Ken Clark (actor)
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Kenneth Donovan Clark (June 4, 1927 – June 1, 2009) was an American B movie actor. He appeared in movies in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, including the
Secret Agent 077 Secret Agent 077 is a fictional superspy, lead character in a trilogy of Eurospy films starring Ken Clark as Dick Malloy (or Maloy).p.274 Blake, Matt & Deal, David ''The Eurospy Guide'' 2004 Luminary Press However "077" was used on posters or adv ...
trilogy, '' South Pacific'', and a number of Spaghetti Westerns.


Early years

Clark was born in
Neffs, Ohio Neffs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 993 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Neffs has been in ...
. He enlisted in the Navy when he was 17, and after being honorably discharged, he sought a career as an actor. When that effort was unsuccessful, he found employment as a model and as a construction worker. He also worked as a coal miner in the mid 1950s near Cadiz Ohio.


Acting career


Early career

Clark was originally contracted to
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. While working for that studio, he acquired a reputation as a “
beefcake Beefcake is a performance or a form of glamour photography depicting a large and muscular male body. Beefcake is also a publication genre. A role a person plays in a performance may be called ''beefcake''. The term was believed to be first used ...
” actor similar to Richard Egan. He appeared in a variety of genres of film, including crime (''
Six Bridges to Cross ''Six Bridges to Cross'' or ''6 Bridges to Cross'' is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, George Nader and Julie Adams. ''Six Bridges to Cross'' is based upon the famous 1950 Great Brink's ...
''), Western ('' The Last Wagon''), and war film ('' Between Heaven and Hell''). Additionally, in one of his final roles for Fox, he appeared in Elvis Presley’s debut motion picture, '' Love Me Tender''. Fox dropped Clark following that picture, and his roles in the following years were often in lower-budget films. Clark's most prominent role in American film came in 1958, when he was cast as Stewpot in '' South Pacific'', an adaptation of the Broadway musical. His vocals were dubbed by
Thurl Ravenscroft Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (; February 6, 1914May 22, 2005) was an American actor and bass singer. He was known as one of the booming voices behind Kellogg's Frosted Flakes animated spokesman Tony the Tiger for more than five decades. He was also ...
. Following the film’s premiere, the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described Clark’s character as a “raffish gob.” During this period, Clark made many guest star appearances on a variety of American TV shows, including four appearances on '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents''.Ken Clark Filmography
at IMDb
In 1959, he made an unsold private investigator
TV pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
for a
William Campbell Gault William Campbell Gault (1910–1995) was an American writer. He wrote under his own name, and as Roney Scott and Will Duke, among other pseudonyms. He is probably best remembered for his sports fiction, particularly the young-readers' novels he be ...
-inspired mystery series entitled ''Brock Callahan'', directed by
Don Siegel Donald Siegel ( ; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film and television director and producer. Siegel was described by ''The New York Times'' as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut ...
and written by
Stirling Silliphant Stirling Dale Silliphant (January 16, 1918 – April 26, 1996) was an American screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his screenplay for '' In the Heat of the Night'', for which he won an Academy Award in 1967, and for creating ...
. That same year, he made a guest appearance in an episode of Western TV series '' Colt .45''. During this period Clark had the lead in ''
Attack of the Giant Leeches ''Attack of the Giant Leeches'' (originally to be called ''The Giant Leeches'') is an independently made, 1959 black-and-white science fiction film, science fiction-horror film, produced by Gene Corman and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. It sta ...
'' (1959) and ''
12 to the Moon ''12 to the Moon'' is a 1960 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced and written by Fred Gebhardt, directed by David Bradley and starring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway and Anna-Lisa. The film was distribu ...
'' (1960). The former is regarded by some as Clark’s “most memorable film.”


1960s: Agent 077

During the 1960s and 1970s, like many other American actors Clark went to
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
appearing in several
sword and sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budge ...
films, Spaghetti Westerns and
Eurospy Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Italian-produced films in the genre), is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the British James ...
films, including the Hercules film ''The Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness'', starring fellow American actor
Dan Vadis Dan Vadis (born Constantine Daniel Vafiadis, 3 January 1938 – 11 June 1987) was an American actor famous for his lead roles in many Italian films made in the 1960s. Biography Vadis was of Greek descent, with lineage tracing back to the isl ...
, in 1963. In 1965, Clark originated the role of Secret Agent Dick Mallory in the '' Agent 077'' trilogy modeled on James Bond. In one of the pictures from that trilogy, ''From the East with Fury'', Mallory seeks to rescue a kidnapped nuclear scientist.


1970s: Westerns

In 1971, Clark appeared alongside
James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...
in ''Un Uomo Chiamo Slitta'' (translated as ''A Man Called Sledge'').


Personal life and death

Clark was married to Bette Blatt, whom he met when they were in high school. They had three children and were divorced in 1980. According to fellow actor Robert Woods, Clark died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, Italy on June 1, 2009, three days before his 82nd birthday, shortly after a taping for a program on the mid 1960s Eurospy genre on the TV series ''Starcult''.


