Hope Clarke

Acting

Hope Clarke

Born 1941-03-23 · Washington, D.C

Hope Clarke is an American actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer, and director. Clarke performed as principal dancer with the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 1960s; actress on stage, film, and television, 1970s–1980s; choreographer and director, 1980s--. Clarke served on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for the 2011–12 Broadway season. Clarke made history in 1995 when she became the first African American, as well as the first African-American woman, to direct and choreograph a major staging of the opera-musical Porgy and Bess. Clarke's production of the George Gershwin classic was staged in celebration of the work's 60h anniversary, and it toured not only major American cities but Japan and Europe as well. Clarke drew critical acclaim for her commitment to staging the show as a monument to African-American community and pride, giving a more hopeful, positive aura to a story that has been criticized for its stereotypes. As for the director herself, the success of Porgy and Bess is just the latest accolade in a long career devoted to dance and drama.

Acting credits

Into the Night poster
6.5

Ed Okin used to have a boring life. He used to have trouble getting to sleep. Then one night, he met Diana. Now, Ed's having trouble staying alive.

Into the Night

1985

Basquiat poster
6.6

The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.

Basquiat

1996

Rustin poster
6.5

Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.

Rustin

2023

Beat Street poster
6.9

An aspiring DJ, from the South Bronx, and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and culture.

Beat Street

1984

A Piece of the Action poster
5.8

How does retired cop Joshua Burke (James Earl Jones) get two career criminals, Manny Durrell (Sidney Poitier) and Dave Anderson (Bill Cosby), to follow the straight and narrow? Con them into helping juvenile delinquents turn over a new leaf. But how? Burke has never been able to nail the duo, but he uses what he knows of their seedy past to blackmail them into volunteering.

A Piece of the Action

1977

A Father's Homecoming poster
6.5

Long separated from his teenaged son and daughter, Michael Fields comes into contact with them in a most unexpected fashion. He is appointed headmaster of the exclusive New England private school where they both are enrolled.

A Father's Homecoming

1988

Seventeen Again poster
6.9

Cat and Gene have been divorced for several years. They are both visiting their son and their grandchildren, Sydney and Willie. Willie's a genius who develops a formula that makes who uses it young again, it inadvertently spills into some soap that Willie places in his grandparents room. When each of them uses it they finds themselves 17 again. Willie had to find a way to reverse the process but will his grandparents want to be old again?

Seventeen Again

2000

Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal poster
6.5

A poorly-educated housewife fights companies polluting her hometown's water table in upstate New York during the 1970s.

Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal

1982

Going Home poster
6.4

After doing 13 years in prison for the murder of his wife, mechanic Harry Graham is out on parole and looking to rebuild his life in a small seaside community. He settles into a trailer park and finds both a job and a girlfriend. But things get difficult for Harry when his estranged son, Jimmy, shows up. He witnessed his mother's murder as a child and, after years spent in foster homes, has come looking for revenge.

Going Home

1971

Jennifer: A Woman’s Story poster
7.0

The widow of a wealthy shipbuilder tries to hold onto his business and becomes involved with boardroom intrigue in her bitter struggle to maintain control of the company. Based on British TV series "The Foundation." Pilot to a prospective series.

Jennifer: A Woman’s Story

1979

Scout's Honor poster
7.5

Gary Coleman stars as little Joey Seymour, a clever but lonely orphan shuffled from one foster home to the next, who is also determined to be the best Cub Scout ever. Pearl Bartlett (Katherine Helmond) is a hard-working executive who dislikes children, but she must take on a troop of Cub Scouts and become a den mother to save her job. Somewhere along the way, Joey teaches Pearl the true meaning of caring.

Scout's Honor

1980

The Baron poster
5.6

A black actor tries to make his own movie with an all-black cast, but to make it he's forced to borrow money from the Mafia.

The Baron

1977

Book of Numbers poster
7.0

Two waiters in Depression-era Arkansas get involved in the numbers racket.

Book of Numbers

1973

Ailey poster
6.0

Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Told in his own words and through the creation of a dance inspired by his life, this immersive portrait follows a man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, determined to build one that would.

Ailey

2021

Change of Mind poster
5.8

A white man's brain is transplanted into a black man's skull.

Change of Mind

1969

No artwork available
NR

Compulsive gambler Oz lives in a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, with his roommate, Ivy-League dropout Ish. Crippled by an unspoken fear of failure, the serial underachievers whittle the hours away playing video games and discussing plans for a band that has yet to leave the realm of the hypothetical. But after they meet graffiti artist Veronica, who challenges them to take action, Oz and Ish must examine themselves for the first time.

Men Without Jobs

2004