Matt Clark, a character actor with more than 100 film and TV credits ranging from In the Heat of the Night and dozens of Westerns to Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West, died March 15 in Austin. He was 89.
A family rep confirmed the news to Deadline but did not provide a cause of death.
Clark was born on November 25, 1936, in Washington. After serving in the Army, he trained at the HB Studio in New York under Herbert Berghof and William Hickey. He joined the Living Theatre and worked off-Broadway before pivoting to screen roles. His first two movies were Black Like Me (1964) and then Walter Mirisch’s Best Picture Oscar-winning classic In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
He went on to guest on such popular TV series as Bonanza, The Waltons, Kung Fu, Little House on the Prairie, Dynasty, Magnum, P.I. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Grace Under Fire, Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, Walker, Texas Ranger and ratings-juggernaut 1983 miniseries The Winds of War.
His lone series-regular role was as a dim-witted co-worker of the titular star on the first season of the ABC sitcom The Jeff Foxworthy Show in 1995-96. He did not appear in the second season that aired on NBC in 1996-97.
Clark also had scores of film roles. In 1972 alone, he appeared opposite a pair of screen legends — Robert Redford in the wilderness classic Jeremiah Johnson and Paul Newman in John Huston’s The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. The following year, Clark had roles in pics starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) and Burt Reynolds (White Lightning). He also shared the screen with Clint Eastwood in the iconic 1976 neo-western The Outlaw Josey Wales and with Jeff Bridges in Hearts of the West (1975).
Clark’s many other film roles during the next four decades included Brubaker (1980, again with Redford), Some Kind of Hero (1982), Honkyytonk Man (1982, with Eastwood), Back to the Future III (1990), 42 (2013) and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), which was his final screen credit.
Clark was married three times, to Erica Lann from 1958-65, to Carol Trieste in 1968 and then to Sharon Mays, from 2000 until his death.
He is survived by Mays; sons Matthias, Jason and Seth; daughters Amiee and Alexandria; nine grandchildren and and a great grandson.