Claire Maynard was a promising 1930s film starlet who tragically took her own life
She was born Marie J. MacCarthy on March 22, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, James MacCarthy, was head of New York City's board of transportation and her grandfather, M.J. Coffey, was a State Senator. When she was a teenager she started modeling for a local dress shop. A 20th Century Fox talent scout saw her and signed her to a contract in the Summer of 1931. Claire made her film debut in the drama Over The Hill. The lovely blonde made four more films at Fox including Good Sport and Dance Team. Unfortunately after just six moths they decided to drop her contract. Then she was signed by Universal and made two comedy shorts with Slim Summerville. Some film critics said she looked like Joan Bennett. She had a brief romance with writer Jack Kirkland, ex-husband of Nancy Carroll. Claire was cast in a leading role in Under The Circumstances but the film never got made.
Depressed over her failing career she attempted suicide by swallowing iodine. The twenty-one year old moved back to New York City in 1933 and started acting in the theater. In 1936 she landed a small part in the play Bright Honor. She got married but the brief union ended in divorce. After her mother Florence died in 1938 she fell into a deep depression and attempted suicide again. Claire would often spend hours visiting her mother's grave. Tragically on July 19,1941 she killed herself by turning on the gas in her apartment. She was only twenty-nine years old. Three notes are found near her body including one for her father that said "Daddy, My sweetheart, Always my sweetheart." Her friends said she ended her life because her heart could not ache any longer. Claire was buried next to her mother at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.
