Famed actor Matt Clark, who appeared in a number of acclaimed Westerns, has died. He was 89.
Clark died Sunday, March 15, in Austin following complications from back surgery, his wife, Sharon Mays, confirmed to Variety. Mays and Clark had been married since 2000 and lived in Fort Worth for several years.
The veteran character actor appeared in more than 100 film and television projects over his 50-year career.
Some of his most famous roles came in “Brubaker,” “Jeremiah Johnson,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “Back to the Future Part III.” Other roles include “The Cowboys,” “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid,” Walker, Texas Ranger,” “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” and “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.”
🔥 In case you missed it…
◽️ Sign up for Star-Telegram news alerts.
Matt Clark’s early days
Born in Washington D.C. in 1936, Clark grew up in nearby Arlington, Va. His father, Frederick, was a carpenter and his mother, Theresa, was a teacher.
After serving in the United States Army, Clark enrolled at George Washington University in Washington D.C., according to a 1991 newspaper article from Portland’s The Oregonian.
He later dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue acting, which took him to New York City. Clark’s first union acting job was off Broadway in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”
Clark’s first screen credit came in 1964’s “Black Like Me,” in which he played the role of “Mugger in Alley.” He followed that up with a few television roles in “Ben Casey,” “Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre” and “T.H.E. Cat.”
In 1967, Clark appeared in the Academy Award-winning “In the Heat of the Night.” A year later, Clark worked as a stand-in for Martin Sheen in “The Subject Was Roses.”
Clark and Sheen had known each other since they both moved to New York.
“He’s my oldest friend. I was kind of a mentor to Martin. I was a couple of years older. And, as happens with friends, those positions chance though the years,” Clark told The Oregonian in 1991.
Lone Star Film Society presents “An Evening at the Academy Awards” honoring Pilar & Jesse Upchurch Dee J. Kelly Alumnai & Visitors Center: February 25, 2007 L-R: Matt Clark, Sharon Mays, Ambler Cantey, Johnny Langdon.
Matt Clark’s Fort Worth connection
In 2000, Clark married Sharon Mays, a Fort Worth realtor who founded Mays Realty Group.
Clark and Mays were regulars at Fort Worth’s celebrity hotspot — Joe T. Garcia’s. The couple were spotted numerous times over the years at the Stockyards restaurant, according to the Star-Telegram archives.
In 2019, Clark was seen at the eatery with Sheen, who was in town shooting the inspirational sports drama “12 Mighty Orphans.”
“I was like, ‘Oh crap, that’s Martin Sheen!’” said Joe Lancarte, one of the family owners of Joe T. Garcia’s, at the time.
In this file photo from Nov. 13, 2019, Martin Sheen (middle) poses with actor Matt Clark (left) and Joe T. Garcia’s co-owner Joe Lancarte (right) inside the restaurant Monday night. Sheen is in “12 Mighty Orphans,” an upcoming movie about the Masonic Home Mighty Mites high school football team in Texas.
Just a few years ago in 2022, Joe T.’s posted a photo online of Lancarte posing with Clark and Mays.
“Great seeing actor and friend Matt Clark and his wife Sharon. You never know who you might run into at Joe Ts!” the post’s caption read.
In addition to Mays, Clark is survived by his daughter Amiee, his sons, Matthias Clark, Jason Clark and Seth Clark; grandchildren Sequoia, Dylan, Elizabeth, Miles, Emily, Izzy, Dax, Emanuel and Lucas; great-grandson Claude; and stepchildren Michelle, Joyce and Ray. He was preceded in death by another daughter, Alexandria.