Claire Adams

Born: 1898-09-24

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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The Big Parade

as Justyn Reed
Released: 1925-11-05

The story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to...

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The Penalty

as Barbara Ferris
Released: 1920-08-15

Blizzard, deranged from a childhood operation in which both his legs were needlessly amputated...

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The Killer

as Ruth Emory
Released: 1921-01-30

Claire Adams as a girl forced to marry the man she suspects killed her father. When she refuses,...

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Stepping Fast

as Helen Durant
Released: 1923-05-13

Mix is Grant Malvern, a rancher who befriends scientist Quentin Durant (Tom S. Guise) after...

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The Great Lover

as Ethel
Released: 1920-11-15

Ethel Warren returns from studying in Europe to make her debut in New York with the opera...

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The Man Of The Forest

as Helen Raynor
Released: 1921-06-01

Ailing ranch owner Al Auchincloss (Harry Lorraine) sends for his two nieces, Helen and Bo Raynor...

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When Romance Rides

as Lucy Bostil
Released: 1922-03-16

Lucy Bostil, daughter of a Colorado ranch owner, is led by a dog to his master, Lin Slone, who...

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Married Alive

as Viola Helmesley Duxbury
Released: 1927-07-17

James Duxbury (Lou Tellegen) is an exponent of polygamy, which may not be legal but certainly...

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Daddies

as Bobette Audrey
Released: 1924-02-09

A group of confirmed bachelors finds their informal "anti-matrimony club" turned into a home for...

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Men and Women

as Agnes Prescott
Released: 1925-03-23

Will Prescott (Richard Dix) is a bank cashier whose assistant, Ned Seabury (Neil Hamilton), has...

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The Devil's Cargo

as Martha Joyce
Released: 1925-02-02

John Joyce arrives in Sacramento with his sister, Martha, and aunt to become the editor of a...

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Brass Commandments

as Ellen Bosworth
Released: 1923-01-28

"Flash" Lanning returns to Bozzam City from the East to put an end to cattle rustling. Gloria...

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Golden Dreams

as Mercedes McDonald
Released: 1922-06-11

Oil is discovered on the Countess de Elberca's estate in a mythical Spanish American country....

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The Brass Bowl

as Sylvia
Released: 1924-11-06

After arriving unexpectedly at his country home, Dan Maitland discovers a young woman attempting...

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Riders of the Dawn

as Lenore Anderson
Released: 1920-05-01

A young soldier returns from the war to find his western homeland despoiled by conflict between...

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Chris and His Wonderful Lamp

as Betty
Released: 1917-07-14

A young man buys an Aladdin’s lamp at an auction and employs the genie to help him see his love.

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Where the North Begins

as Felice McTavish
Released: 1923-07-01

A German Shepherd puppy is "adopted" by a wolf pack in the snowy and frozen Great North and...

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The Girl in the Limousine

as uncredited
Released: 1924-07-20

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Just Tony

as Marianne Jordan
Released: 1922-08-19

A cowboy seeks revenge against the man who shot him in a bar-room brawl. While searching for...

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The Night Hawk

as Clia Milton
Released: 1924-02-17

Our Western star begins this actioner rather improbably, as a New York City gangster. But soon...

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The Mysterious Rider

as Columbine
Released: 1921-10-23

Hell Bent Wade is the victim of an attack in which is wife is killed and daughter kidnapped. A...

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Do and Dare

as Juanita Sánchez
Released: 1922-10-01

When Henry Boone hears his grandfather's stories of his youth as a pioneer and scout, he is...

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The Fast Set

as Fay Collen
Released: 1924-10-20

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The Invisible Bond

as uncredited
Released: 1919-11-23

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Revenge Is Sweet

as One of the Office Girls
Released: 1912-07-16

A short comedy in which the newest employee is teased by the office girls, but he retaliates by...

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The End of the Road

as Mary Lee
Released: 1919-02-16

Childhood friends Mary Lee and Vera receive two different versions of the 'birds and the bees'...

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Heart's Haven

as Vivian Breed
Released: 1922-08-08

A fine cast brings depth to this melodrama of a crippled boy, an unhappy marriage, an injured...

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Souls for Sables

as uncredited
Released: 1925-01-01

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Oh, You Tony!

as Betty Faine
Released: 1924-09-21

This silent Western features Tom Mix as a rancher who goes to Washington to affect better...

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Romance and Brass Tacks

as uncredited
Released: 1918-09-29

Romance and Brass Tacks is a silent short.

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Five Stars

as uncredited
Released: 2009-03-13

This unique collection of some of Andrew Blake's most memorable scenes stars five of the most...

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