She was born Clara Estelle Williams on May 3, 1888 in Seattle, Washington. Her father, John Williams, worked as a barber. When she was six years old her family moved to Los Angeles, California and bought a cattle ranch. Clara began her career performing in vaudeville and was signed by Incevelle studios. She made her film debut in the 1910 short The Western Chivalry. The lovely brunette starred in numerous shorts including The Forest Vampires, Out Of The Night, and The Ruse. In 1911 she appeared in the debut issue of Motion Picture magazine making her the first film actress to be written about in a fan magazine. While filming The Bargain in 1914 she started dating director Reginald Barker. Clara was cast as a Latin housewife in 1915 drama The Italian. The movie was a hit and her performance got rave reviews. Unfortunately she now found herself typecast as a Latin type. She was given starring roles in the films Hell's Hinges and The Market Of Vain Desire.
Clara often wore fancy gowns in her films which became known as her "forty famous frocks". In 1917 she left Inceville and joined the newly formed Paralta studios. After making the 1918 drama One Woman she decided to retire from acting. On February 7, 1920 she married her longtime boyfriend Reginald Barker. She enjoyed her new life as a housewife and claimed she and her husband never fought. Clara said "To me there is no comparison in the amount of pleasure to be enjoyed from home life as opposed to a career." Sadly she was diagnosed with chronic myocarditis, a serious heart condition. Her health quickly declined and by 1928 she had become an invalid. She died on May 8, 1928 at the young age of forty. Clara was cremated and buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California.
