Ian D. Clark (actor)
Ian Douglas Clark (born 7 April 1950)[1] is a British-born Canadian stage and screen actor who works under the name of Ian D. Clark.
Best known for playing Simon Tremayne in the CBC Television series Road to Avonlea in the 1990s,[2] Clark has worked mostly on stage and television, but also in films. He won a Toronto Theatre Critics Award in 2014.
Early life
Clark was born in 1950 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England,[3][4] but both of his parents were Scots. His father, Dr Douglas Clark, was a recently-arrived general practitioner in nearby Conisbrough,[5] originally from Clarkston, East Renfrewshire,[6] while his mother, Beatrice Kenny, was a nursing sister from Dumfries.[7][8] He had one younger brother,[5] and until 1966 was educated as a boarder at Gresham's School in Norfolk, then headed by another Scot, Logie Bruce Lockhart.[1]
In October 1966, after a farewell party, the family visited Scotland,[9] immediately before emigrating from Conisbrough to Oshawa in Ontario, Canada, about 35 miles from downtown Toronto.[3][5] Even before that, Clark had begun to think about acting as a career, after seeing the film Becket (1964), starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. He continued his education at the R. S. McLaughlin Institute, Oshawa,[10] and then at McGill University, Montreal, where he took a bachelor's degree in English and French and an MA in English literature, intended as a first step towards an academic career.[10] While there, with Fiona Reid and Guy Sprung he acted on stage with a student troupe called Theatre Encounter in Montreal.[3] His MA thesis was deferred for several years, while his acting career began to take off, but it was eventually completed.[10]
In 1977, Clark was given a very small part in Peter Shaffer's film Equus, but he was also hired as stand-in to Richard Burton, taking his place during set-ups. He spent every day for six weeks in studios at Kleinburg, with Sidney Lumet directing a cast which included Burton, Joan Plowright, Peter Firth, Harry Andrews, and Jenny Agutter.[3] Clark has said of this "Acting schools weren’t common then, and I had no formal acting training. I learned on the job, by doing, by watching people who were better than me. And those six weeks on Equus were like a master class with the masters – Burton and Lumet."[10]
Stage
Clark's early stage career was with the Shaw Festival repertory company, in Niagara-on-the-Lake.[3] In 1982, he played Antipholus of Ephesis in A Comedy of Errors at the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton.[11] In 1986, he had the title role in Larry Shue's play The Foreigner at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto.[12] At the Shaw Festival of 1988, he was noticed in The Voysey Inheritance.[13]
Clark has appeared many times at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia. In 2001, he was there playing Inspector Rough in Gaslight.[14] In 2003, he was back at the theatre as Peacey in The Voysey Inheritance, and in 2004 played Sandy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.[15] In 2005, he was there again to star as Finian in a production of the musical Finian's Rainbow.[16] In 2007, he played Frederick Arnott, a comic turn, in Enchanted April,[17] and in 2011 was back as Baron von Swieten in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.[18] In 2013 he played the Earl of Caversham in a Walnut Street production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.[19]
In 2006, at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, Clark appeared as Jim the Gardener in Charlotte Jones's Humble Boy.[20] In 2008 and 2009, he played David Manning and other parts in David Hare’s Stuff Happens at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto.[21] From April to October, 2011, at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, he played Grampa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and was also understudy for the part of Sam in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming.[22]
In 2014, Clark was on stage as both butlers in a Thousand Islands Playhouse revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, with one review calling him "the cast stand-out".[23] Also in 2014, after he had appeared as F in the first Canadian production of Mike Bartlett's play Cock, at the Theatre Centre, Toronto, the part won him the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.[24] In 2015, he played the title role in Tuesdays with Morrie at the Thousand Islands Playhouse.[25] In October of the same year, he stepped in at short notice to replace Jamie Farr in Jack of Diamonds at Theatre Aquarius, in Hamilton, Ontario, after Farr had collapsed during a rehearsal.[26] A review noted that the director "had the irrepressible Ian D. Clark waiting in the wings, ready to unleash his own brand of hokum."[27]
