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Adrienne Ames Profile
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| (Adrienne Ruth McClure) |
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| 3 August 04 | is born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Samuel Hugh McClure, a chief engineer at Hotel Texas, and Flora Parthenia McClure. She is one of four girls (Adrienne, Jane, Gladys, and Doris) and three boys (Samuel, Joseph, and Walter). Her sister Doris will die when only one year old. |
| 5 August 14 | her sister Gladys Ethel is born. She will become actress Linda March. |
| ? | attends Central High School in Fort Worth |
| ? | makes trips to California with her family each year, visiting San Francisco and Los Angeles |
| ? | her sister Jane feels Adrienne has a talent for acting and urges her to try to get into motion pictures |
| c. 20 | marries Texas oilman Derward Dumont Truax. He is 19 / 23; she's 16. |
| c. 22 | her daughter, Dorothy J. / Barbara, is born |
| divorces Truax at age 18. Truax will die at age 67 in 1970 / 1974 in California. |
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| ? | works in Hollywood for a year and a half, doing bits and small parts |
| ? | as Adrienne Truax, she's a stand-in for actress Pola Negri |
| ? | is offered a part in a Ben Lyon film in the East. When the role fails to materialize, she persuades her father to let her remain there and study fashion design. |
| ? | begins studying literature at Columbia University and art at the Metropolitan Museum |
| 12 August 28 | her father, Samuel McClure, dies at age 57 from a freak accident. He is chief engineer at the Baker Hotel in Dallas, Texas, and dies by falling from the 3rd floor of the hotel. |
| ? | meets Beverly Hills millionaire broker Stephen M. Ames in New York City |
| 21 August 29 | marries Ames. He's 31; she's 25. He will become a producer. |
| Ames installs her in a Beverly Hills mansion and accepts her good friend, actor Bruce Cabot, as her escort while he’s frequently out of town |
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| 31 | after a vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii, with her husband, she stops over in California for several weeks. When still photographs by Ruth Harriet Louise show her beauty effectively, a Paramount official gives her a contract without a screen test. |
| 1 November 31 | seven new contracts were presented this week by Paramount. The seven lucky ones are Peggy Shannon, Frances Dee, Vivienne Osborne, John Breeden, Frances Moffett, Adrienne Ames, and Kent Taylor. |
| November 31 | her husband is reported in Hollywood for a two-week visit |
| January 32 | returns to Hollywood to play a role in The Beachcomber, supporting Chester Morris and Carole Lombard |
| June 32 | her Manhattan vacation is at an end. She returns to Hollywood to start work on Riddle Me This. |
| January 33 | lunches at Levy's with David Manners wearing a "stunning simple crepe dress topped by a long mink coat" |
| Mid-January 33 | columnist Dan Thomas reports her "inviting anyone in sight of her home for a popcorn orgy..." |
| Early February 33 | Thomas notes her "introducing her husband to practically everyone at the studio..." |
| Mid-February 33 | is reported cutting quite a figure around Hollywood with her swanky green car and ritzy chauffeur |
| April 33 | is noted lunching at Sardi's with her sister wearing a "gay corduroy suit with a bright plaid silk blouse that hooked its string tie up the front under shining hooks like those on old fashioned high-laced shoes” |
| June 33 | is quoted saying, "I wish I had been born in the gutter" |
| is reported "teaching Bruce Cabot a new step..." |
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| c. 6 August 33 | she and Ames agree on a trial separation because their work keeps them apart. "The fact that Miss Ames has been frequently in the company of Bruce Cabot, screen actor, has nothing to do with the separation, Miss Ames said and her husband affirms." |
| Early September 33 | Bruce Cabot is reported her escort at the Colony and "at all times..." |
| 15 September 33 | leaves by train for Reno to divorce Ames. "Miss Ames said that at a series of conferences with her husband they had reached a property settlement and that she would ask for the divorce. A separation of the couple had been rumored here when Miss Ames appeared publicity with Bruce Cabot, actor." |
| 30 October 33 | files for divorce from Ames in Minden, Nevada, charging him with extreme mental cruelty. A "substantial" property settlement is made. She is gowned in a modest white dress, which contrasts sharply with her announced intention of appearing in court for her decree dressed in bright blue trousers and a cerise blouse. Officials at Paramount say she will meet Cabot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and marry him at the Presbyterian Church of Carlsbad. Witnesses at that ceremony will be Mr. and Mrs. Howard Kerr and Linda March. Ames will marry actress Raquel Torres in 1935 and die at age 57 in 1954 in Los Angeles. |
| 31 October 33 | marries Jacques Etienne de Bujac, a.k.a. Bruce Cabot, at the Carlsbad, New Mexico, home of his mother, one day after her divorce from Ames. Both are 29. |
