Actress, visionary to the arts, dead at 90

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- Those who knew and loved Academy Award-winning actress

Claire Trevor Bren remembered her Monday as a “special woman” who devoted

herself to performing arts education. She died Saturday at the age of 90.

“She was a friend to young actors and a visionary about what a school of

the arts should look like,” said Jill Beck, dean of the School of the

Arts at UC Irvine. She said Bren was a warm, energetic woman who was

intensely committed to encouraging the study of drama. “She was very

interested in extending education to children as well as adults in the

arts.”Bren appeared in such films as “Murder My Sweet,” “Johnny Angel”

and “Key Largo,” winning an Oscar for her role in the latter film, in

1948.

She was the stepmother of developer Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine

Co.

“Claire was a special woman whose lifelong passion was to bring joy to

others,” the developer said in a statement released Saturday. “We will

all miss her. She was a great lady.”

Bren continued to be involved in the arts long after her acting career

was over. She was an avid painter and donated $500,000 to UC Irvine’s

drama department earlier this year to fund the renovation of a theater

there.

In her film roles, Bren combined high glamour with a hardheaded

personality. She often portrayed women who were outcasts -- prostitutes

and alcoholics -- but she played them with grace and vulnerability.

Bren appeared with Edward G. Robinson in “Key Largo,” with John Wayne in

“Stagecoach” and with Humphrey Bogart in “Dead End.” She also worked

extensively in radio and television, including a role on the show

“Dodsworth,” for which she was given an Emmy.

Norma Meyer Smith, an Emerald Bay resident who was friends with Bren for

35 years, remembered traveling with the actress to the Cannes film

festival, where Bren won an award for her work on “Stagecoach.”

“If we’d go through a lobby, I’d have to stand aside for 15 minutes

because the crowds were around her,” Smith recalled.

The reaction was the same when Bren paid a visit to the students at UC

Irvine, Beck said.

“They’d all jump up and crowd around her,” Beck said. “Her high standards

as an actor and her warmth as a person endeared her to the students and

the faculty at the school.”

The Village Theatre at UC Irvine, the space that is being renovated with

the money Bren donated, has been officially named for the actress. Beck

said ceremonies to mark the name change will be held when renovations are

complete.

The family is planning to hold private funeral services. Beck said UC

Irvine is also in the process of preparing a celebration of Bren’s life

and work.

“I don’t want [the students] to be sad,” Beck said. “I want them to think

of what an incredible person and artist she was and have that be their

lasting memory.”