Best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy's Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Her suicide note read: "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen."
Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum.
Played different roles in different screen versions of "Huckleberry Finn". In the 1931 version, she played Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly, a carryover from the 1930 film of "Tom Sawyer", in which she played the same role. In 1939 she played the role of Miss Watson in the Mickey Rooney film "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
Suffering from severe arthritis and impending blindness, Clara fixed her hair, dressed up in her best outfit, placed her favorite photos and memorabilia around her room and sadly left this world by overdosing on sleeping tablets.