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Date/place of birth
Luce was born in New York City as Ann Clare Boothe, second child of Anna Clare Schneider- a dancer and William Franklin Boothe- a violinist, Luce had an older brother named David Franklin Boothe. Her Father and Mother were not together and would later separate in 1912. -
Childhood
Throughout Luce's childhood, she has been in many places such as Memphis, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and Union city. As well as New Jersey and New York City. Her Father instilled a love of literature into Luce and her mother had ambitious intentions of having Luce become an actor. Both having set Luce up for many opportunities in the future. -
Broadway Debut
Clare- at the age of ten- understudied Mary Pickford and later had her broad way debut in Mrs. Henry b. Harris's production "The Dummy", a detective comedy. -
The Heart of a Waif
Luce played a small part in Thomas Edison's movie The Heart of a Waif- Jane is punished by her foster-father for breaking the eggs, Jane leaves home and wanders into the country, intending to return to the orphan asylum, where the work is not quite so hard. Jane later sees a group try to break into her foster-parents home and warns them. As they sort the situation, Jane the next day is getting ready for school and the grueling work she did in the past is now forgotten. -
Education
Luce graduated first in her class at the age of 16 in 1919 and she attended the cathedral schools in Garden City and Tarrytown, New York. -
Women's suffrage movement
After a tour of Europe with her mother and stepfather, Dr. Albert E. Austin, whom her mother married in 1919, she became interested in the women's suffrage movement, and she was hired by Alva Belmont to work for the National Woman's Party in Washington, D.C. and Seneca Falls, New York. -
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Marriages
Luce married George Tuttle Brokaw on August 10, 1923- who she later divorced in 1929, claiming that Brokaw was a hopeless alcoholic. She later married Henry Luce on November 23, 1935. -
Abide by Me
Abide by Me is a play that is about a man mistreating his wife. This play was not as popular or as well liked by viewers than her other plays are. -
From Ann to Clare
When Luce married Henry Luce, she then called herself Clare Boothe Luce. Commonly mistaken for a stage and film actress, Claire Luce. As a professional writer, she continued to use her maiden name. -
"The Women"
"The Women"- a 1936 hit, the play is a commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various wealthy Manhattan socialites and up-and-coming women and the gossip that propels and damages their relationships. While men frequently are the subject of their lively discussions and drive the action on-stage, they are never seen or heard as the cast was only women.- was what Luce became known for. -
Margin for Error
Margin for Error is a two-act play written in 1939 by Luce. It is a satire of Nazism, and was staged on Broadway shortly after World War II began in Europe. The plot is a whodunit about the murder of a German consul in the United States. The play was adapted as a movie of the same name in 1943. -
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
Kiss the Boys Goodbye is another play by Luce. it follows Cindy Lou Bethany who was raised in the South, but is now a struggling actress and chorus girl in New York City, eager to find a starring role. An audition to portray a Southern belle in a big production is her big chance, but it ends before she gets a chance to show director Lloyd Lloyd what she can do. She gets the chance to show Lloyd her talents but he turns her away and later regrets it as she was the actor he had been looking for. -
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What Luce did
Luce was an American author, politician, U.S. Ambassador, public conservative figure, and playwright. Luce was introduced to a majority through her husband and the people he knew and had ties with because of his field of work. -
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In office
Luce was a member of the U.S House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district from 1943-1947. She later became the United States Ambassador to Italy from 1953-1956. -
Daughter
Luce had her only child during her first marriage with Brokaw. She had a daughter named Anne Clare Brokaw. Anne later being killed in an automobile accident when she was 19 and a senior attending Standford university. -
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Lose of her daughter
Luce explored religion and psychotherapy- also known as psychological therapy or talk therapy- is the use of psychological methods based on regular personal interaction with the desire to help someone change behaviors and overcome problems. After grief counseling with Father Fulton Sheen, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church. As a memorial to her daughter, funded the construction of a Catholic Church for the use by the Stanford campus ministry. -
Widowhood
In the early years of her widowhood- her husband, Henry Luce (shown in the picture) suffering a fatal heart attack in 1967- she retired to the luxurious beach house that she and her husband had planned in Honolulu, but boredom with life in what she called "this fur-lined rut" brought her back to Washington, D.C. for increasingly long periods. She made her final home there in 1983. -
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
In 1973, President Richard Nixon named her to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). She remained on the board until President Jimmy Carter succeeded President Gerald Ford in 1977. By then, she had put down roots in Washington, D.C., that would become permanent in her last years. -
Presidential Medal of Freedom
In 1983 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom- an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of two of the highest civilian award in the United States. -
date/place of death
Luce died of brain cancer on October 9, 1987, at age 84, at her Watergate apartment in Washington, D.C. She is buried at Mepkin Abbey, South Carolina, a plantation that she and Henry Luce had once owned and given to a community of Trappist monks. She lies in a grave adjoining those of her mother, her daughter, and her husband. Luce and her husband in the middle, both sharing the same headstone, and her mother on the right, her daughter on the left. -
Clare Boothe Luce Award
There is an award that has been established in 1991 in memory of Luce called the Clare Booth Luce Award, this award is The Heritage Foundation's highest award for distinguished contributions to the conservative movement.
