Jack DeWayne Clay (born October 20, 1926 in Decatur, Illinois) is an American acting teacher, director and actor.
A graduate of the Northwestern University school of speech under Alvina Krause, Clay taught at Oberlin College (1956 - 1957), the University of Miami (1957 - 1961), and the University of South Florida (1961 - 1966). He also headed the Professional Actors Training Programs at Southern Methodist University (1966 - 1986) and the University of Washington (1986 - 1991.) While in Dallas, He founded "Stage #1," a professional acting company, and served as its artistic director for eight years.
Clay's teachers included Lee Strasberg, Martha Graham and Eric Hawkins. Among his best known students are Kathy Bates, Powers Boothe, Patricia Richardson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Beth Henley and Hugh O'Gorman (of Remember WENN).
Clay is also a distinguished member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.
Famous quotes containing the words jack and/or clay:
“This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. The House That Jack Built (l. 1–3)
“Water. Its sunny track in the plain; its splashing in the garden canal, the sound it makes when in its course it meets the mane of the grass; the diluted reflection of the sky together with the fleeting sight of the reeds; the Negresses fill their dripping gourds and their red clay containers; the song of the washerwomen; the gorged fields the tall crops ripening.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)