Partial filmography

Adapted from
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
and ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...
''. * 1956 '' On the Threshold of Space'' Sergeant Ike Forbes * 1956 ''
The Proud Ones ''The Proud Ones'' is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo. The film was based on the 1952 novel by Verne Athanas who after suffering an early heart attack, he gave up ...
'' as Pike * 1956 '' The Last Wagon'' as Sergeant * 1956 '' Between Heaven and Hell'' as Morgan * 1956 '' Love Me Tender'' as Mr. Kelso * 1957 ''
The True Story of Jesse James ''The True Story of Jesse James'' is a 1957 American Western drama film adapted from Henry King's 1939 film ''Jesse James'', which was only loosely based on James' life. It was directed by Nicholas Ray, with Robert Wagner portraying Jesse Jame ...
'' as Sergeant (uncredited) * 1958 '' South Pacific'' as Stewpot * 1959 '' The Shaggy Dog'' as FBI Agent (uncredited) * 1959 ''
Attack of the Giant Leeches ''Attack of the Giant Leeches'' (originally to be called ''The Giant Leeches'') is an independently made, 1959 black-and-white science fiction film, science fiction-horror film, produced by Gene Corman and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. It sta ...
'' as Steve Benton * 1960 ''
Heller in Pink Tights ''Heller In Pink Tights'' is a 1960 American Technicolor Western film adapted from Louis L'Amour's 1955 novel ''Heller with a Gun''. It stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn and was directed by George Cukor. The movie is noted for its lavishly ...
'' as Soldier Warning the Travelers (uncredited) * 1960 ''
12 to the Moon ''12 to the Moon'' is a 1960 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced and written by Fred Gebhardt, directed by David Bradley and starring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway and Anna-Lisa. The film was distribu ...
'' as Captain John Anderson * 1961 ''Re Manfredi / King Manfred'' as Astolfo * 1963 ''
Hercules Against the Mongols ''Hercules Against the Mongols'' ( it, Maciste contro i mongoli, lit=Maciste Against the Mongols) is a 1963 Italian '' ''peplum'' film directed by Domenico Paolella. Plot The heirs of Genghis Khan conquered the city of Tudela and took prisoner B ...
'' as Sayan * 1963 ''
Jacob and Esau The biblical Book of Genesis speaks of the relationship between fraternal twins Jacob and Esau, sons of Isaac and Rebecca. The story focuses on Esau's loss of his birthright to Jacob and the conflict that ensued between their descendant nations ...
'' as Esau * 1964 ''None But the Lonely Spy'' as Robert Liston * 1964 ''
Hercules the Invincible ''Hercules the Invincible'' (Italian: ''Ercole l'invincibile'') is a 1964 Italian Sword and Sandal film directed by Alvaro Mancori and Lewis Mann and starring Dan Vadis. It is the first of two directing credits for cinematographer Alvaro Mancori ...
'' as Kabol * 1964 ''FX 18 Secret Agent'' as Francis Coplan * 1964 ''
Hercules Against the Barbarians ''Hercules Against the Barbarians'' ( it, Maciste nell'inferno di Gengis Khan, lit=Maciste in Genghis Khan's Hell) is a 1964 Italian ''peplum'' film directed by Domenico Paolella. When the Mongols invade Europe, they are defeated at Krakow for ...
'' as Kubilai * 1964 '' The Road to Fort Alamo'' as Bud Massidy * 1965 '' Agent 077: Mission Bloody Mary'' as Dick Malloy * 1965 '' Agent 077: From the Orient with Fury'' as Dick Malloy * 1966 '' / Savage Gringo / Gunman Called Nebraska'' as Nebraska * 1966 ''
Special Mission Lady Chaplin ''Special Mission Lady Chaplin'' ( it, Missione speciale Lady Chaplin, french: L'affaire Lady Chaplin, es, Operación Lady Chaplin, also known as ''Operation Lady Chaplin'') is a 1966 Italian-French-Spanish Eurospy film directed by Alberto De Ma ...
'' as Dick Malloy * 1967 ''
Tiffany Memorandum ''Tiffany Memorandum'' (also known as ''The Tiffany Memorandum'') is a 1967 Eurospy film directed by Sergio Grieco. It is an international co-production between Italy, France (where the film is known as ''Coup de force à Berlin'') and West Germany ...
'' as Dick Hallam * 1967 ''
Desert Commandos ''Desert Commandos'' (Italian: ''Attentato ai tre grandi'') is a 1967 French/Italian/West German international co-production war film set during World War II in Morocco where it was filmed. The Italian title (''Attack on the Big Three'') refers to ...
'' as Captain Fritz Schoeller * 1968 '' The Fuller Report'' as Dick Worth * 1969 '' Tarzana, the Wild Girl'' as Glen Shipper * 1970 ''
A Man Called Sledge ''A Man Called Sledge'' is a 1970 Italian Spaghetti Western film starring James Garner in an extremely offbeat role as a grimly evil thief, and featuring Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins and Wayde Preston. The film was written by Vic Morrow and Fran ...
'' as Floyd * 1981 ' as Colonnello Stern * 1985 '' Twice in a Lifetime'' as Flower Man * 1989 ''
Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
'' as Marcus Diablo


References


External links

*
Biography and filmography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Ken 1927 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors Male Spaghetti Western actors Male actors from Ohio Military personnel from Ohio People from Belmont County, Ohio