Bernice Claire

Bernice Claire, born Bernice Jahnigen on January 27, 1906, in Oakland, California, was an American singer and actress whose career spanned stage, film, and radio. Her birth surname, Jahnigen, was later subject to various mistranscriptions, appearing in some records as Janighen or Jahnigan. She was the daughter of Adolph and Clara Jahnigen, née Sternitzky, and had one elder brother, Earl. Claire died on January 17, 2003, in Portland, Oregon, from pneumonia, ten days before what would have been her 97th birthday.

Claire's performing life began early in the San Francisco Bay Area. A 1950 article in the Oakland Tribune placed her first public appearances in 1918, when she performed as a juvenile at East Bay theaters, lodges, and veterans' gatherings. She attended Oakland High School, where she pursued dramatics and took part in musical comedy productions. Possessed of a clear coloratura voice suited to light opera, she made her vaudeville debut in 1927.

Her film career launched in 1930 with a leading role in the original screen adaptation of No, No, Nanette, in which she played the title character. That same year she appeared alongside singer Alexander Gray in Spring Is Here and Song of the Flame, completing a trio of Pre-Code Warner Bros. productions with him. A fourth collaboration, a shortened film version of The Desert Song released under the title The Red Shadow, followed in 1932. Gray and Claire were regarded as film's first operetta team, predating the pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. As operettas declined in audience favor, Warner Bros. cast Claire in dramatic roles, an experiment that did not yield lasting results. She went on to appear in a total of 13 films between 1930 and 1938, including Moonlight and Pretzels, Numbered Men, Top Speed, Kiss Me Again, and several musical shorts, some of which again featured Gray.

In 1934, Claire brought her stage talents to Broadway, appearing in the short-lived musical The Chocolate Soldier. Beyond film and theater, she continued working as a radio and orchestra singer into the later years of her career. She was married to Dr. Douglas P. Morris and spent a significant portion of her later life in Portland, Oregon.