In 2020, Clark was at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, appearing in Jack Thorne's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.[28]
Screen
An early television role for Clark came in The Newcomers: 1847, filmed in 1977.[29][30]
After performing many parts in television movies and shows, from 1993 to 1996 Clark appeared as a leading character in Road to Avonlea , playing Simon Tremayne, the disinherited son of an British duke and the owner of the White Sands Hotel.[3] The location for this was Dalvay-by-the-Sea, and by chance Clark and his family had taken a holiday at the real hotel before emigrating to Canada.[10] After that, Clark had lead roles on other television shows, The Arrow (1997), Little Men (1998), and The Associates (2001).[3]
In the vampire web series Carmilla, Clark plays Baron von Vordenberg.[31]
In 2024, Clark appeared in The Apprentice, a biopic film of the early career of Donald Trump, playing Mayor Ed Koch.[32]
Films
- Equus (1977), uncredited[3]
- Murder by Phone (1982) as First Cop
- The Boy in Blue (1986) as Aussie
- A Nest of Singing Birds (1988), as David Gore[33]
- Last Wish (1992) as Dr Kevin Burns[34]
- Treacherous Beauties (1994) as Barry[35]
- Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) as Phillip Brennan[36]
- Bach's Fight for Freedom (1995) as Josef Muller[37]
- The Michelle Apartments (1995), as Abernathy
- Lilies (1996) as Father Saint Michel, prison chaplain[38]
- That Old Feeling (1997), as Rufus[39]
- The Wishing Tree (1999) as Davies
- The Chippendales Murder (2000) as Russell Liggott–Jones
- Cruel Intentions 2 (2000) as Principal Ed Freeman
- Laughter on the 23rd Floor (2001) as Max's doctor[40]
- The Piano Man's Daughter (2003) as Coroner's Counsel[41]
- The Reagans (2003) as Dr. John E. Hutton Jr.[42]
- Black Widow (2005) as Minister[43]
- Maneater (2007) as Colonel James Livingston Graham[44]
- Georgetown (2019) as Carl Mattingly[45]
- The Apprentice (2024) as Ed Koch[32]
Personal life
Clark met his future wife, Beverly, at the R. S. McLaughlin school in Oshawa, and from there they both went on to McGill University.[10] They were married in 1984 and since then have lived in Kingston, Ontario, where Mrs Clark was a teacher. This is about a three-hour drive from Toronto, which is the main centre for Canadian theatres and auditions. They have one daughter.[10]
Clark's father died in Oshawa in December 1999,[46] aged 78, and his funeral was at St. George's.[6] His mother died in April 2012, aged 89.[7]
Notes
- 1 2 Old Greshamian Club Address Book 1999 (Cromer: Cheverton & Son, 1999), p. 53
- ↑ Ian D. Clark, actor, Direct Entertainment, accessed 7 August 2026
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Peter Hendra, Actor's road to success, thewhig.com, 2 July 2014, accessed 7 August 2026
- ↑ CLARK Ian D / Kenny, FreeBMD, accessed 7 August 2026
- 1 2 3 "CONISBRO’ DOCTOR TO EMIGRATE" South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times, Saturday, 13 August 1966, p. 12: "Dr. Douglas Clark, M.B., Ch.B., is to emigrate to Canada early in October. Dr. Clark came to the area in May, 1949, and has been in partnership with various doctors in the same practice ever since. With Dr. Clark will go his wife, Beatrice, and his two sons, lan (16) and Colin (11). The two boys will continue their education in Canada."
- 1 2 "Douglas CLARK Obituary", The Globe and Mail, 1 January 2000: "Douglas was the son of Andrew and Martha Clark of Clarkston, Renfrewshire, Scotland. After heading a practice in Conisborough, Yorkshire, he came to Canada in 1966. A memorial service was held on December 28, 1999 at St. George's Memorial Anglican Church"
- 1 2 "CLARK, Beatrice (nee Kenny)", The Globe and Mail, 21 April 2012: "Beloved widow of Dr. Douglas Clark passed away in her 90th year, on April 17, 2012. Born in Dumfries, Scotland, she trained at Glasgow Western Infirmary, rising to become Night Operating Theatre Sister, and later was asked to be private nurse to the family of the U.S. Ambassador."
- ↑ "CLARK, Beatrice", legacy.com, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ "A farewell party to Dr. Douglas Clark and his wife", South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times, Saturday 8 October 1966, p. 5: "A farewell party to Dr. Douglas Clark and his wife was held in the new Day Room at Conisbrough Hospital on Monday, Dr. and Mrs. Clark left their home on Tuesday for Scotland prior to emigrating."
