Black-and-white photo of smiling, mustachioed man in a suit
Lon Clark

Lon Clark (January 12, 1912 – October 2, 1998)[1] was a New York City actor of stage and radio.

Clark was born in Frost, Minnesota. As a youth in Minnesota, Clark studied at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. He began as a musician and actor in traveling tent shows, followed by a season with the Cincinnati Summer Opera. After participating in radio drama in Cincinnati, he arrived in New York during the 1940s,[2] and his rich baritone voice quickly led to network radio roles.

Radio

He had the title role in Nick Carter, Master Detective on the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1943 to 1955.[3] The Nick Carter scripts were by Alfred Bester and others. Clark also played the district attorney in Front Page Farrell.[4]

Clark was also a familiar voice on such programs as the weekday serial Mommie and the Men,[5] the frontier serial adventure Wilderness Road, the World War II dramas Words at War (1943–45) and Soldiers of the Press (1942–45), the quiz show Quick as a Flash, the soap opera Bright Horizon, the science fiction series 2000 Plus and Exploring Tomorrow, Lights Out, The Mysterious Traveler, The Kate Smith Hour, The March of Time, The Adventures of the Thin Man and Norman Corwin Presents, playing opposite such performers as Fred Allen, Art Carney, Helen Hayes and Orson Welles.

Broadway

Clark returned to the stage in his later years, replacing Jason Robards in the 1956 Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.[3] He was back on Broadway in the short run of Sidney Sheldon's Roman Candle with Inger Stevens and Julia Meade.

Death

He was 86 when he died at St. Clare's Hospital in Manhattan, survived by his wife, Michelle Trudeau Clark; two sons, Lon Jr. and Stephen, both of San Francisco; a brother, Gerald, of Plymouth, Minnesota; and a grandson.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Lon Clark, 86, dies, starred in '40s radio". The Daily Gazette. October 10, 1998. p. B 10. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Lon Clark". Toledo Blade. October 10, 1998. p. 16. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Lon Clark, Stage actor". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 10, 1998. p. 6B. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Lesser, Jerry (January 31, 1942). "Radio Talent: New York" (PDF). Billboard. p. 7. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Domestic Comedy Series Heard On WHP Daily, 7 P.M." Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. August 25, 1945. p. 15. Retrieved March 26, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ↑ "Lon Clark, 86, Radio Voice of a Detective". The New York Times. October 9, 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2015.

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