Dane Clark
Dane Clark | |
|---|---|
 from the trailer for Whiplash (1948) | |
| Born | Bernard Zanville February 26, 1912 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 11, 1998 (aged 86) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Years active | 1940–1989 |
| Spouse(s) |
Margot Yoder (m. 1941–1970)Geraldine Zanville
(m. 1971–1998) |
Dane Clark (February 26, 1912 – September 11, 1998)[1] was an American film actor who was known for playing, as he labeled himself, "Joe Average".[2]
Early life
Clark was born Bernard Zanville in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants Samuel and Rose. Samuel was a sporting goods store owner.[3]
He graduated from Cornell University and earned a law degree at St. John's University School of Law in Queens, New York. During the Great Depression, he worked as a boxer, baseball player, construction worker, and model.[2]
Acting career
Modeling brought him in contact with people in the arts. He gradually perceived them to be snobbish, with their talk of the "theatah", and "I decided to give it a try myself, just to show them anyone could do it."[2]
He progressed from small Broadway parts to larger ones, eventually taking over the role of George from Wallace Ford in the 1937 production of Of Mice and Men.[2] Clark got his big break when he was signed by Warner Bros. in 1943. He worked alongside some of his era's biggest stars, often in war movies such as Action in the North Atlantic (1943), his breakthrough part (opposite Humphrey Bogart who also starred with him in Hollywood Canteen), Destination Tokyo (1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (1945) with friend and fellow New Yorker John Garfield. According to Clark, Bogart gave him his stage name.[2] He also played a surly artist opposite Bette Davis in A Stolen Life.
Exhibitors voted him the 16th most popular star at the US box office in 1945.[4]
Clark played Peter Chambers in the short-lived radio show Crime and Peter Chambers, a half-hour show that aired from April 6 to September 7, 1954. In the 1954-1955 season, Clark co-starred as the character Richard Adams, with Gary Merrill in the role of Jason Tyler, in the NBC crime drama Justice, about attorneys of the Legal Aid Society of New York.[5]
In 1959, he reprised Humphrey Bogart's role as Slate in Bold Venture, a short lived television series. He also guest starred on a number of television shows, including Appointment with Adventure and The Twilight Zone, in the episode "The Prime Mover". He also played Lieutenant Tragg in the short-lived revival of the Perry Mason television series in 1973.
Partial filmography
- "The Rear Gunner" US ARMY AIR FORCE TRAINING FILM (As Bernard Zanville, 1943)
- Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
- Destination Tokyo (1943)
- The Very Thought of You (1944)
- Hollywood Canteen (1944)
- I Won't Play (1945) (short)
- God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)
- Pride of the Marines (1945)
- Her Kind of Man (1946)
- A Stolen Life (1946)
- That Way with Women (1947)
- Deep Valley (1947)
- Moonrise (1948)
- Whiplash (1948)
- Embraceable You (1948)
- Without Honor (1949)
- Backfire (1950)
- Gunman in the Streets (1950)
- Highly Dangerous (1950)
- Never Trust a Gambler (1951)
- Fort Defiance (1951)
- Go, Man, Go! (1954)
- Murder by Proxy (1954)
- Massacre (1956)
- Murder on Flight 502 (1975) (TV)
- The Woman Inside (1981)
- Blood Song (1982)
- Last Rites (1988)
References
- ^ Social Security Death Index for Dane Clark, Social Security No. 067-05-7928, accessed via Ancestry.com on Feb. 4, 2010. Age listings consistent with a 1912 birthdate are also found in border crossing information available on Ancestry.com, and 1930 census records. The 1920 census listing is consistent with a 1913 birth date. Other sources, including his New York Times obituary, list his date of birth as Feb. 18, 1913 and 1915
- ^ a b c d e Lawrence Van Gelder (September 16, 1998). "Dane Clark, Actor, 85, Dies; Starred in World War II Films". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ His date of birth is a matter of dispute between sources: the three most frequently shown dates are 26 February 1912, 18 February 1913, and 18 February 1915. The Social Security Death Index lists the Feb. 26 1912 date http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_search.asp .
- ^ 'BING CROSBY AGAIN BOX-OFFICE LEADER: VAN JOHNSON SECOND IN FILM POLL OF EXHIBITORS--ROGERS WINS FOR WESTERNS', New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 28 Dec 1945: 21.
- ^ Alex McNeil, Total Television, p. 444
External links
