Clint Kimbrough

Louis Clinton Kimbrough (March 8, 1933 – April 9, 1996) was an American actor born in Allen, Oklahoma.

Louis Kimbrough was born to Fred and Lucinda (Yoakum) Kimbrough in Oklahoma City. After his birth, his family moved to Allen Oklahoma where Clint, nicknamed “Scooter Bill”, attended and graduated from Allen High School (AHS) with the class of 1951.

By the age of 15, it was clear that Louis Kimbrough had theatrical ability. As the President of Allen’s Teen Town, in 1948 he helped stage the “Gay Nineties Ball”. As a junior at AHS, Kimbrough wrote, produced and directed the 1950 senior play, a full-length production entitled “Broadway”. After graduation from AHS, Clint enrolled for a year at Oklahoma University.

He then completed a two-year stint in the U.S. Signal Corps, stationed in Korea, before the 20-year-old “Lewis Clinton Kimbrough” made his professional stage debut in Brandon Thomas’ play “Charley’s Aunt” in 1953.

He subsequently enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and shortly thereafter, with the help of fellow Oklahoman Lonny Chapman, secured a spot in Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio, an incubator for many of the most promising talents of the era. Clint quickly gained a reputation for his ability to understand the character he was asked to play. The Actor’s Studio work resulted in his first film work in “The Strange One” which used completely a cast and crew of Actor’s Studio personnel. An appearance in “A Face in the Crowd” followed and produced a working relationship with director Elia Kazan that would span 10 years.

The late 1950s also brought numerous appearances on live television productions at a time when there were only three major networks. Literally millions of viewers tuned into weekly shows such as “Westinghouse Studio One”, “G.E. Theater” and “U.S. Steel Hour”. A feature role in Hal B. Wallis’ 1958 “Hot Spell” preceded performances in a highly acclaimed 11-month run on Broadway of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” as well as an NBC TV production of the same, both directed by Jose Quintero. The 1960s produced some of Clint’s most distinguished work in the theater and on Broadway performing the works of Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. Clint moved from New York to Hollywood in the late 1960s and soon developed an association with Roger Corman, “King of the B Movies” with roles in several notable 1970s film productions such as “Von Richtohfen and Brown”, “Bloody Mama”, “Crazy Mama” and the “Nurse” movies. Kimbrough died in Ada, Oklahoma, of pneumonia.

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