INA CLAIRE, 92, WHO BROUGHT COMIC ARTISTRY TO STAGE ROLES (original) (raw)
Arts|INA CLAIRE, 92, WHO BROUGHT COMIC ARTISTRY TO STAGE ROLES
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/23/arts/ina-claire-92-who-brought-comic-artistry-to-stage-roles.html
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- Feb. 23, 1985
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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February 23, 1985
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Ina Claire, one of the most celebrated performers of high comedy on the American stage, died Thursday at her home in San Francisco. She was 92 years old.
With verve and panache, the actress brought civilized laughter to audiences for decades, transformed even trivial plays into personal triumphs and projected a droll and sophisticated style that influenced a generation of comediennes.
She originated the role of the devious wife plotting to win back her former husband in ''The Awful Truth'' in 1922 and played a sly thief in ''The Last of Mrs. Cheyney'' in 1925, a title-hunting American in a 1928 revival of ''Our Betters'' and an unscrupulous minx in a stage adaptation of Anthony Trollope's ''Barchester Towers'' in 1937.
Among Miss Claire's most memorable portrayals were the urbane characters she shaped, mixing delicate banter, mockery and irony, in three comedies by S. N. Behrman - ''Biography'' in 1932, ''End of Summer'' in 1936 and ''The Talley Method'' in 1941. In ''Biography,'' as an undistinguished artist made famous by her subjects, many reputedly her former lovers, she created a scandal by writing an intimate autobiography.
Only Nine Film Roles
In films, the actress portrayed Ethel Barrymore in ''The Royal Family of Broadway'' in 1930, Greta Garbo's mischevious adversary, Duchess Swana, in ''Ninotchka'' in 1939 and Dorothy McGuire's mother in ''Claudia'' in 1943. But Miss Claire considered filmmaking as fundamentally a director's art and chose to appear in only nine movies.
The blond, hazel-eyed actress had a tipped-up nose and yielding chin that suggested both humor and beauty. Her features prompted the critic Walter Kerr to liken her to ''a dazzling line- drawing from the most fashionable magazine of the 20's.''
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