Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 60

On Tuesday, March 5 at 7pm, the Forest Grove Library in Oregon is going to be presenting a the lecture, “The Life of Claire Phillips – Oregon’s Legendary Actress and Spy.”

You may be wondering why I am posting a program held at a small library about a person you probably have not heard of. There are a couple of reasons. First off, Claire Phillips was the real-life person who Ann Dvorak portrayed in the 1951 Allied Artists feature  I Was an American Spy. Secondly, I am a public librarian and am always happy to promote free library programing.

Claire Phillips was a Portland native, and there seems to be a growing awareness of her exploits during World War II, where she ran a nightclub in the Philippines that served as a front for delivering supplies and information to the Allied Forces under the noses of the Japanese military officials who frequented the club. Phillips was eventually captured, tortured, and sentenced to death, but the prison was liberated before her execution could take place.

Even though I Was an American Spy isn’t exactly a high-profile classic, it was one of the few films where Ann was THE star and it was her personal favorite. She became friends with Phillips, who was hired as a consultant on the film, and the women became close friends. Phillips was especially impressed with Ann’s desire to tell the story as accurate as possible and whenever she had issues with parts of the film, Claire would turn to Dvorak.

Over the years, a few articles about Phillips have popped up, but Ann is usually mentioned as a footnote. The piece in the Portland Tribune about the lecture bizarrely describes I Was an American Spy  as “starring the daughter of silent-film star Ann Dvorak as Claire.”  However, in my mind Claire Phillips and Ann Dvorak will forever be connected. I cannot hear Phillips name without thinking of Ann and the efforts she made to bring the “Manila Mata Hari’s” story to life (under low-budget circumstances).