School of the Arts Named For Actress Claire Trevor
UC Irvine Honors Award-winning Performer for her Accomplishments and Contributions Irvine
Nov. 9, 2000 - The School of the Arts at UC Irvine was named the Claire Trevor School of the Arts in honor of the late Academy Award-and Emmy Award-winning actress.
The naming was in recognition of Claire Trevor’s accomplishments over her 79-year career in stage, film, radio and television, and contributions to the school in her honor that will total $10 million. To date, the school has received $7.5 million from Trevor and the Bren family. The remaining $2.5 million will be raised through the School of the Arts’ ongoing capital campaign. "This naming is a fitting tribute and an excellent way to honor the considerable contributions that Claire Trevor has made to this university and to the arts," UC President Richard C. Atkinson said.
"This generous gift provides the keystone to the development of the School of the Arts as a nationally renowned center for learning and creative production in the arts—one that promotes disciplinary excellence and that is redefining the role of the arts in research and education," Beck said. "We are extremely proud to be named in loving memory of Claire Trevor, an artist of exceptional professional accomplishment as well as a passionate advocate of the arts and of the importance of arts education."
"One of the many qualities that made Claire special was her strong support of young people interested in exploring the arts," said Donald Bren, stepson of Claire Trevor and chairman of The Irvine Company. "She was also very impressed with the quality of the students and faculty at UCI’s School of the Arts, so this gift is a very appropriate reflection of both her own artistic legacy and her commitment to the artists and performers of the future." "Claire was a continuous student of all forms of art, and through the arts she expanded her understanding of people," said Peter Bren, who also is a stepson of Trevor and lives in New York City.
The gift from Claire Trevor and the Bren family will provide discretionary funds for the school, establish three endowed professorships in the school and support UCI’s ArtsBridge partnership program with K-12 schools. The three endowed professorships, to be known as Claire Trevor Professors, will be held by distinguished faculty in the School of the Arts. The Claire Trevor Professors will also become members of UCI's Bren Fellows Program, extending that program beyond the sciences to include the arts.
Claire Trevor, whose extensive performing career began with her 1921 debut on Broadway at the age of 11 and continued through the mid-1980s, appeared in more than 60 films between 1933 and 1987, starring with such icons as John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable and Edward G. Robinson. She received three Academy Award nominations, winning the Academy Award in 1948 for her performance in "Key Largo." She also received an Emmy Award for her television performance in "Dodsworth." Trevor, who died in April at the age of 90, worked with many of Hollywood’s legendary directors, including John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston and Raoul Walsh.