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Fred Clark

{{short description|American actor (1914-1968)}}

{{for multi|the American politician|Fred Clark (politician)|other people|Frederick Clark (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Fred Clark

| image = Fred Clark - 1950.JPG

| caption = Clark in 1950

| imagesize =

| birth_name = Frederick Leonard Clark

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|3|19}}

| birth_place = Lincoln, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1968|12|5|1914|3|19}}

| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Benay Venuta|1952|1962|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Gloria Glaser|1966}}}}

}}

Frederick Leonard Clark{{Citation needed |date=September 2024}} (March 19, 1914 – December 5, 1968) was an American movie and television character actor, often playing in authoritative roles.

Early years

Born in Lincoln, California, Clark was the son of Fred Clark Sr. He attended Stanford University with plans to become a doctor, but participation with a college production of Yellow Jack diverted his attention to acting. He changed his major to drama and later received a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While there, he was elected his class's most promising actor.{{cite news |last1=McManus |first1=Margaret |title=Fred Clark Desperately Desired Being Fired But Somehow It Never Happened |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114279808/fred-clark/ |access-date=December 8, 2022 |work=The Kansas City Star |date=July 17, 1966 |page=97|via = Newspapers.com}}

Career

File:Gene Kelly Going My Way television series 1962.JPG in the Going My Way television episode, "A Matter of Principle" (1962).]]

Among his movies were Ride the Pink Horse (1947), Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), Flamingo Road (1949), White Heat (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), Auntie Mame (1958), and Visit to a Small Planet (1960).

Although he continued performing in movies during the 1960s (including a role in Hammer Film Productions' The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb in 1964 and John Goldfarb, Please Come Home in 1965) he performed more often for television, as a regular on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as neighbor Harry Morton (until 1953), and guest roles for The Twilight Zone, The Beverly Hillbillies, Going My Way, The Addams Family, and I Dream of Jeannie. In 1962, he and Bea Benaderet, another Burns and Allen veteran, played Mr. and Mrs. Springer in the episode "Continental Dinner," the series finale of the CBS situation comedy Pete and Gladys, featuring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. Clark had a regular but short-lived role in the 1966 ABC sitcom The Double Life of Henry Phyfe as the "Central Intelligence Service" boss of a hapless conscripted spy played by comedian Red Buttons.

Clark's Broadway stage credits included Absence of a Cello (1964), Viva Madison Avenue! (1960), Romanoff And Juliet (1957), Ringside Seat (1938), What A Life (1938), and Schoolhouse on the Lot (1938).{{cite web |title=Fred Clark |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/fred-clark-98942 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131085405/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/fred-clark-98942 |archive-date=January 31, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Personal life

Clark was married to actress Benay Venuta from 1952–1962, then model Gloria Glaser from 1966 until his death from complications of liver disease in Santa Monica, California.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/12/07/archives/fred-clark-54-versatile-actor-on-television-and-in-films-dies.html |title=Fred Clark, 54, Versatile Actor On Television and in Films, Dies; Became Typed as Indignant, Exasperated Character --- on Burns and Allen |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 7, 1968 |page=47 |url-access=subscription}}

Clark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work for television, at 1711 Vine Street.{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/fred-clark |title=Fred Clark Profile |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |access-date=May 16, 2018}}

Complete filmography

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References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Portal|Biography|California|Los Angeles|Film|Television}}

  • {{IMDb name|0163939}}
  • {{IBDB name|98942}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Fred}}

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:1914 births

Category:1968 deaths

Category:Deaths from hepatitis

Category:People from Lincoln, California

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:20th-century American male actors