| 26 November 33 | her sister Gladys, a.k.a. Linda March, dies at age 19 in a car crash near Burlingame, California. She was returning home from a dance in San Francisco that was given in celebration of the big game victory of Stanford over California with her date, 21-year-old Bruce M. Tarver, a second string guard on the varsity football team and a member of Zeta Pai fraternity. Both are killed along with two people in the other car; seven are injured. Their automobile was struck head-on by another car a half mile north of the Broadway intersection of the Bayshore Highway. Gladys was dragged from the flaming debris by passing motorists and was pronounced dead on arrival at Mills Memorial Hospital. She was living on Palm Drive in Beverly Hills with her mother, Mrs. Flora McClure, at the time of her death. |
| 1 December 33 | returns to San Pedro from Honolulu with her husband, her honeymoon cut short by the death of her sister |
| 7 December 33 | her sister is interred |
| Mid-December 33 | she and Cabot are reported entertaining a large party of friends in a sort of double celebration |
| 9 January 34 | Cabot files petition in Los Angeles court to adopt her 11-year-old daughter, Dorothy J. Ames |
| 14 February 34 | the adoption proceedings are delayed pending the couple's return from an out-of-town trip |
| 28 February 34 | Cabot gains permission to adopt Dorothy |
| August 34 | denies reports of having a feud with actress Raquel Torres, who married her former husband, Stephen Ames |
| Christmas 34 | is reported buying her husband an English Christmas. "She is having a special set of golf clubs made for him and has ordered a golfing suit to be tailored by London's finest sports tailor. Bruce is buying Adrienne an entire new wardrobe of gowns to be made by her Hollywood designer during their London visit. A diamond pin is also on the list of Adrienne." |
| 2 January 35 | returns aboard the SS Majestic to New York from Cherbourg, France |
| February 35 | she and Cabot attend A. C. Blumenthal's dinner for "the bewitching pixie of the cinema, Carole Lombard" |
| Mid-April 35 | her house guest, the Countess of Warwick, is reported in front of the camera in the mob scene of Black Sheep |
| May 35 | attends 20th Century-Fox designer Royer's luncheon and fashion show given by the Assistance League. "She is very tan after a long vacation and very smart in a black and white checked taffeta blouse worn with a black wool cape suit." |
| June 35 | she and Cabot attend a big tumble-tubbing and barrel-rolling party at Carole Lombard's Venice Beach fun house. Among the guests are Clifton Webb, Lili Damita, Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Zeppo Marx, Heather Angel, and Josephine Hutchinson. |
| 6 July 35 | she and Cabot separate |
| 16 July 35 | she and Cabot are reported on chummy terms at parting. "A sudden surge of friendship between a Hollywood husband and wife these days is frequently the surest sign of an impending divorce." |
| 27 July 35 | is granted an uncontested divorce from Cabot in Los Angeles, charging him with mental cruelty and declaring they were temperamentally antagonistic. "Two weeks ago he stayed away from home all night," she complains and tells Superior Judge Georgia T. Bullock Braces. Waning love made her a "nervous wreck." Her sister Jane Merrick says Cabot often swore at her. |
| Mid-October 35 | attends the premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Cabot. Among the 450 guests of the fabulous party given afterwards by Marion Davies and Jack Warner are Joan Blondell with her ex-husband George Barnes, Patricia Ziegfeld with Will Rogers, Jr., Olivia de Havilland with Frederick Stover, and Margaret Lindsay with Joseph M. Smith. "Most of Hollywood was sleepy-eyed the next day, but enthusiastic over the evening." |
| 26 December 35 | while flying over the Pennsylvania Mountains to New York, she suddenly remembers she left her $9,500 emerald ring in the wash room of the Pittsburgh Municipal Airport. She tells the pilot, who immediately informs airport officials. A matron finds the emerald and a $500 guard ring, which are are sent on to New York. |
| 14 January 36 | in New York to sound out the stage situation, she suggests the formation of a Hollywood actors' organization to protest increasing federal and state income taxes leveled against the film capital |
| January 36 | leases her Beverly Hills home to newlyweds of 1935, producer Sam Katz and actress Sari Maritza |
| the press reports that she toured Europe five times, visiting Monte Carlo, Germany, France, England, and Belgium. "The apartment which she left in New York when she went to Hollywood is one of the most beautiful in the metropolis with a terrace large enough to accommodate 100 guests. Her summer home is at Westport, Connecticut, where she belongs to an exclusive club." |
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| February 36 | columnist Harrison Carroll knows: "If Adrienne Ames and Bruce Cabot have made a move towards reconciliation, the pair is keeping it a secret from their friends. Apparently, he hasn't seen Adrienne since her return from New York. And now he is off to the desert with Tim Durant, owner of the English horse Flamenco." |
| April 36 | advertises for Sealtest Butter Pecan |
| June 36 | columnist Sheila Graham thinks Adrienne and Bruce “are in the throes of deciding whether or not to remarry..." |
| she and Cabot help Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller celebrate his birthday |
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| July 36 | Cabot persuades her to turn down her final decree |
| columnist Sheila Graham reports: "Bruce Cabot and Adrienne Ames pulled a fast one on dame divorce by deciding to live together again, a week before the decree would have been absolute. 'When we got to count household bills and alimony, we decided it was cheaper to stay married,' said the flippant Mrs. Cabot to your correspondent." |
