Actor Marlene Clark dies aged 85
The actor Marlene Clark who appeared in Sanford and Son, as well as the horror film Ganja and Hess and many other movies of the 1960s and 1970s, passed away earlier this month on May 18th at the age of 85.
She was raised in Harlem, New York City, and spent her childhood summers in West Virginia. After attending Morristown Jr. College in Tennessee, she returned to the Golden Apple to study at City College, and it was during this time that she became interested in acting and began to take part in school plays.
Clark was married to her then-husband Billy Dee Williams when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting, although she first had a stint as a fashion model. Clark had featured in a number of films before she got her big break with the role of Janet, Lamont Lawson’s wife, in Sanford and Son.
Her first film role came in the 1968 film For Love of Ivy, and she followed up the year after with Midnight Cowboy and Putney Swope. Later on, Clark starred in Enter the Dragon, Lord Shango, Black Mamba and The Jezebels, as well as the 1972 blaxploitation movie Slaughter with Jim Brown.
It was in 1973 that she starred alongside Duane Jones in the Ganja and Hess. In the 1980s, Clark opened a clothing store, a keen follower of fashion, and eventually, she managed Hal’s Bar and Grill in Venice Beach, where she served for 15 years.
Clark’s Sanford and Son co-star Desmond Wilson has paid tribute to Clark on his Twitter account, writing, “RIP beautiful actress Marlene Clark…It was a delight to work with you. 12/19/49 – 5/18/23.”
Check out the trailers for one of Marlene Clark’s best-known appearances below, Ganja and Hess.
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