Clark Middleton

He was a scene-stealer par excellence who exemplified triumph over adversity. The actor born as Clark Tinsley Middleton made a success of his profession though afflicted with crippling juvenile rheumatoid arthritis from the age of four. There were frequent recurring bouts of the ailment affecting his hands, arms and hips. In 1997, he related his struggles in an autobiographical one-man play, Miracle Mile, which he performed off-Broadway. Despite diminutive size and almost complete lack of neck movement, Middleton began performing in amateur dramatics while still at junior college and became determined to make a proper career of it. He later quit university in Arizona and at the age of 25 moved to New York to study acting under Uta Hagen and then Geraldine Page (who became his mentor) at the Mirror Repertory Theater. He then spent 15 years on stage with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Circle Repertory Theater, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and various regional theatres befo