Ken Clark’s Not-So-Small, but Pivotal, Part

I got completely caught up in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962) marathon on Halloween in 2015. As big a fan of Hitchcock as I always have been, I'd actually seen very few of these episodes; this was not a widely re-run series in my youth.

Every one that I saw was top-notch.

While The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) has its own inimitable style and humorous creepiness, the AHP episodes were more consistently good, well-acted and impactful. But they were probably cherry-picking the best of the best for this 'thon.

I spent a lot of time looking up the interesting actors I saw with whom I was not instantly familiar, like Phyllis Thaxter (1919-2012), who had been mesmerizingly good in “Murder Me Twice,” about a woman who commits murder under hypnosis (somewhat remade in the '80s reboot of the series with Barbara Hershey, b. 1948, in that role). Also fun seeing actors like a blowzy Jean Hagen (1923-1977) and a viscerally slatternly Audrey Totter (1917-2013) excelling in clever episodes.

Screen Shot 2015-11-01 at 3.10.11 PM

One actor who definitely caught my eye was a dude of whom I'd never heard, Ken Clark (1927-2009). He had a small but pivotal part in one episode, but clearly was in possession of a not-so-small but pivotal part. Michael Fassbender would even do a double-take. What a hunk! Big, blond, beefy and — judging from other photos I found — a hairy beast, Clark seems to have been best known for the looking sexy as hell in South Pacific (1958) and ditto in the cheesy Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959).

KC04b

He died in 2009. I'm willing to bet he had a lot of fun in Hollywood.

3 Responses

  1. Until the pic of him as a cop, I was thinking he never wore a shirt …

    BTW: Extra points for use of “slatternly”

  2. How , in those censorship days, did he get away with bulges and even outline!!??

  3. damn … damn … & might i add DAMN – THAT DUDE’s HOTNESS SHOULD HAVE IT’s OWN ZIP CODE – yum … yum … YUMMY !!

    HEY MATT RETTUNMUND – REMEMBER ME FROM SCHOOL ?? – DAMN WE’RE ALL GROWN UP – yOU’RE LOOKIN’ DAMN FINE

    HOW CAN I BECOME A WORKING ACTOR AT THIS AGE ???

    all the best

    MJD

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