Kenneth Donovan Clark (June 4, 1927 – June 1, 2009) was an American

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

actor. He appeared in movies in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, including the Secret Agent 077 trilogy, '' South Pacific'', and a number of

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

Early years

Clark was born in Neffs, Ohio. 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., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

. While working for that studio, he acquired a reputation as a " beefcake" actor similar to Richard Egan. He appeared in a variety of genres of film, including crime ('' Six Bridges to Cross''), 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. Following the film's premiere, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 ...

''.Ken Clark Filmography
at IMDb In 1959, he made an unsold private investigator TV pilot for a William Campbell Gault-inspired mystery series entitled ''Brock Callahan'', directed by

Don Siegel Donald Siegel ( ; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film director and producer. Siegel was described by ''The New York Times'' as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut plots centered o ...

and written by Stirling Silliphant. 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 star ...

'' (1959) and '' 12 to the Moon'' (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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

appearing in several sword and sandal films,

s and Eurospy films, including the Hercules film ''The Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness'', starring fellow American actor Dan Vadis, 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 in ''Un Uomo Chiamo Slitta'' (translated as ''A Man Called Sledge'').

Personal life and death

Clark was married to Bette Lola (Kruger) Blatt; a widow and her young daughter. They further had five children together and separated when he left for Europe to continue his acting career. Bette died 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 Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 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, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

and ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

''. * 1956 '' On the Threshold of Space'' Sergeant Ike Forbes * 1956 '' The Proud Ones'' as Pike * 1956 '' The Last Wagon'' as Sergeant * 1956 '' Between Heaven and Hell'' as Morgan * 1956 '' Love Me Tender'' as Mr. Kelso * 1957 ''

'' (Season 2 Episode 39: "The Dangerous People") as "Policeman"''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', episode ''The Dangerous People'' (1957)
at IMDb * 1957 '' The True Story of Jesse James'' as Sergeant (uncredited) * 1958 ''

'' (Season 3 Episode 17: "The Motive") as Plain Clothes Policeman * 1958 ''

'' (Season 3 Episode 28: "Lamb to the Slaughter") as Mike the Policeman Assistant * 1958 '' South Pacific'' as Stewpot * 1959 '' The Shaggy Dog'' as FBI Agent (uncredited) * 1959 ''

'' as Steve Benton * 1960 ''

'' (Season 5 Episode 30: "Insomnia") as Fireman * 1960 '' Heller in Pink Tights'' as Soldier Warning the Travelers (uncredited) * 1960 '' 12 to the Moon'' as Captain John Anderson * 1961 ''Re Manfredi / King Manfred'' as Astolfo * 1963 '' Hercules Against the Mongols'' as Sayan * 1963 '' Jacob and Esau'' as Esau * 1964 ''None But the Lonely Spy'' as Robert Liston * 1964 '' Hercules the Invincible'' as Kabol * 1964 ''FX 18 Secret Agent'' as Francis Coplan * 1964 '' Hercules Against the Barbarians'' 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'' as Dick Malloy * 1967 '' Tiffany Memorandum'' as Dick Hallam * 1967 '' Desert Commandos'' as Captain Fritz Schoeller * 1968 '' The Fuller Report'' as Dick Worth * 1969 '' Tarzana, the Wild Girl'' as Glen Shipper * 1970 '' A Man Called Sledge'' as Floyd * 1981 ' as Colonnello Stern * 1985 '' Twice in a Lifetime'' as Flower Man * 1989 ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

'' 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