Who is Clara Bow, and why did Taylor Swift name a song after her in ‘The Tortured Poets Department’?
Clara Bow may have been one of the most famous women in the world in the 1920s, but thanks to Taylor Swift she’s in the news again a century later.
Renewed interest in the late actress came after the singer announced her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” at the 2024 Grammy Awards, with the track list revealed shortly after.
One song in particular, titled “Clara Bow”, caught the attention of many Swifties, who were quick to draw parallels between the lives of the two famous women.
Read on for everything you need to know about the silent film star.
Who was Clara Bow and what made her famous?
Born in Brooklyn, Bo first pursued a career in acting as a teenager.
After winning Brewster Publications’ annual “Fame and Fortune Contest”, she moved from New York to Hollywood, California in 1923.
He found success during the silent film era, notably in the 1927 hit “It”, which catapulted him to megastardom.
After her role as adventurous shopkeeper Betty Lou, she was nicknamed “The It Girl”, which has become a colloquialism used to this day.
Known for her magnetic charm, Bo often defied gender conventions and used her sex appeal to create her public image.
In addition to his career, which included 46 silent films and 11 talking pictures, Bo’s personal life became fodder for the newspapers. According to The Guardian, she was reportedly even more “brazen” than her fellow film stars at the time.
According to the outlet, actress Lena Basquiat once said of Bo, “She was not liked among the other women in the film colony.”
“Her social presence was taboo, and that was rather silly, because God knows Marion Davies and Mary Pickford had a lot to hide. It’s just that he hid it, and Clara didn’t.”
Did Clara Bow ever marry?
Bow met Western actor Rex Bell on the set of his 1930 film, “True to the Navy”.
They said “I do” the following year and welcomed two sons: Tony Beldam (who later changed his name to Rex Anthony Bell Jr.) and George Beldam Jr.
The couple retired from public life in 1933 and moved to a ranch in Nevada with their children.
The former actors were married for more than three decades, until Bell died of a heart attack on July 4, 1962.
How did Clara Bow inspire Taylor Swift?
While fans will have to wait until April 19 to find out how Swift took inspiration from Bow, some believe there are clear parallels between their lives and careers.
The Grammy winner previously told a similar story with her “folklore” song “The Last Great American Dynasty,” in which she channeled socialite Rebekah Harkness, who lived in the Rhode Island mansion now owned by Swift.
For her part, Bow retired from acting at the age of 28 — the same age Swift was when she faded from the public eye at the beginning of her “Reputation” era.
BBC documentary maker Elaine Shepherd said that Hollywood made a huge impact on Bo, who soon rose to international stardom.
“The studios were killing him. “She was taking lots of primitive pills to get her out of bed in the morning and to get her to sleep at night,” Shepherd previously told the BBC.
“The authorities were trying to exploit her as much as possible, the gossip magazines were writing the most terrible lies about her, and she, as a twenty-year-old woman, was dealing with all that on her own,” she continued. “She found it very stressful.”
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How did Clara Bow die?
Bo spent his final years in Culver City, California, where he died of a heart attack on September 27, 1965.
She was 60 years old at that time.
Are there any other links to Taylor Swift’s music?
Swift’s devoted fans are quick to point out that Bow’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which she received in February 1960, is located at the corner of Vine St. and Sunset Blvd.
In her song “Gorgeous”, Swift sings, “Whiskey on ice, sunsets and wine / You ruined my life by not being mine.”
This may be a pure coincidence, but fans will soon find out when Swift drops “The Tortured Poets Department.”
