John Clarke, best known for starring as Mickey Horton on Days of Our Lives, has died. He was 88.
Clarke passed away due to complications of pneumonia on Oct. 16 in Laguna Beach, Calif., a representative for the actor’s daughter, Nikita actress Melinda Clarke, tells EW. Melinda and Jack trained opera together and she sang “Ave Maria” to him as he passed peacefully.
The actor suffered a stroke in 2007 and his health had been deteriorating in the past few years, according to the family obituary.
First debuting on Days in 1965, Clarke acted on the soap for 39 years before leaving in 2004. From 1961-62, he starred in the ABC crime drama The New Breed, and also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Death Valley Days, Maverick, and more. On the film side, Clarke was featured in projects like Judgement at Nuremberg; It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World; The Satan Bug; and Man Missing. In the theater, he performed as resident leading man in more than 75 plays at the Tenthouse Theater in Chicago. He was resident leading man at the Palm Springs Playhouse for one season, then switching to musical theater, he played various leading roles at the Sacramento Music Circus.
Born in South Bend, Ind., in 1931, Clarke went to school wherever his Army officer father was stationed. He earned his BA in Theater at UCLA and also served in the Air Force during the Korean War, entertaining military personnel as part of a touring troop that traveled across the U.S.
In 1979, Clarke earned an Emmy nomination for Best Daytime Actor, and in 2004, he received the Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is survived by his wife Patty, his children Joshua and Melinda and his grandchildren, Catherine Grace, Natasha, and Jacob.
