Fred Clark

Biography: American actor Fred Clark embarked upon his lifelong career immediately upon graduation from Stanford University. With his lantern jaw, bald pate and ulcerated disposition, Clark knew he'd never be a leading man and wisely opted for character work. After several years on stage, during which time he was briefly married to musical comedy actress Benay Venuta, Clark made his movie debut in Ride the Pink Horse (1947), playing one of his few out-and-out villains. The actor's knowing portrayal of a callous movie producer in Sunset Boulevard (1949) led to his being typecast as blunt, sometimes shady executives. Clark's widest public recognition occurred in 1951 when he was cast as next-door neighbor Harry Morton on TV's Burns and Allen Show; when Clark insisted upon a larger salary, producer-star George Burns literally replaced him on the air with actor Larry Keating. Dividing his time between films and television for the rest of his career, Clark earned latter-day fame in the 1960sAmerican actor Fred Clark embarked upon his lifelong career immediately upon graduation from Stanford University. With his lantern jaw, bald pate and ulcerated disposition, Clark knew he'd never be a leading man and wisely opted for character work. After several years on stage, during which time he was briefly married to musical comedy actress Benay Venuta, Clark made his movie debut in Ride the Pink Horse (1947), playing one of his few out-and-out villains. The actor's knowing portrayal of a callous movie producer in Sunset Boulevard (1949) led to his being typecast as blunt, sometimes shady executives. Clark's widest public recognition occurred in 1951 when he was cast as next-door neighbor Harry Morton on TV's Burns and Allen Show; when Clark insisted upon a larger salary, producer-star George Burns literally replaced him on the air with actor Larry Keating. Dividing his time between films and television for the rest of his career, Clark earned latter-day fame in the 1960s as star of a series of regionally distributed potato chip commercials. Though most of his fans prefer to remember the disappointing Otto Preminger farce Skiddoo (1968) as Fred Clark's screen farewell, the truth is that Clark's last performance was in I Sailed to Tahiti with an All-Girl Crew (1969). Expand

Fred Clark's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average career score: 76
Highest Metascore: 94 Sunset Boulevard
Lowest Metascore: 60 The Caddy
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Negative: 0 out of 5
5 movie reviews
Title: Year: Credit: User score:
tbd Boys' Night Out Jun 21, 1962 Mr. Bohannon tbd
61 Bells Are Ringing Jul 1, 1960 Larry Hastings tbd
60 The Caddy Aug 10, 1953 Mr. Baxter/Old Skinhead tbd
76 A Place in the Sun Aug 14, 1951 Bellows 8.0
94 Sunset Boulevard Aug 10, 1950 Sheldrake / Sheldrake tbd
89 White Heat Sep 3, 1949 The Trader Aka Winston tbd