Fred Clark makes an authority figure funny by letting his patience run out slowly. We value the dry timing and economical displeasure, even when the parts ask him to be much the same difficult man.
Fi1m perspective
Fred Clark lets his displeasure build slowly. The bald head, pencil-thin moustache and cigar suggest a man used to being obeyed; the dry delivery lets us hear how much other people trouble him. In Sunset Boulevard (1950), his sceptical studio executive Sheldrake puts that manner to good use. We laughed at his weary authority; Clark makes a man's lack of enthusiasm funny without turning him into a clown.
His film work began with Michael Curtiz's The Unsuspected (1947), and the early parts were not confined to comedy. He is Daniel Winston in Raoul Walsh's White Heat (1949), then defence attorney Bellows in George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951). We recommend both, though neither is a film we would send someone to principally for Clark. James Cagney's frightening performance dominates the former; Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor are the centre of attention in the latter.
Sunset Boulevard gives us a clearer reason to seek him out. Billy Wilder's satire has room for Clark's businesslike scepticism alongside Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond, and he needs no grand display to make the executive register. The writing can insist on its cleverness; his deadpan manner is a useful restraint. This is where we most value him: giving an ensemble a firm, unshowy supporting performance rather than competing for every laugh.
Television made regular use of that timing. From 1951 to 1953 he played Harry Morton in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, the exasperated neighbour opposite Burns, Allen and Bea Benaderet. His stuffy executor Dwight Babcock in Auntie Mame (1958), opposite Rosalind Russell, offered a related sort of disapproval. From the mid-1950s, television guest appearances became a larger part of his work.
The limitation is plain: too many parts wanted the indignant official already familiar from the last one. Even good timing can become predictable when the character has so little chance to change. That makes us cautious about recommending a film simply because Clark is in it. Start with Sunset Boulevard, where we recommend the company as much as the actor.
Biography
Fred Clark (1914–1968) was an American character actor who appeared in films and on television from the late 1940s until his death. He often played authoritative or irascible figures in both dramatic and comedic roles.
Clark made his film debut in The Unsuspected (1947). His credits include White Heat (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950) as Sheldrake, A Place in the Sun (1951), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and Auntie Mame (1958). On television he was a regular as Harry Morton on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and made guest appearances in series including The Twilight Zone, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Addams Family and I Dream of Jeannie. He trained at Stanford University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his television work.
