Clara Moores Payson (July 27, 1896 – January 21, 1986), born Clara Munchhoff, was an American stage actress.

Early life

Clara Louise Munchhoff was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

in 1898, the daughter of Joseph W. Munchhoff and Mate (or May Etta) Cannon Munchhoff. Her father owned a traveling carnival. Her mother was active in the

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

movement and her (step) grandfather, Frank E. Moores, was a controversial

Mayor of Omaha This is a list of mayors of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. List of mayors See also * Government of Omaha * History of Omaha References {{Omaha Omaha * Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipa ...

. She adopted the surname of her stepfather, railwayman Harry E. Moores, after her mother remarried in 1909. She was raised in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and graduated from Broadway High School and attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Career

Moores acted on the stage, beginning in college, and later mainly in Boston and on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, with stage credits including roles in ''Madame X'', ''Under Cover,'' ''A Cure for Curables'' (1918), ''His Majesty Bunker Bean'', ''Dangerous Years'', ''Lilies of the Field, Shavings'' (1920), ''Pot Luck'' (1921), ''Common Clay, Cobra'' (1924) ''and The Circle''. Moores was considered a stylish beauty in her time. The costumes she wore on stage were described in detail. As publicity for ''Shavings'', she was photographed in hats made from wood shavings. In 1920, she wrote a beauty advice column on attractive arms, for newspaper syndication. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Moores (by then named Payson) organized

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

-style entertainments for enlisted men stationed in the Seattle area.

Personal life

Moores became the second wife of writer, editor, and publisher

William Farquhar Payson William Farquhar Payson (18 February 1876 – April 15, 1939) was an American author and editor. Early life He was born in New York City on February 18, 1876. He was a son of Francis and Mary F. (née Dabney) Payson. Among his siblings was Mary Dab ...

in 1927. Her husband died in 1939; she died in Seattle in 1986, aged 89 years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moores, Clara 1896 births 1986 deaths Actors from Omaha, Nebraska American actresses University of Washington alumni