Roydon Elwood Clark, a renowned stuntman and actor, was born on April 15, 1928, in Dalton, Pennsylvania, to a family of eight siblings. His family, comprising crop tenders and migrant farm workers, struggled to make ends meet. Clark's early summers were spent around the Hudkins stables, which supplied livestock and wagons for Western films.
Following his family's separation, the Hudkins family took Clark in, and he worked for twenty-five dollars a week, performing tasks such as pitching hay, caring for horses, and completing general chores around the stable. This experience laid the foundation for his future career in the entertainment industry.
Clark began his acting and stuntman career in Westerns, working under the direction of Joseph Kane at Republic Pictures. Throughout his illustrious career, he doubled for notable actors such as Errol Flynn, James Garner, Sean Connery, and Joe Don Baker.
In addition to his work as an actor and stuntman, Clark also dedicated four years to volunteer work as a stunt safety investigator for the Directors Guild of America. Moreover, he worked as both a stunt coordinator and second unit director on a few TV movie follow-ups to the hit TV series The Rockford Files, which premiered in 1974.
