Claire Windsor

Claire was peripherally involved in the famous William Desmond Taylor murder case in 1922. She and Taylor had a dinner date the night before he was found murdered in his house. Although the case has never been officially solved, one theory is that Desmond was killed by a jealous lover who saw Claire at his house that night and, when she left, sneaked in the house and killed him. She was questioned by the police the next day and eventually cleared of any involvement in the murder.

Silent-era star Claire Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk in Cawker City, Kansas, the daughter of Ella and G. E. Cronk. She was educated at Broadway High School in Seattle, Washington, and Washburn Preperatory Academy in Topeka, Kansas. She studied voice and piano at Cohn's Conservatory of Music in Seattle. Claire began her film career as an extra on the Famous Players-Lasky lot, and was signed to stock by director Allan Dwan to work at First National Pictures. She was then signed by writer/director Lois Weber to the lead role in What Do Men Want? (1921), at which time she changed her name to Claire Windsor (on the advice of writer Frances Marion).

Her son Billy Bowes (David William Bowes) was born on September 9th, 1916 in Denver Colorado. He made his screen debut in What Do Men Want? (1921) and then appeared in several pictures, his greatest success being the leading role in the comedy Three Good Pals (1921), a two-reel comedy by Fox, in which he was supported by a duck and a monkey.

Clara Viola (Ola) Cronk was actually born in Marvin (present day Glade), in Phillips County, Kansas. Ola was two years old when the family moved to Cawker City (Jan. 1895) and ran a general merchandise store until 1920. "Claire Windsor" always claimed to be born in Cawker because she used 1897 or 1898 as the date of her birth instead of 1892.