Biografia

While playing opposite Katharine Hepburn in summer stock in Ivoryton, CT in a comedy called "Jonesy" he was stung in the face by a bee, early in the first act. Clarke gamely kept the bitten side of his face turned upstage for the rest of the act, continuing in the spirit of the romantic play, while Hepburn, who hadn't seen the bee, tried to conceal her amazement at the sight of her leading man's face as it continued to swell.

He was one of five stage managers on Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock", produced by Orson Welles and John Houseman and directed by Welles, for whom Clarke frequently took notes after rehearsal. He recalls that Welles invariably asked, "Now did you get all that? Because I will have forgotten what I said in the next ten minutes!"

He appeared on Broadway in December of 1952 in 'See the Jaguar' by N. Richard Nash, author of Lágrimas do Céu (1956). Others in the cast included Arthur Kennedy and James Dean.

Early in his theatrical career, he performed with Stuart Walker's prestigious stock company, whose members included Will Geer. They subsequently appeared together in the American version of the Freiburg Passion Play which toured out of Chicago to Seattle. Years later they were both cast in the film of William Faulkner's classic O Mundo não Perdoa (1949). Clarke also made a guest appearance on Os Waltons (1972) TV series, in which Geer co-starred.

In 1978, his daughter, K.C. Ligon appeared with John Houseman in the television series The Paper Chase (1978).