Anyone know whatever happened to Clem Harvey? Is he still alive? If deceased, since when? His IMDb credits stop in the early 1960's so obviously he left acting at that time. Of the other Ocean's 11, all have now passed on, over the years, with the exceptions of Joey Bishop (who is often mentioned as the "survivor" of the group) and Henry Silva (a physical fitness enthusiast who did a cameo in the remake). Only one I'm not sure about one way or the other is Clem Harvey..?
Anthony
5 years+ since your post, and still not a clue as to whatever became of Clem.
Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.
Unfortunately, Joey left us last year.
shareJoey Bishop died in 2007.
shareAnd it seems now there's no one left to ask about ole Clem.
I posted on his IMDB page too, evidently no one who knew him or his family ever wandered in there.
Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.
...and that's why the movies are so magical.
Clem Harvey disappeared without a trace. But he lives on forever in "Ocean's Eleven 1960." You can see him anytime.
It seems strange that there are no known appearances of Clem Harvey between Johnny Guitar (where his speaking voice is dubbed by someone else) and Ocean's Eleven. Perhaps he had other small roles in those years but used another name. If his full name was, for instance, Clem Harvey Miller, he might have been known as Harv Miller.
shareAnd it seems now there's no one left to ask about ole Clem.
Except Angie Dickenson!
Google search for Clem Harvey:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Clem+Harvey&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
This is a Firefox search, BTW. Google is your friend. ;-)
Google is completely useless, there's more information on this board than all the google hits, why even bother to post it? Anyone can punch his name in a search engine, if there was anything there, no one would be asking here.
Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.
I'm an amateur genealogist, so I thought I'd give it a try. His imdb biography is pitifully empty. No idea where/when he was born, so we'll make some assumptions. The first assumption is that Clem Harvey is his real name. The second is that he was roughly the same age as the other principal actors. The oldest was Richard Conte (born 1910) and the youngest was Norman Fell (born 1928), so to be on the safe side, I expanded that range from 1905 to 1935.
Between the 1930 and 1940 US Census listings, there were only ten people named "Clem Harvey" born in that time frame. It also pulled up Clement, Clemon, Clemmie, and Clementine. Of the ten, seven were either black or female or both. That leaves just three possibilities:
One was born in 1906 in Mississippi, one in 1915 in New Jersey and the last was born in 1921 in Ohio.
The 1906 Mississippi Clem Harvey would have been 54 years old in Ocean's Eleven, which is just too old so I ruled him out.
The 1915 New Jersey Clem Harvey appears to have lived in New Jersey throughout his entire life and died there in 1975, so it's probably not him.
The 1921 Ohio Clem Harvey (Clement Elwood Harvey in full) is the only logical person left. He served in WWII as a corporal in the US Army, got married in Ohio in 1947, and died in Florida in 1994. No other information on him in between. One scenario is that he left Ohio and tried to make it as an actor, didn't succeed, and moved on with his life. A picture of his gravestone is here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=harvey&GSfn=clem&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1990&GSdyrel=after&GSob=n&GRid=763377&df=all&;
There's limitations to this approach. Clem could just be a nickname or a middle name, so he won't turn up in a search. If he was listed in the Census as "C Harvey" instead of "Clem Harvey", I can't find him. It's also possible that Harvey is his legal middle name but he dropped his true last name for professional reasons, in which case I'll never find him. He might also have grown up in Canada and moved to the US, so he won't show up in the US Census. Or maybe he managed to elude the Census altogether for 1930 and 1940.
Impressive detective work. I wonder if there aren't any living relatives who might know?
He was in six films (that we know of), the film studios usually keep records or an archive, likely these would confirm or not that it's the same Clem.
Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.
If Clem Harvey the actor and the 1921 Clem Harvey from Ohio are the same guy, then he very likely does have living relatives. According to the 1930 Census, he had four brothers and sisters and all but one were younger, so there's a slim chance that one of them are still alive. There's an even better chance that they have children that are alive today (their children likely would have been born in the 1950s) who would know.
Unfortunately, US Census records stop at 1940 and information on living persons is usually masked for privacy reasons, so tracking them down would be difficult.
Thanks, cowgoesmoo. I agree with cobram, impressive work. The Clem Harvey from Ohio is likely the same as Clem Harvey the actor, even matching the "retired in his later years to Florida" rumor. Though hard to be 100% certain, as you say he could have changed his name from something else or originally been from another country.
Well, it took 17 years, but here's your answer...
Clem Harvey was the stage name for Harold Jerry “Clem” Swarts. Born in 1919, he was a rodeo rider from Tulsa, Oklahoma prior to moving to Los Angeles. According to genealogy records, he married Lenice Adele Kittleson in 1956 in Tulsa and had one child, Marlon, in 1959. It appears he did mainly background work in the 1950s, getting his first named credit with "Ocean's 11" in 1960. IMDB only lists "Johnny Guitar" among his background credits, but a friend of his wife made a post on FindAGrave claiming that Clem appeared in "High Noon" in 1952. So presumably he did other background work that was uncredited prior to "Ocean's 11."
Clem likely returned to Tulsa shortly after his final credit in "State Fair" in 1962. A 1965 obituary of his father, H.J. Swarts, lists Clem as living in Oklahoma. Furthermore, public records for Clem, his wife and son show Oklahoma addresses all the way up to present day.
Clem died in 1988 in Tulsa. His wife died in 2016.
It is quite strange that there is so little record of his history beyond "State Fair." Since Clem acted in big movies alongside legendary performers like Sinatra and Brando, you would think there would be some record of his leaving the business or at least some honor of him online. Presumably, Clem wasn't satisfied with doing bit parts or background work, and the pressures of supporting a family brought him back to Tulsa for regular work.
Here are some of the sources documenting the above:
Clem's Burial and Spouse Info: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181943279/harold-jerry-swarts
1991 reference to a Tulsa rodeo in honor of Clem and Slim Pickens, where it mentions Clem's legal surname: https://tulsaworld.com/archive/ben-johnson-rodeo-makes-debut-april-18/article_43d0ed61-601f-5a31-9af5-81287d9784fc.html
1949 newspaper clipping mentioning Clem as a rodeo contestant: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48196060/farm-and-home/