Gage Clarke

Gage Clarke (also credited as Gage Clark; March 3, 1900 – October 23, 1964) was an American stage, television, and film character actor. The first half of his career was dedicated to the theatre, predominantly to Broadway productions, while television and film roles dominated his work during the latter half of his career. Among his memorable television roles is his portrayal of the fastidious school official "Mr. Bascomb" during the 1952–1953 broadcast season of the sitcom Mister Peepers starring Wally Cox. Clarke also performed in many other television series produced between 1949 and the early 1960s, most prominently Maverick and Gunsmoke, as well as in more than a dozen Hollywood features. Early life Born in Vassar, Michigan in 1900, Gage was the only child of Metta L. (née Gage) and George D. Clarke, who worked as a bookkeeper and later as a bank cashier in the town of Vassar. Gage in September 1918 registered with the United States military draft in his hometown, but World War I ended before he could enter service. Two years later, in January 1920, the federal census shows that Gage was not employed and was still living with his parents in Vassar; but by 1929 he had relocated to New York City, where he was performing in major Broadway productions. Stage In November and December 1929, Clarke portrayed Geoffry in the Broadway production of A Ledge presented at the Assembly Theatre. He then had parts in the 1931 plays The Venetian Glass Nephew and Devil in the Mind. The next year he had a significant role in The Inside Story, directed by A. H. Van Buren at the National Theatre, and in 1933-1934 he played Buck Buckner in Jezebel starring Miriam Hopkins at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. In his review of Jezebel at the time, Abel Green of the trade paper Variety is critical of the play's script, but he commends the cast's performances and includes Clarke among the production's "outstanders". Clarke for the remainder of the 1930s continued to act in a variety of other Broadway productions such as Lost Horizons, Parnell, Many Mansions, The Monocled Man, Tomorrow's a Holiday, Escape This Night, Summer Night, Great Lady, and I Know What I Like. In the 1937 play Many Mansions—described as a "dignified invective against the church"—Clarke again received very favorable reviews for his central role as Reverend Roger Crandall. When the United States entered World War II, Clarke was 41 years old, still eligible for induction into military service.