Petula Clark was a British former child actress and teen singer when she married and moved to Paris where she put out pop favorites unknown outside of Europe. In 1964 she recorded a catchy tune called "Downtown" which--to her surprise--took off and became the number one song in America. Clark won a Grammy Award, and another in 1965 for "I Know A Place" and reigned in the 1960s as one of the queens of pop in America, although she was already well into her 30s and a mother of three.
Clark first performed on radio around 1939, when she was eight. By 1944, Clark was making movies, beginning with "A Medal for the General." In these 40s movies, she usually played the sobbing, sweet, adorable lassie awaiting the return of her beloved daddy from the war. She had a slightly better chance in "Vice Versa," a 1948 comedy written by Peter Ustinov about a stockbroker and his schoolboy son who switch ages upon touching a magic stone. Clark was the confused girl in schoolboy Anthony Newley's life. In 1952, she gave Alec Guinness his first screen kiss in "The Promoter" (distributed in Britain as "The Card"). Clark's film career petered out in the 50s, although it helped her recording career. After the success of "Downtown" and other songs, she returned to films in the late 60s, playing with Fred Astaire in "Finian's Rainbow" (1968), from the Broadway show, and opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1969 remake of the school tale "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." After these two films, her "Hollywood career" ended, but Clark returned to films in 1981 as the lead in "Never Never Land," a British effort about how intergenerational friendships can keep loneliness at bay.
Thanks to her hit songs and albums, Clark was frequently on American TV during the 60s, and hosted her own show on the BBC in 1968. She made her first American TV appearance on "Shindig" in 1965, and there was, of course, the inevitable "Ed Sullivan Show" appearance that same year. By 1968, Clark was sufficiently mainstream for NBC to give her her own TV special. It was on this 1968 special that Clark inadvertently entered TV folklore by, gently and in a manner of friendly affection, touching her guest star Harry Belafonte on the arm. Much of America went into shock--this blonde woman touching a Negro! The sponsor was furious. And to this day, there are those who swear that they saw Clark kiss Belafonte on the air--an occurrence that never happened. Despite the brouhaha, Clark earned another special for NBC, "Portrait of Petula" (1969), and hosted "Petula" for ABC in 1970. She continued to make occasional appearances on American TV in the 70s, but, for the most part, her spotlight had dimmed.
A resident of Geneva with her husband and family since 1968, Clark has continued to perform and record in Europe. In 1993, she made her Broadway debut in "Blood Brothers" opposite David Cassidy, an idol from the era just after Clark's fanfare. The production also toured and played Los Angeles. She later appeared on the London stage as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of "Sunset Boulevard" and in her own one-person show "Petula Clark: This Is My Song".