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Title	Don Clark
Article	*By Steve A. Maze* *Arab, Alabama* You would most likely stroll right past him in a shopping mall without giving it a second thought. His name and face are not instantly recognizable to most, and many people have actually seen him before but would never realize it. He’ll tell you where you have seen him if you ask, but that’s not something that he would normally volunteer. He is a quiet and reserved man with a pleasant personality who is more comfortable blending into the background rather than being the center of attention. In fact, many of the people that he works with on a day-to-day basis do not know of his past achievements. Needless to say, they will be shocked to learn that this humble man was a former child actor who was on screen with some of the most legendary film stars in Hollywood history. Don Clark was born on November 22, 1949, in Santa Monica, California. He was one minute older than his twin sister Donna, and they were the only children of Jim and Opal (Sprague) Clark. By the time the twins were nine-months-old their faces would be splashed across the front of newspapers, magazine covers and movie placards all over the United States. This chain of events began when their mother took them to have their photograph made in 1950. “There was no photography studio where we lived and the closest place to get our picture taken was in Beverly Hills,” Clark says. “At the time it was common for studios to display portraits in the window of their business. One of the portraits they happened to choose for display was of me and my sister.” Unbeknownst to the family, talent scouts would anonymously look over the displays in hopes of spotting a photograph of someone that they could use in an upcoming movie role. As it turned out, a talent scout happened to see the portrait of Don and Donna Clark. Shortly after, their parents were contacted by a representative from MGM about using the twins in a movie role. “My parents were rather taken aback,” Clark says. “They didn’t know if they wanted their children to be movie stars, and were cautious about making the decision.” The decision to allow them to be in the film came as a relief to director Vincent Minnelli and producer Pandro S. Berman. The men had spent six solid weeks looking at approximately 60 babies per day for the role they were trying to fill. Radio broadcasts had been airing the search from coast to coast. Talent scouts were even invading pediatrician’s offices and maternity wards in search of a set of twins to fill the part. Twins were preferred for the role since each infant could only work four hours per day. “Father’s Little Dividend” The movie the twins had been chosen to appear in was “Father’s Little Dividend”, starring Spencer Tracy as Elizabeth Taylor’s father. The comedy was a sequel to “Father of the Bride”, that also featured Tracy and Taylor in the same roles. That movie was about a father who is not only unhappy with his daughter’s decision to marry, but the wedding costs that he has to incur. “Father of the Bride” was remade years later with Steve Martin playing the role of the father. “Father’s Little Dividend” was filmed in 1950 and released in 1951. The twins and their mother were picked up by a limousine supplied by MGM every morning, and driven home at the end of each day’s filming. Even though they were nine-months-old at the time, the twins portrayed six-month-olds in the movie. Their scenes took three weeks to complete. “Donna played my stand-in for the movie,” Clark says. “She always cried a lot, so they used her in the crying scenes.” In the opening scenes of “Father’s Little Dividend” Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) is lamenting that he has just about caught up with the bills from his daughter’s wedding. Stanley and his wife, Ellie (Joan Bennett) are getting ready for a second honeymoon to Hawaii. Another problem comes along when the stork decides to pay a visit to their daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor). To make matters worse, Kay is having a spat with her husband Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). Most of the plot concerns the well-meant but foolish meddling by the grandparents-to-be into the lives of the youthful couple. Buckley’s parents (Moroni Olsen and Billie Burke) are thrilled at the prospects of being grandparents and give the young married couple their advice on everything from building a house to what to name the baby. (You might remember Billie Burke as the “good witch” in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz.”) Stanley, however, accepts his role as a grandfather with more than a bit of reluctance. In the script, Clark was supposed to cry whenever Grandpa Banks came near him. The infant actor, however, had formed such a bond with Tracy that he would coo instead of cry whenever spotting the film legend. In order to get him to cry Tracy would slip into a prone position out of camera range. Clark didn’t like that and would protest by crying. Tracy couldn’t go home early after his scenes were finished if Clark was still on call. The infant had such an attachment to Tracy that he wouldn’t act without his buddy around. Tracy soon found himself playing straight man to a nine-month-old. “And out of camera range, at that,” Tracy was heard to mutter. In one of the last scenes, Grandpa Banks gives up his Sunday golf game to take the baby for a stroll to the park. He parks the baby carriage beside a tree and sits down to watch a group of neighborhood kids play a soccer game. He loses track of time when he breaks up a fight between the kids, and begins refereeing the contest. Both baby and carriage have vanished when the soccer game is over. A panic-stricken Tracy desperately searches the neighborhood without telling family members that the baby is missing. He finally makes a dreaded stop at the local police department when the baby cannot be located. There he discovers