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Harry Clork

{{short description|American screenwriter (1888-1978)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harry Clork

| birth_name = Harry W. Prince

| birth_date = August 31, 1888

| birth_place = Galveston, Texas, USA

| death_date = June 18, 1978 (aged 89)

| death_place = Santa Monica, California, USA

| other_names = Harry Clarke

| occupation = Screenwriter

| spouse = Nora Bayes (div.)
Mildred MacLeod

| parents = Creston Clarke (father)
Adelaide Prince (mother)

| relatives =

}}

Harry Clork (born Harry Prince, and sometimes credited as Harry Clarke) was an American screenwriter and playwright who wrote over three dozen films between 1935 and 1955.

Biography

Harry was born to English actress Lena Adelaide Rubenstein (known professionally as Adelaide Prince) and her first husband, Harry Prince. After his parents divorced, his mother married Creston Clarke, and Harry later adopted his last name (but changed the "a" to an "o," and dropped the final "e" to be able to join the writers' union once he began working as a screenwriter; there was already another Harry Clark).{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/59865872/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=9 May 1934, Page 10 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/274933248/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=22 Jul 1934, 17 - The Morning Call at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}}

After moving to New York and establishing himself first as a performer (chiefly in vaudeville productions), and second as a playwright, penning a number of works that hit Broadway, he broke into screenwriting in the mid-1930s. Some of his earliest efforts while under contract at Universal included 1935's Mister Dynamite and Diamond Jim.{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/89490246/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=12 Jun 1934, Page 19 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/99488873/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=18 Nov 1934, Page 49 - The Cincinnati Enquirer at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}} Over the ensuing two decades, he'd write a wide range of films at Universal, MGM, and Paramount, also dabbling in television writing toward the end of his career.{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/89537920/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=20 Dec 1935, Page 14 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}} Early on, he collaborated with fellow screenwriter Doris Malloy.{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/418916872/?terms=%22harry+clork%22|title=20 Jun 1935, 8 - The Daily Standard at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}}

He had retired by the 1970s; he died on June 18, 1978, and was survived by his daughter (from his second marriage to actress Mildred MacLeod). Earlier in life, he had been briefly married to Broadway actress Nora Bayes.{{cite web|url=http://www.dramatists.com/dps/bios.aspx?authorbio=Richard+Maibaum+and+Harry+Clork|title=Dramatists Play Service, Inc.|website=www.dramatists.com|access-date=2019-02-18}}

Selected filmography

References

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Category:Screenwriters from Texas

Category:1888 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:Writers from Galveston, Texas

Category:20th-century American screenwriters