If you love ’70s TV shows and films, you probably remember seeing the beautiful actress, Marlene Clark, in at least one of them (and she’s still beautiful by the way…scroll down for photo). She starred in several 1960’s and 1970’s films, including Night of the Cobra Woman, Switchblade Sisters, Black Mamba, and others, but her most popular role to date is probably that of “Lamont’s” (Demond Wilson) fiancée on Sanford and Son.
Just as fans were getting used to seeing “Janet” on the Sanford and Son, she was soon out of “Lamont’s” life and off the show. But in real life, Marlene (now 73) was just getting started. A few years prior to her 1976 appearances on Sanford and Son, she married one of the most popular actors of the ’70s era, but many people never even knew they had a thing going on.
Who Is Her Ex-Husband?
Marlene Clark’s ex-husband is the legendary Billy Dee Williams! Who would’ve thought it, right? They actually made a good couple back in the day, but their marriage didn’t last past 3 years. They wed in 1968…divorced in 1971.
For a few years after their divorce, Marlene kept it pushin’ with her acting career. In fact, she landed even more acting gigs than before, which not only included Sanford and Son, but also TV shows, like What’s Happening and Barnaby Jones.
Surprising Facts About Marlene’s Clark’s Life
Here are a few very interesting Old School facts about Marlene, from her prior interview with interviewer,Chris Poggiali:
1. Sadly, she was once nearly ‘gang raped’ by a group of little people on a movie set.
Marlene explained that while working on the set of the 1974 film, Black Mamba, she was almost raped by 24 midgets at one time, during filming! Wait…WHAT???:
“There’s a scene where I get raped by two dozen midgets, and when they jumped on me, half of them didn’t know they were supposed to be acting. They were all pulling their pants down. I said, ‘Oh no! Whoa! It’s time for me to leave, ‘cause these midgets are really trying to rape me!’ The director said ‘Marlene, wait…’ and started yelling at them, ‘No, this is play! This is pretend!’ I was looking around, like ‘Where’s the plane? Get me on that plane!’” – Marlene Clark
2. While filming the 1969 film, Putney Swope, Marlene and several of her female co-stars were tricked into doing a topless scene, but she took it all in stride.
“That was my first experience with onscreen nudity,” says [Marlene] Clark, who plays a topless stewardess in the film’s Lucky Airlines commercial spoof. “Bob Downey lied to all of us. He said, ‘Take off your tops. You’re out of focus. Nobody will see anything’ — and we were so stupid, we believed him. Of course, when I saw the movie, I was speechless. Not only was I not out of focus, I couldn’t have been more in focus!” she laughs.
Marlene Clark is no longer in the acting game and the last we heard, she was living a very quiet life in Los Angeles, Ca. She is 66 years young now and a few years back she said that she was really enjoying working at a popular L.A. restaurant as the general manager. As far as getting in front of the camera again, she says she’s open to it, but for now that chapter of her life is closed and she’s grateful for having had those experiences in entertainment that took her around the world and back.–
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