Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. Her acting artistry and high spirits made her the premier flapper and the film It (1927) made her world famous. Bow came to personify the “roaring twenties” and is described as its leading sex symbol.
Bow was born in a tenement in Brooklyn slum, New York. She was the third child; the first two, also daughters, die...
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Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. Her acting artistry and high spirits made her the premier flapper and the film It (1927) made her world famous. Bow came to personify the “roaring twenties” and is described as its leading sex symbol.
Bow was born in a tenement in Brooklyn slum, New York. She was the third child; the first two, also daughters, died in infancy. In July 1905 New York was besieged by a massive heatwave and the infant mortality was estimated at 80%. Bow's mother, Sarah (1880-1923), “...was almost mad with apprehension and fear”, but a week before the delivery, the heatwave broke and Bow was born, with the assistance of her grandmother. She was severely exhausted, though, and it took hours for her to stabilize.
At sixteen, Sarah fell from second floor and hit her head severely and became epileptic, although it took several years before the symptoms manifested, which is...
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