Born into the slums of Brooklyn in 1905 as the only daughter of Robert and Sarah Bow, Clara had a harsh upbringing. Sarah was mentally ill resulting from a head injury she sustained as a teenager from a fall and Clara spent much of her childhood taking care of her mother. Her father was often absent and barely supported the family. Perhaps it was this very abject early life that would provide Clara with her acting talent later known for its wide range of emotions. It was as if she could “live inside†any role given to her. The famous director Victor Fleming once compared Clara Bow to a Stradivarius violin: “Touch her and she responded with genius.” The turning point of her success came in 1927 when she starred in the silent film “Itâ€, a Cinderella story which would forever stamp Clara with the sobriquet “The It Girl.†She became the biggest female box office draw during the years between 1927 and 1930 and a leading sex symbol of the times. Clara Bow acted in over 50 films spanning from the silent era into the “talkies†but she ended her Hollywood career at the young age of 28. Hollywood and her immense fame never really appealed to Clara Bow. She would go onto marry Rex Bell and retire as a Nevada rancher raising her two sons.