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| September 36 | is noted owning a penguin |
| January 37 | she and Cabot are reported "together more and more..." |
| 4 March 37 | returns to Los Angeles court a second time seeking divorce as Mrs. Jacques de Bujac, accusing Cabot of being unbearable and breaking furniture in their home during his drunken sprees. She won an interlocutory decree in July 1936 but dropped the case when Cabot chased her to New York by airplane. |
| 6 April 37 | divorces Cabot in Los Angeles after testifying that he drank to excess. She gets alimony of $125 a week and twenty percent of any salary he might make. Cabot will marry actress Francesca De Scaffa in 1950 and die at age 68 in 1972 in Los Angeles. |
| September 38 | columnist Jimmy Fidler expects her to "spend the entire winter in New York, airing it on a radio program" |
| February 39 | is seen clinging to the arm of Reginald Gardiner, ex-escort of Hedy Lamarr, who's seen around with Bruce Cabot |
| July 39 | columnist Paul Harrison reports: "Adrienne Ames is discouraged and disgusted with Hollywood, which wouldn't give her a fair chance to resume her career. So she's selling everything and will live and make pictures in England." |
| is noted dining and dancing with Adrienne Samish |
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| 26 October 39 | sheriff's deputies in Hollywood garnish Cabot's salary to satisfy a $5,950 back alimony judgement obtained by her |
| Mid-March 40 | is seen at the Algonquin glittering in with artist Jaro Fabry |
| columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports that Adrienne's "current reason for looking pretty is a handsome Canadian multi-millionaire..." |
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| June 40 | is expected to return East soon without suing Cabot for alimony payments |
| July 40 | will remain in New York City to go on Broadway |
| September 40 | columnist Jimmy Fidler knows that she "and Bruce Cabot took a party of pals on a nite-club whirl to 'celebrate' their decision to divorce..." |
| 41 | leaves films and becomes a commentator on WHN, a New York City radio station, interviewing celebrities and dispensing beauty suggestions |
| February 41 | columnist Walter Winchell warns: "Adrienne Ames, another who will discover that revenge is more costly than sugary. She's writing a book to 'embarrass' Hollywood..." |
| March 41 | her long sighs are over Brent Richards |
| October 41 | advertises for Chesterfield cigarettes |
| 1 December 41 | leaves by plane from New York for Albany, where she's to be made an honorary colonel at the inaugural ball of the First Battalion, First Regiment, of the New York State Guard. She is accompanied by Captain George D. Redden, Jr., and Lieutenant Alfred W. Halverson. |
| 42-45 | is active in war-bond sales and aids such causes as Bundles for Britain |
| February 42 | columnist Walter Winchell reports: "Bob Durham is now in the Air Corps, a cadet at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama. His girlfriend, Adrienne Ames, is carrying on here with her radio reviews - and big time, too..." |
| June 42 | is heralded sun bathing on the roof of her 3-story Sutton Place South apartment |
| September 42 | intimates say she and "illustrator Jaro Fabry are headed for an October altar-trek..." |
| April 43 | Winchell tells that "Alfred McKelvey, the Seaforth chief, and Adrienne Ames are not just a lot of rannygazoo!..." |
| May 45 | her current distraction is a captain in the medical corps at Fort Dix |
| 46 | does summer stock in Clinton and Norwich, Connecticut, and in Rhode Island |
| 31 May 47 | dies at her home at 25 Sutton Place South, New York City, from cancer. The press gives her age as 39. At her bedside are her daughter Barbara; her mother, Flora McClure of Beverly Hills, California; and her sister Jane Merrick of New York City. Surviving are also three brothers, Samuel, Joseph, and Walter McClure, also of Beverly Hills. She worked up to the last two weeks of her life. |
| obits across the country claim "the orchidaceous Miss Ames" to have been one of the best dressed women in the States |
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| 2 June 47 | her funeral is held in New York |
| 4 June 47 | her body is returned to Fort Worth, Texas, where a second funeral is held at Robertson-Mueller-Harper Funeral Home. She is buried next to her sister Gladys in the family plot in Fort Worth's historic Oakwood Cemetery. |
| January 51 | as Barbara Ames, her daughter debuts on Broadway in Enemy of the People opposite Frederic March |
| ? | her daughter, Barbara Ames, lives in North Miami Beach, Florida |
| Author: | Cheryl Messina |
| Sources: Hollywood Players: The Thirties by James Robert Parish and William T. Leonard, Made in Heaven by Victoria Houseman, The New York Times, Nevada State Journal, Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, The Gettysburg Times, Appleton Post-Crescent, Syracuse Herald Friday Evening, Indiana Evening Gazette, Edwardsville Intelligencer, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, The Charleston Daily Mail, Reno Evening Gazette, The Lima News, The Helena Daily Independent, The Oshkosh Northwestern, The Chronicle-Telegraph, Oakland Tribune, Ironwood Daily Globe, The Dothan Eagle, The Daily Independent, The Port Arthur News, The Daily Gleaner, Lincoln Evening Journal, The Frederick Post, The Sheboygan Press, The Chronicle-Telegram, Nebraska State Journal, Mansfield News-Journal, The Sunday Times Signal, The Lowell Sun, The Zanesville Signal, Valley Morning Star, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography | |