Lydia Marie Clarke Heston (April 14, 1923 – September 3, 2018) was an American actress and photographer.

Biography

Clarke attended high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and graduated from Northwestern University. A comment by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

after he saw her perform with the Asheville Little Theatre led her to change her career plans from practicing law to acting. On Broadway, Clarke portrayed Mary McLeod in ''Detective Story'' (1949). She appeared on '' Studio One'' on television. Her film debut came in '' The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1952). Clarke took photographs "all over the world, recording everything from Afghan refugees in the Khyber Pass to the fellahin in their Nile villages." ''Time'' and ''Fortune'' were among the magazines that published her work. She also exhibited her photographs in museums and galleries and had her work published in two books. She married actor Charlton Heston on March 17, 1944, at Grace Methodist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, and their marriage lasted for 64 years until his death on April 5, 2008. They had two children:

Fraser Clarke Heston Fraser Clarke Heston (born February 12, 1955) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and actor. He is the son of actors Charlton Heston and Lydia Clarke, and has a sister, Holly Rochell Heston. Heston's filmography includes ' ...

and Holly Heston Rochell. Clarke and Heston were co-directors and acted at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Theatre in Asheville, North Carolina. Clarke died from complications due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on September 3, 2018, at UCLA Medical Center, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, at the age of 95. She was a

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

survivor and had undergone a

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Lydia 1923 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American photographers Actresses from Wisconsin American film actresses American photographers American stage actresses American television actresses American women photographers Deaths from pneumonia in California People from Two Rivers, Wisconsin Photographers from Wisconsin 21st-century American women