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Douglas Bowie, "Ian Clark Profile", douglasbowie.ca, 1 February 2022, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ John O'Connor, ed., A Directory of Shakespeare in Performance 1970-1990: Volume 2, USA and Canada (Springer, 2019) p. 25
- ↑ The Foreigner, mirvish.com, accessed 14 August 2026
- ↑ John Simon, "Shakespearian Shambles, Festive Shavians" New York Magazine, 5 September 1988, p. 58
- ↑ "Plot twists, fine cast make 'Gaslight' enjoyable theater", Mainline Media News, 28 March 2001, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ Jessica Boevers Is Tracy Lord in Walnut Street's Philadelphia Story, Playbill.com, 17 March 2004
- ↑ Bernard Havard, Mark D. Sylvester, Walnut Street Theatre (Arcadia Publishing, 2008), p. 125
- ↑ Kathryn Osenlund, "A CurtainUp Review: Enchanted April", curtainup.com, accessed 9 August 2026
- ↑ "WST’s AMADEUS Slightly Off Pitch", Stage Magazine, February 2011, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ Steve Cohen, "Oscar Wilde's Ideal Husband at the Walnut (2nd review)", Broad Street Review, 2 February 2013, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ Humble Boy, Toronto Theatre Database, accessed 9 August 2026
- ↑ Stuff Happens, Toronto Theatre Database, accessed 9 August 2026
- ↑ "Ian D. Clark", abouttheartists.com, accessed 13 August 2026
- ↑ Connie Meng, "Theatre Review: The Importance of Being Earnest at the 1000 Islands Playhouse", North Country Public Radio, 1 August 2014, accessed 7 August 2026
- ↑ Glenn Sumi, "Critics' choice", Now, May 22, 2014
- ↑ Peter Hendra, A gratifying sentimental journey, thewhig.com, 3 September 2015
- ↑ Christina Mancuso, "Jamie Farr Collapses During Rehearsal of JACK OF DIAMONDS; Ian D. Clark to Step In", broadwayworld.com, October 26, 2015
- ↑ Gary Smith, "Review: Theatre Aquarius production of Jack of Diamonds sparkles with silliness", The Hamilton Spectator, 2 November 2015, archived at the Internet Archive
- ↑ Ryan McPhee, "Toronto’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Assembles All-Canadian Cast ", playbill.com, 11 March 2020, accessed 13 August 2026
- ↑ Blaik Kirby, "The Irish Newcomers – no TV formula here". The Globe and Mail, 6 January 1978
- ↑ Kevin Rockett, The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films, 1896-1996 (Red Mountain Media, 1996), p. 110)
- ↑ Dana Piccoli, "The Eagerly Anticipated Season 2 of "Carmilla" Premieres Tuesday!", afterellen.com, 1 June 2015, accessed 7 August 2026
- 1 2 Ty Burr, "Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice’ avoids taking sides. Good luck with that." The Washington Post, 8 October 2024, accessed 8 August 2026 (subscription required)
- ↑ "A Nest of Singing Birds", allmovie.com, accessed 14 August 2026
- ↑ Alvin H. Marill, Movies Made for Television, 1964-2004: 1990-1999 (Scarecrow Press, 2005), p. 296
- ↑ Richard Ness, From Headline Hunter to Superman: A Journalism Filmography (Bloomsbury Academic, 1997), p. 725
- ↑ Screen World, Vol. 46 (Theatre World Media, 1996), p. 205
- ↑ "Bach's Fight for Freedom", in Charles P. Mitchell, The Great Composers Portrayed on Film, 1913 through 2002 (McFarland, 2015), p. 14; "Bach's Fight for Freedom", teachwithmovies.org, accessed 7 August 2026
- ↑ John Greyson, The Perils of Pedagogy: The Works of John Greyson (McGill-Queen's Press, 2013), pp. 432–433; "Lilies, Canada 1996", Sight and Sound, Vol. 8, Issues 1-6 (1998), p. 49
- ↑ "That Old Feeling", allmovie.com, accessed 14 August 2026
- ↑ "Laughter on the 23rd Floor", allmovie.com, accessed 14 August 2026
- ↑ The Piano Man's Daughter, allmovie.com, accessed 14 August 2026
- ↑ "The Reagans" in Alvin H. Marill, ed., Movies Made for Television, 1964-2004: 2000-2004 (2005), p. 148
- ↑ "Minister played by Ian D. Clark", whatthemovie.com/movie, accessed 10 August 2026
- ↑ "Maneater", Rotten Tomatoes, accessed 8 August 2026
- ↑ "Georgetown (2019) – cast", cinema.com/film, accessed 10 August 2026
- ↑ "A FORMER Conisbrough doctor" , South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times, Thursday, 10 February 2000, p. 22: “Douglas Clark whose surgery was in March Street… leaves a widow, Beatrice, sons Colin and Ian, and one granddaughter. In 1966 the family moved to Canada."
External links
- Ian D. Clark at IMDb