Career
Although his name is not familiar to audiences, he did play a significant supporting role in a classic film which is revived regularly. Besides Ferrer as Cyrano, Clanton was the only holdover from the cast of the 1946 Broadway revival of the play, and would play the role of De Guiche opposite him once more, in a New York City Center production in 1953. In addition to playing De Guiche in "Cyrano", 1950 also saw him in the British war film, "They were not Divided".
Clanton was featured in seven different episodes of Alfred Hitchcock"s television show, as well as making several appearances on the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
In 1976, he played the role of George Washington in a Public Broadcasting Service television production of Sidney Kingsley"s The Patriots, a drama that had itself been produced on the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1963, but without Clanton. He also played the role of Jasper Delaney on the television soap operas, Another World and its spinoff, Somerset.
He played the role of Mr. Ingram in the sci-fi thriller The 27th Day.
He played guest star roles on numerous television series, such as four episodes of Perry Mason, including the role of Mervyn Aldritch in the premiere episode, "The Case of the Restless Redhead" in 1957, and murder victim Charles Brewster in "The Case of the Fancy Figures" in 1958.
In addition, he appeared on Broadway in the role of Claude Nau in Robert Bolt"s Vivat! Vivat Regina!, as well as in several Shakespeare productions. One of his last roles was a bit part in the hit Dan Aykroyd - Eddie Murphy film Trading Places, in 1983.
