 Lawn Clark was born January 12, 1911 in Frost, Minnesota. His grandfather had emigrated from Norway and founded the town. After his father died in World War I, his mother remarried and the family relocated to a farm near Lake Field, Minnesota. While in high school, Clark involved himself in the music and drama departments and once took second place in the Minnesota State Music Contest, playing the saxophone. He won several dramatic competitions and once won competitions for both drama and comedy. After graduation, Clark found himself at the McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis where he met a private music teacher who would greatly influence his life. She agreed to teach him without charge as she recognized him as a student who truly loved music and was eager to learn. His first radio appearance was as a soloist in the McPhail School Choir during a Christmas program in 1928. He and a friend teamed up to do musical programs for the local radio stations in Minneapolis. Soon after, they joined a tent show that would move to a town, perform different plays for a week, and then move on to the next town. In 1930, the director of that tent company encouraged Clark to move to Chicago where he transitioned to radio. He auditioned for station after station but with little success. One radio director even told him, radio can do very well without you. But after some time at various Chicago stations, he received an offer from WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio to join a stock company of 10 actors. Here he had the opportunity to play many roles, earning nice reviews for his work. To further his career, he was faced with a decision, moved to Hollywood with a chance to break into films, or to New York where he could do legitimate theater. He chose New York and he and his wife moved there in 1941. He earned close to $1,000 his first month an unusually large sum for an aspiring actor. Clark would be in great demand on the New York radio scene. In 1943, he received a call to audition for the Mutual Broadcasting System in a new production based on the Nick Carter dime novels. There were about 50 others auditioning for the role. Producer director, Jock McGregor called him with the news that he had won the leading role for the series. Nick Carter, master detective, started April 11th, 1943 and lasted until September 25th, 1955, a total of 722 episodes. At one point, Nick Carter was placed in a time slot next to Jack Benny. Although he never beat Benny in the ratings, Nick Carter was the highest rated show against Benny. Clark also appeared in several other roles in many different shows. During his peak, Clark appeared in an average of 20 radio shows in a week. These included 2000 plus, The Thin Man, The March of Time, Lights Out, Mysterious Traveler and Report to the Nation. He also garnered the leading role in the Comic Weekly Man, although he remained uncredited for the role and by his choice. He did all the voices except the female voices, doing many different dialects and accents, as well as writing many of the scripts. One role that stood out in Clark's mind was a program that aired during World War II, which was sponsored by the Catholic Church. It featured programs about men in the service. He was asked to portray Lieutenant O'Shea, who served in the Navy and whose ship was sunk with him on board. Prior to the voyage, Lieutenant O'Shea had written a letter to his son, which was published in newspapers across the country. Lawn Clark was very emotional while he read the letter for the broadcast. The director approached him later, thanking him for saving the show. Ironically, this was the same director who had told the young Lawn Clark that radio can do without you. In 1956, Clark would return to the stage replacing Jason Robards in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. He would continue to work on stage and in television until the 1960s. He remained active on the radio in episodes of CBS Mystery Theater in the 1970s. Clark was married to Michelle Trudeau-Clark and they had two sons, Lawn Jr. and Stephen, all who would survive him. Clark would pass away October 2nd, 1998 in Manhattan, New York. He was 86. For Old Time Radio Researchers, I'm your announcer, Patrick Andre. Thank you for listening.