Fred Clark

This popular, baggy-eyed, bald-domed, big lug of a character actor had
few peers when called upon to display that special "slow burn" style of
comedy few others perfected. But perfect he did -- on stage, film and
TV. In fact, he pretty much cornered the market during the 50s and 60s
as the dour, ill-tempered guy you loved to hate.Born Frederick Leonard Clark on March 19 1914, the son of Frederick
Clark, a county agriculture commissioner, and Stella (née Bruce) Clark,
in Lincoln, California, Fred's initial interest was in medicine and he
pursued his pre-med studies at Stanford University. A chance role in
the college play "Yellow Jack" change the coarse of his destiny.
Earning a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he paid
his dues performing in local community theater and summer stock. By May
of 1938, at age 24, he was making his Broadway debut with the
short-lived comedy play "Schoolhouse on the Lot". He then returned to
Broadway a few months later to appear in the melodrama "Ringside Seat",
which also closed early.Fred's nascent career was interrupted when America entered World War
II. He served as a Navy pilot in 1942 but later joined the Army and
spent nearly two years with the Third Army in Europe. Clark returned to
acting and in during the post-war years broke into films via Hungarian
film director Michael Curtiz who cast him
in the noir classic
The Unsuspected (1947). Able to
provide cold-hearted villainy in crime drama as well as dyspeptic humor
to slapstick comedy, film work came to Fred in no short order.
Ride the Pink Horse (1947),
Cry of the City (1948),
Flamingo Road (1949),
White Heat (1949),
Alias Nick Beal (1949),
Sunset Blvd. (1950),
The Jackpot (1950),
The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) and
Meet Me After the Show (1951)
all made the most of Fred's sour skills. Around this time (1952) he
married actress Benay Venuta, whom he met
while both were performing on stage in "Light Up the Sky" (1950). The
popular couple continued to work together from time to time, which
included a 1956 stage production of "Bus Stop" at the La Jolla
Playhouse.Well-established on film by this point, Fred set his sights on TV and
earned raves providing weekly bombastic support to
George Burns and
Gracie Allen on their popular sitcom
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950).
Joining the cast into its second season (his role had already been
played by two other actors), Fred made the role of neighbor/realtor
Harry Morton his own, becoming the first definitive Harry on the show.
Investing his character with an amusing, child-like grumpiness, he was
ideally paired with comedienne
Bea Benaderet (as wife Blanche). Together
they provided perfect foursome chemistry with Burns and Allen, much in
the same way Vivian Vance and
William Frawley did for
Lucille Ball and
Desi Arnaz on
I Love Lucy (1951). Clark,
however, would leave the show in the fall of 1953 following a salary
dispute, and was replaced by a fourth Harry Morton,
Larry Keating, who managed to keep
the role until the end in 1958. Fred would find steady but lesser
success on TV after this.With his trademark cigar, scowl, shiny baldness and pencil-thin
mustache, Fred continued to be high in demand in film, usually playing
some high-ranking military officer, gang boss, shifty politician or
executive skinflint. The Martin & Lewis comedy
The Caddy (1953),
Marilyn Monroe's
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953),
The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956),
Don't Go Near the Water (1957),
The Mating Game (1959),
Auntie Mame (1958),
Bells Are Ringing (1960),
Visit to a Small Planet (1960),
Boys' Night Out (1962) and
Move Over, Darling (1963), all
displayed Clark at his blustery best. And on TV he contributed to such
comedy shows as
The Beverly Hillbillies (1962),
I Dream of Jeannie (1965)
and
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961).
He also received some attention pushing potato chips in commercials.Fred made a successful stage debut in London with
1963's "Never Too
Late" co-starring Joan Bennett
and Samantha Eggar, as a cranky
middle-aged father-to-be. He would also return infrequently to Broadway
with prime roles in "Romanoff and Juliet" (1957), Viva Madison Avenue!
(1960) and "Absence of a Cello" (1964). On a sad note, many of Fred's
final years were spent in inferior film. Movies such as
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965),
I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew (1969)
and the notorious bomb Skidoo (1968),
which was directed by Otto Preminger and
starred Jackie Gleason and
Carol Channing, were undeserving of his
talents.Divorced from Ms. Venuta in August of 1962, Fred subsequently married a
model, Gloria Glaser, in 1966. Fred's sudden death of liver disease two
years later on December 5, 1968, at the untimely age of 54, had
Hollywood mourning one of its finest comic heavies -- gone way before
his time.