Dane Clark

Bernard Zanville was a hard-working young man in New York City struggling to finance his law degree, when he turned to acting on the advice of friend John Garfield. After appearing on stage for several years, including a stint starring alongside Garfield in the original cast of Clifford Odets' "Waiting for Lefty" (1935), Zanville gave up his dreams of law school and relocated to Hollywood to pursue a movie career. Hooking up with Warner Bros., his name was changed to the more marquee friendly Dane Clark, allegedly by Humphrey Bogart who co-starred with the young actor in what was more or less his star-making performance as merchant marine Johnny Pulaski in 1943's "Action in the North Atlantic." That same year, Clark acted alongside Cary Grant and Garfield in "Destination Tokyo" and went on to convincingly play pugnacious soldiers in war-themed pictures for Warners like "God is My Co-Pilot" and "Pride of the Marines" (both 1945). Movies like "Her Kind of Man" (1946), "Deep Valley," "Embraceable You" and "That Way With Women" (all 1947) featured Clark's tough guy persona put to new use, now as the dangerous leading man, the misunderstood gangster type who gets involved with a nice girl and changes his ways.