- Mamo Clark
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Mamo Clark
from the trailer for the film
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).Born December 6, 1914
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.Died December 18, 1986 (aged 72)
Panorama City, California, U.S.Other names Mamo Years active 1935–1940 Spouse James M. Rawley Mamo Clark, sometimes billed only as Mamo, (1914–1986) was a Hawaiian born American actress, Author and descendant of the Royal Hawaiian Families beginning with Kiha and Waiolea, Liloa and Pinea, and so on.
Contents
Early life
Born December 6, 1914 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mamo Clark sailed to the mainland United States on board the SS Malolo on July 1, 1933 with her stepmother May Kaaolani Clark and father Joseph Kealakaimana Clark. Her stepmother was the daughter of John Adams Cummins.[1] She was a descendant of the Kamehameha Dynasty which can be traced back to the ancient dynasty of Liloa.
Mamo Clark was educated at the University of Southern California. When Mamo Clark and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Clark sailed on the voyage to the mainland United States i 1933, they brought with them a handmade Fong Inn Canopy bed and a historical 14 foot long spear that was known by her ancestors to have been used in may famous Hawaiian battles.
Career
Clark made her film debut in a featured role in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) acting as Miamiti, Clark Gable's wife in the film. The following year she appeared in a serial Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island playing a Polynesian princess. In 1937, she appeared with her Mutiny on the Bounty co-star, Movita, in The Hurricane but her career failed to advance and over the next few years she played roles in several 'B-pictures', invariably with Pacific Island settings. One Million B.C. (1940) provided her with a substantial role as the Queen of the Rock Tribe appearing with Lon Chaney Jr., but by this time her career was virtually over. She retired from films after a minor role in the Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne film Seven Sinners (1940).
Retirement
Following her retirement, she obtained a degree in cinematography from UCLA in 1966, and later wrote a book about her life titled Except Their Sun. The book was copyrighted by her husband James M. Rawley in 1994 and published by the Abigail Kekaulike Kawananakoa Foundation the same year. She died December 18, 1986 from cancer in Panorama City, California. The Koa bed, the spear, the movie scripts, the letters, photographs, UCLA degree and her husbands original monogrammed copy of Except Their Sun is in the private collection of Mr. Phillip Rimer of Las Vegas.
References
- ^ Kapiikauinamoku (April 25, 1956). "Charles Mahoe Family Descendants of Chief: The family". The Story of Maui Royalty. http://ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=q-0somr-000Sec--11en&a=d&d=D0.4.19&toc=0.
External links
Categories:- 1914 births
- 1986 deaths
- American film actors
- Cancer deaths in California
- American actor stubs
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