Hank
09-18-2004, 03:03 PM
I was doing my usual web surfing at work yesterday when I ran across an item that knocked the wind out of me. It was a Playbill piece announcing the death of Caitlin Clarke, aged 52, from cancer.
The name probably doesn't mean anything to you. According to the article, Ms. Clarke had a long career on Broadway and in regional theater. But I remember her from her one major film role. She was Valerian, the female lead in 1981's Dragonslayer. I was never much of a fan of fantasy movies, most of which were sword & sorcery, thud & blunder nonsense with bad acting and worse visuals. But Dragonslayer was something special, particularly in those post-Harryhausen and pre-CGI days. It was a film about the Dark Ages the way we imagined and wanted them to be, with a dragon that was just as magnificent and frightening as it ought to be. And Valerian, Valerian was the heroine of the piece, a strong but romantic girl who was easily the equal of anyone else on the screen.
Ms. Clarke didn't show up on the screen much after that. I remember an almost instantly cancelled comic-based series called Once A Hero on ABC. And one episode of Matlock, where she played a particularly cliched lawyer by day/foul temptress by night. And I wondered about the career and the life behind those few performances.
I guess it helps to know about her theatrical career, that she wasn't just waiting tables or selling real estate instead of acting. But I can't help wondering how she saw her own accomplishments, and if she looked back on her late-20s self and mourned the opportunities that weren't.
They say that memorials are for the living. And I know that I'm writing this at least in small part because I wonder these things about my own life. What happened to the optimism and promise of my younger self? Is it possible to look back and not regret the chances not taken or the opportunities that never quite arrived?
Ms. Clarke, I for one will remember you. And miss the performances I won't get to see. I hope you thought it was all worth it, even if it was over far too soon.
The name probably doesn't mean anything to you. According to the article, Ms. Clarke had a long career on Broadway and in regional theater. But I remember her from her one major film role. She was Valerian, the female lead in 1981's Dragonslayer. I was never much of a fan of fantasy movies, most of which were sword & sorcery, thud & blunder nonsense with bad acting and worse visuals. But Dragonslayer was something special, particularly in those post-Harryhausen and pre-CGI days. It was a film about the Dark Ages the way we imagined and wanted them to be, with a dragon that was just as magnificent and frightening as it ought to be. And Valerian, Valerian was the heroine of the piece, a strong but romantic girl who was easily the equal of anyone else on the screen.
Ms. Clarke didn't show up on the screen much after that. I remember an almost instantly cancelled comic-based series called Once A Hero on ABC. And one episode of Matlock, where she played a particularly cliched lawyer by day/foul temptress by night. And I wondered about the career and the life behind those few performances.
I guess it helps to know about her theatrical career, that she wasn't just waiting tables or selling real estate instead of acting. But I can't help wondering how she saw her own accomplishments, and if she looked back on her late-20s self and mourned the opportunities that weren't.
They say that memorials are for the living. And I know that I'm writing this at least in small part because I wonder these things about my own life. What happened to the optimism and promise of my younger self? Is it possible to look back and not regret the chances not taken or the opportunities that never quite arrived?
Ms. Clarke, I for one will remember you. And miss the performances I won't get to see. I hope you thought it was all worth it, even if it was over far too soon.