Ina Claire
2 credits on HibingeTV
American actress, born in 1893. A celebrated Broadway comedienne, she made a small number of films in the early sound era. She plays Julie Cavendish, the theatrical matriarch modeled on Ethel Barrymore, in The Royal Family of Broadway (1930). She returned to the stage after a few more films and remained a stage star through the 1940s. She died in 1985.
Acted In
Comedy, Pre-Code
A Pre-Code comedy directed by Lowell Sherman, produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Three Broadway showgirls—Schatzi (Joan Blondell), Jean (Madge Evans), and Teddy (Ina Claire)—share an apartment and a talent for extracting gifts from wealthy men. When Teddy announces her engagement to a respectable businessman, the other two try to sabotage the wedding, each scheming to land a rich husband of her own. The film's frank depiction of gold-digging and sexual maneuvering is pure Pre-Code Hollywood, and the three leads sparkle with wit and chemistry. The film was later remade as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. The film is in the public domain.
Comedy · Pre-Code
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
1932 - as Teddy
Comedy, Drama
An early sound comedy adapted from Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's 1927 play The Royal Family, a thinly veiled portrait of the Barrymore acting dynasty. Ina Claire plays Julie Cavendish, the grande dame of a Broadway acting family modeled on Ethel Barrymore, and Fredric March plays her brother Tony, a swashbuckling matinee idol in the John Barrymore mold, fleeing a breach-of-promise suit in Hollywood. The film follows the family as each member must choose between the stage and a private life. George Cukor, who would become one of Hollywood's great directors of actors, co-directed with Cyril Gardner. The film was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.
Comedy · Drama
The Royal Family of Broadway
1930 - as Julie Cavendish