Clara Bow, (born July 29, 1905, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S. died Sept. 27, 1965, Los Angeles, Calif.), American motion-picture actress called the “It” Girl after she played in It (1927), the popular silent-film version of Elinor Glyn’s novel of that name. She personified the vivacious, emancipated flapper of the 1920s. From 1927 to 1930 she was one of the top five Hollywood box-office attractions. Clara Bow was born into a poor family; she was sexually abused by her father and neglected by her mentally unbalanced mother. She went to Hollywood by way of a beauty contest while still in high school. A