Hope Clarke

Hope Clarke was an American dancer, actress, vocalist and choreographer who also directed opera. Born in Washington, D.C., she trained in dance and in 1959 won a place in a touring company of West Side Story. She became a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and danced with the Katherine Dunham Company, and appeared in Broadway musicals including Hallelujah, Baby!, Purlie and Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. Her screen roles included appearing opposite Sidney Poitier in A Piece of the Action (1977), playing Jean-Michel Basquiat's mother in Basquiat (1996) and taking a part in the miniseries King (1978). From 1986 she collaborated with George C. Wolfe, choreographing Jelly's Last Jam and Caroline, or Change. Jelly's Last Jam brought a Tony nomination, and Caroline, or Change a Lucille Lortel Award. In 1995 she directed Porgy and Bess for Houston Grand Opera, the first Black artist to direct a major American opera production.