that a policeman had found the unattended infant and taken him to police headquarters. A bonding process then takes place between Tracy and the baby when they are reunited. The infant even quit crying whenever he saw “grandpa.” Naming the baby had been quite an ordeal throughout the movie due to the constant meddling by the grandparents. The name is not revealed until the final scene when the baby is christened Stanley Banks – the name of Tracy’s character. Of course, the grandfather is both stunned and delighted upon hearing the unexpected news. Clark had stolen everyone’s heart by the end of the movie. The old actor’s adage “never do scenes with animals or kids” was never more evident. More than one magazine article from the time described Clark as a “scene-stealer.” The mighty mite was an adorable baby with a thick mane of hair and loveable smile. He not only won over the cast members, but moviegoers as well. Other roles When Clark was older he got the opportunity to once again work with Spencer Tracy in the movie “Inherit the Wind”. The movie was about the Scopes Monkey Trial from the 1920’s, and this time at age 10, Clark was old enough to remember the time he spent with the acting legend. “Spencer Tracy was very friendly and easy to talk to. He took time to talk to you even though he was always very busy. The dramatic oratory that Spencer Tracy and Frederick March gave in the courtroom scene of ‘Inherit the Wind’ awed me. It had a real impact on me. That was when I realized what acting was all about.” Donald Clark continued with his acting career for several more years, and performed in such movies as “Pied Piper Hamlet” with Van Johnson, and “Dance with Me Henry” starring comedy legends Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. Clark refers to the time that he spent with Abbott & Costello as being the most fun during his acting days. “They were always pulling pranks. I was sitting across from them at a table one day in the studio cafeteria when Abbott got up to go to the bathroom. Costello took a cone-shaped water cup and sat it in Abbott’s seat with the pointed side up. Abbott screamed out when he sat down on the cup and everyone had a good laugh. Hanging around them was like being in a script from one of their movies, only they were not acting. They were just ordinary guys who liked to have fun.” Clark and his twin sister also landed roles on two of the most popular television series of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. They were usually cast as extras and would portray students in a classroom scene of “Leave it to Beaver”, or as kids hanging around the campfire in an episode of “Wagon Train”. Clark developed a friendship with actor Wally Cox while filming several episodes of “Wagon Train.” “Wally always had time to say hello,” Clark recalls. “Not many big-time actors would take the time to speak to kids.” Clark also developed friendships with other actors that he worked with. He first met Rusty Hamer on the set of “Inherit the Wind” when the pair had roles as extras in a courtroom scene. Both Hamer and Clark later auditioned for a part on the hit television show “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas. Hamer got the part and is well remembered in his role as Rusty Williams. Leaving the limelight Clark and his twin sister decided to leave acting at the age of 13 for the same reasons. “Even though I had been acting for a while, I still had to audition for parts,” Clark says. “I got tired of the ‘cattle calls’ and going to school on movie sets. I wanted a life. Our parents were thrilled since they no longer had to take my sister and I to rehearsals and interviews. They were never the pushy type, and wanted us to act as long as it was fun. I never missed acting after I quit.” Other child actors were not so lucky, however. They did not have the supportive parents that Clark and his sister had. Although many of these young stars had very successful careers as child actors, they were not accepted in adult roles. There are well-publicized accounts of the struggles that some of these young actors had to endure throughout their lives. A number of them had their lives ruined, or ended, when they turned to alcohol or drugs as a way to cope. And while not all of their problems can be blamed on their lack of acting roles, it seems that many of these actors’ lives ended in tragedy. Clark’s friend Rusty Hamer committed suicide in 1990. Life after acting Fortunately, the Clark twins never fell prey to the pitfalls that victimized others. Clark enjoyed high school as a full-time student; playing saxophone and clarinet in the band. He later served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a member of the Navy Reserve. Clark then began working in the aerospace field while attending college at Northrup University in Inglewood, California. He went to work at Lockheed Martin 23 years ago and was transferred to Huntsville in 1987 as a mechanical engineer – a job that he still holds today. The former child actor is also a self-described computer buff and is part owner of Computer Renaissance in Huntsville. Clark is a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Huntsville where he is an active participant of the “Mayberry Men’s Chorus”. He describes them as a group of about 14 guys who get together and sing old-fashioned gospel songs. He married Donna Nelson in 1973 and they are the parents of 23-year-old twins, Jimmy and Cindy. Clark is not a grandfather yet, but expects that is one “role” he will really enjoy playing. He will not be the reluctant grandfather portrayed by Stanley Banks in “Father’s Little Dividend”. Instead, Clark hopes that he and his grandchild will form the strong bond that he shared with Spencer Tracy in real life. If the first grandchild is a boy, I wonder if it will be named “Stanley.” Editor’s Note: All photos included in this article are courtesy of Don Clark unless otherwise noted.
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