Riders of the Dawn | Lenore Anderson | 1920-05-01 |
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The Invisible Bond | 1919-11-23 | |
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The End of the Road | Mary Lee | 1919-02-16 |
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Romance and Brass Tacks | 1918-09-29 | |
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Barnaby Lee | Dorothy Van Swringen | 1917-08-10 |
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Chris and His Wonderful Lamp | Betty | 1917-07-14 |
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Revenge Is Sweet | One of the Office Girls | 1912-07-16 |
