Marriage

In 1911, Clarence married a Spanish stage actress and fellow performer in Jacksonville, Florida, Ophelia Belle Labertier. The couple had two sons, Dion and Clarence Jr. Labertier, who was noted as an independent-minded guiding light to those around her. She died in 1923. There is very little information about Clarence Jr.

Muse married a single mother, Willabelle Marchbanks West, only two years later. Her daughter, Mae West, eventually took Clarence’s last name in order to avoid confusion with friend and fellow actress, Mae West. Willabelle and Clarence moved to California in 1929 while his son, Dion, attended Columbia University. Dion later joined them in California in 1933 and followed in his father’s footsteps joining the acting world. 

Dion married in 1936 to Pearl Rhodes and had two children, Dione Susan Muse Harris (1947-2002) and Jon Clarence Muse (1948-2005). Dion served during World War II, his marriage with Pearl ended in divorce, and he went on to marry Valeria Joan McCaslin in 1975. Dion died in 1981.

Mae, the daughter of Clarence’s second wife, Willabelle, became a singer and debuted at the Pacific Institute of Music and Arts in 1942 and remained close to her father. Mae died in 1986.

In 1948, Willabelle filed for divorce noting extreme cruelty, though specific charges weren’t published. She asked for $100 a month in alimony and divorce costs. Not even a year after their divorce, she married Matt Verble. She died in 1982 in Los Angeles.

Clarence married a third time to Irene Clare Kellman in 1954 and remained together, with no children, until Muse’s death in 1979.

While Clarence only claimed three marriages, rumor has it, Clarence married Frieda Belle Moore in 1907 before enrolling in law school and had a son with her.