Jordan Clarke has been working on ‘Guiding Light’ on and off for 23 years
By John Tredrea
Every so often you hear tell of someone who "can do anything." Jordan Clarke seems to be one of those people.
A Hopewell Township resident, Mr. Clarke recently landed an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a daytime television series for his portrayal of Billy Lewis on "Guiding Light," the longest-running radio/TV drama in history a total of 66 years, first on radio and then TV.
"It feels like a vindication," Mr. Clarke said. "I’ve been working on ‘Guiding Light’ on and off for 23 years."
The character, Billy Lewis, is an executive with his family’s construction business, as well as an alcoholic, a compulsive gambler and an ex-pro football player, according to Mr. Clarke’s Web site: http://clarkesville2005.tripod.com/.
A professional actor since the early 1970s, Mr. Clarke has appeared in numerous prime-time series, including "Three’s Company," "Knight Rider," "The Tony Randall Show," "Fantasy Island," "M*A*S*H," and "Law & Order."
He has had featured roles in the television miniseries, "The Executioner’s Song" and "Testimony of Two Men," and also was seen in the television movies, "Charleston" and "Forever." He has been active in regional theater with the Ithaca Repertory Theatre, the Olney Theatre, and Long Wharf Theatre. He was a co-founder of the off-Broadway Shaliko Public Theatre, and acted there in "Shadow of a Gunman" and "Children of the Gods."
In addition, he has appeared in several movies, including "White Squall" with Jeff Bridges.
To help support his family, Mr. Clarke, a big, friendly man who laughs often and can talk to a stranger as though he had known him all his life, has been working locally for years as an all-around handyman. His clients include residents, merchants and real estate firms, who use him to ready properties for sale.
He and his wife, Valerie Clarke, have two daughters. "Our daughter Chelsea is an artist like my wife and landscape architect living in Los Angeles," he said. "Our other daughter, Laura, will graduate this year from Marymount College (New York City). I’m pretty handy, so I did handyman stuff in addition to acting to round out the corners in a family budget that $30,000 a year college tuition bills can bring. I do carpentry, plumbing, electrical and stone work. I get it all by word of mouth. It’s worked out well."
Both as an actor and handyman, Mr. Clarke got his start as a boy in upstate New York. "I got the acting bug playing Frank Butler in ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ in a high school production," he said. He went on to attend Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in fine arts (acting). After leaving Cornell in 1971, he continued his theatrical training at New York University’s School of the Arts.
Mr. Clarke’s professional experience in the building trades began with carpentry, when he was 12 years old. "One of my Dad’s friends was a carpenter. I was tall for my age at 12 and got a job doing rough carpentry with him. It wasn’t unusual. We were from farm country. You could get a license to drive a farm vehicle when you were 12 in those days."
By the time he was about 13, he had his first business selling horse manure. "It was the best business I ever had nothing went to waste!" he quipped. "I was happy making money the customers were happy and the horses were happy."
Mr. Clarke said he was drawn to the Hopewell Valley area because he has relatives here. "Two aunts on Bear Tavern Road," he said. "I love it here," he said. "A terrific place, and the people are terrific, too."
Asked to name his favorite actor, Mr. Clarke said: "There are so many. If I had to pick one, it’d be Alec Guinness. He had such economy in his acting. I’m a real Anglophile … Peter Sellers, John Gielgud … they are something else."
He named John Ford’s 1956 western, "The Searchers," as his favorite film. "And I love TV, all TV," he said. "Probably because I can fall asleep watching it."