John Clark (actor/director)
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| John Clark | |
|---|---|
 As Just William, 1947 |
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| Born | Ivan John Clark November 1, 1932 London, United Kingdom |
| Spouse(s) | Miyuki Tsunoda (2002 - present) Lynn Redgrave (1967 - 2000) Kay Hawtrey (1956 - 1967) |
| Official website | |
John Clark is an actor, director, producer and writer with dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship. He is perhaps best known as the ex-husband of actress Lynn Redgrave, who divorced him on December 22, 2000, after 32 years of marriage.
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[edit] Early career
Clark's career commenced by accident in 1944 while living in the English village of Chipperfield, Hertfordshire. Next door was a BBC producer who asked him to play schoolboy D'arcy Minor just once, while a search went on to cast a professional child actor for the role of comedy stooge to Will Hay, on BBC radio's new The Will Hay Programme [1]. But he was asked to stay for the series, and later went on to the variety version at the Victoria Palace in London's West End during the V2 scare. Following that, he became a star as the original Just William both on stage and radio in 1947, and was the BBC's stock juvenile in radio plays such as Worzel Gummidge and Vice Versa. Then he starred in Treasure Island with Harry Welchman at the St. James's Theatre. As adolescence arrived, Clark could only make guest appearances around England in plays featuring teenagers, before facing the looming arrival of national service in the military.
He served a 3 year stint in the British Merchant Navy, an alternative choice, as an anonymous indentured apprentice on the Silverwalnut with the Silver Line, and then emigrated to Toronto, Canada, to resume his career. He became the original host of his TV interview show Junior Magazine on the CBC's coast to coast network for five years. He had married Canadian actress Kay Hawtrey in 1956 and appeared on stage in the musical Salad Days, seasons of repertory in Toronto and Ottawa, and acted in television dramas. He moved to New York in 1960, playing roles on the American stage with Ray Milland in the Broadway production of Hostile Witness (1966), Stacy Keach in MacBird, Cedric Hardwicke in An Inspector Calls, and Luther Adler in A View from the Bridge, as well as in a few television episodes. His wife returned to Toronto with their son, but Clark remained in New York, eventually divorcing her.
[edit] Marriage to Redgrave and later years
Clark met his new wife-to-be during a brief visit to London when he appeared in a television play starring Lynn Redgrave: What's Wrong with Humpty Dumpty, where she played a trendy antiques store owner, and he played her very gay assistant. On April 2, 1967 they were married in Sidney Lumet's living room in New York by an Ethical Culture minister. The event was photographed for Life Magazine by Michael Crawford. At the time, she was appearing in her first Broadway play, Black Comedy, and he was appearing Off-Broadway in MacBird.
Clark and Redgrave lived in London and Dublin for a number of years before returning to the United States where he was a citizen. They had 3 children together, and he became her director, co-writer, co-actor, and with her lawsuit over the CBS television series House Calls, her manager. He appeared with her in Love Letters on Broadway (1989-90) and produced and directed shows for her on the stage, among them A Better Place at Dublin's Gate Theatre, and in the U.S., Thursday's Girls (1972), The Two of Us (1975), Saint Joan (1977-78 on Broadway), a tour of California Suite, and his last co-venture with her, the award-winning Shakespeare For My Father, which played on Broadway (1993-94), then The Haymarket Theatre in London, followed by a tour of Australia and Canada. He also directed for her on television.
He also created a website to promote her and the Redgrave family,[2] and facilitated her invitation to serve as first female president of The Players. On Broadway, during his marriage to Redgrave, he appeared in Comedians (1976-77), and also in a number of films including Jagged Edge (1985), Blood Frenzy (1987), and The Lords of Magick (1989).
Lynn Redgrave divorced Clark in 2000 after he revealed that he had fathered a child for a shunned and disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witness family friend. The presiding Los Angeles Family Court Judge Arnold Gold had him evicted from his Topanga Canyon home so that it could be sold to pay taxes and opposing attorney fees over his objections. He had spent all his money on attorneys [3], and was forced to represent himself in court. He created a blawg, JohnClarkProSe.com, to tell the story and assist people representing themselves (pro se). He married again in 2002, and met his current wife Miyuki Tsunoda via an online dating service. In 2005, he appeared in the film Charlie's Death Wish.
On December 13, 2006, Clark suffered a heart attack. After angioplasty surgery using the latest Rotational Atherectomy techniques by a Glendale surgeon educated in the Punjab, Clark is making a good recovery, with the help of a pacemaker.
