Biography

Robert Clarke

Jump to

Born
June 1, 1920 · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Died
June 11, 2005 · Valley Village, Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from diabetes)
Birth name
Robert Irby Clarke
Nickname
- Bob
Height
5′ 9¾″ (1.77 m)

A movie-crazy kid in his native Oklahoma City, Robert Clarke decided at an early age that he wanted to be an actor, but nevertheless suffered from stage fright in his first school productions. He acted in University of Oklahoma radio plays and on stage at the University of Wisconsin before hitching a ride to California to try to break into the picture business. After screen tests at 20th Century-Fox and Columbia, Clarke landed a berth as a contract player at RKO. When RKO dropped his option three years later, he began freelancing. Clarke married Alyce King of the singing The King Sisters in 1956 and, a decade later, began appearing on TV and on tour with The King Family. His autobiography, To "B" or Not to "B": A Film Actor's Odyssey, was published in 1996.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>

Stated in his biography that the horror movie he produced/directed/wrote was made for less than $50,000, including $500 for the rubberized lizard suit he wore. He shot the movie over 12 weekends to get two days' use of rental camera equipment for one day's fee.
Survived by his son actor/voice artist Cam Clarke, two stepsons (Ric de Azevedo and Lex de Azevedo ), 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
He died on the same day as his Captive Women (1952) co-star Ron Randell.
His cult movie The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) was featured in the 1982 movie sendup It Came from Hollywood (1982) which starred Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.
The non-singer appeared as a regular on The King Family Show (1965) via his marriage to singer Alyce King, not for any musical prowess. On the program he appeared in comedy sketches and sentimental readings.

[about the problems on Captive Women (1952)] Part of the fault was that the director, Stuart Gilmore, was being given one of his first directing opportunities . . . Gilmore had been an editor for [Howard Hughes] on The Outlaw (1943); this was one of Gilmore's first pictures and he was lost. Completely. The poor man had tremendous problems: there were too many people in the cast, too many actors with no dialogue in the scenes, and then the fact that they [the producers] had overextended themselves for special effects.
[about making The Astounding She-Monster (1957)] . . . the director [Ronald V. Ashcroft] planned to make that feature in a week's time and I think we ended up making it in five days. THAT was the astounding part of that picture!
[on John Carradine] He was a true professional and he gave every bit as much working for Jerry Warren as he would working for Cecil B. DeMille or John Ford. He did not stint in the slightest in his performance. He was cooperative, easy to work with and he was not condescending--he was something of a star and we weren't, but he treated us as equals and fellow actors. I had great respect for him.