Bow, Clara (1905-1965), was a popular American motion-picture star during the 1920’s. She became a symbol of the flapper , a spirited, confident, sexually liberated young woman of the Roaring Twenties . Bow played such a character in the film It (1927) and immediately became nationally known as the “It” girl. Other than It, Bow’s major motion pictures included The Plastic Age (1925), Mantrap and Dancing Mothers (both 1926), and Wings (1927).
Clara Gordon Bow was born on July 29, 1905, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. She lived in extreme poverty until the age of 16, when she won a movie magazine’s talent contest and a small film role as a prize. Bow made her film debut in 1922. Bow had a short movie career, which was damaged by scandalous publicity about her many love affairs. She also struggled with physical and mental health problems. She made her last film in 1933. Bow was married to cowboy movie star Rex Bell from 1931 until his death in 1962. Bow died on Sept. 27, 1965.
