Jack J. Clark

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Jack Clark (September 23, 1879 – April 12, 1947) was an American director and actor of the early motion picture industry.

Born John J. Clark in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania he became a theatrical actor and was induced to enter motion pictures in 1907 by Sydney Olcott of the New York based Kalem Studios during the silent film era. He traveled through 24 countries with the film company becoming one of the first American film stars to go on foreign location. While in the Holy Land, Kalem Studios produced the first passion play, From the Manger to the Cross, casting Jack Clark as John the Apostle.

In 1912, Jack Clark married actress and co-star Gene Gauntier in Palestine. They divorced in 1918.

During a three-year leave from the film industry in the early 1920’s, Jack was instructor of dramatic arts at Villanova College. He organized a dramatic workshop and produced the mystical play Vision. About the same time he staged a pageant Charity with a cast of 600 persons, which established new records at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House. He also wrote and produced a dramatic musical pageant Columbus which, with a cast of more than 1000 was staged at the Philadelphia Academy of Music for the Knights of Columbus.

In 1929, Jack Clark married Francis Rose Musolf.

Among Jack Clark’s plays were The Prince of Pilsen and 45 Minutes from Broadway. Among the films he acted in were The Colleen Bawn (1911), From the Manger to the Cross (1912), The Shaughraun (1912), The Last of the Mafia (1915), A Fool’s Paradise (1916), Audrey (1916), Pajamas (1927), Love and Learn (1928), and Broadway Howdy (1929). Among the films he directed were The Yankee Girl (1915) and The Mad Maid of the Forest (1915).