More on James Clancy...
Born May 1, 1912 in Oakland, California, Clancy began his theatrical career by traveling
with the stock companies at age 16. He started college in 1930, enrolling in the newly
formed Speech and Drama Department. Jim Clancy was soon touted in the Campus Newspaper
as “the best student ever turned out by the Drama Department.” Clancy received his
Bachelor’s degree in 1935 and was made a member of the faculty one year later. While
teaching at SJSU he simultaneously attended graduate school and received his Masters
Degree from Stanford University. His successful academic career was interrupted by
WWII during which he became a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps Intelligence.
Returning from the European campaign in 1946, he resumed one of the most intense and productive academic careers seen at SJSU, or any university. For several years he was the editor of the Educational Theatre Journal and received a prestigious Ford Foundation in 1959 for outstanding work in theatre.
In 1949 he married Stella Pinoris (above with Jim), a drama student who had received her degree the previous year. The new Clancy family quickly grew with the birth of three children (Patrick, Steven, and Elena). Following his tenure at San Jose State, Dr. Clancy held positions at University of Iowa, Stanford University, Dartmouth (in connection with the opening of the Hopkins Center for the Arts) and Cornell. While at both Dartmouth and Cornell, he started two Equity summer theater companies, which are still operating today. He retired in 1977, but continued to teach and direct at universities in Kansas City and Austin, Texas. He returned to California where he occasionally taught and directed at Santa Clara University, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis and SJSU. Jim Clancy's theatrical legacy at SJSU includes 32 roles as an actor and an astonishing 65 productions as a director. (A sampling of photos from SJSU Clancy productions are displayed above.)
James Clancy, Director
|
1934 Three to Get Ready |
The Assassin |
1953 Eurydice |
|
1935 All For Love |
Romersholm |
The Sheep Well |
|
1936 Olympia |
Alcestis |
1954 Volpone |
|
The Beaux Stratagem |
1948 Medea |
Oedipus Rex |
|
Elizabeth the Queen |
The Changeling |
Oedipus at Colonus |
|
Weep Jesus |
The Wanhope Building |
Antigone |
|
1939 Beggar on Horseback |
The Circle |
School for Wives |
|
Trouble in My Prayer |
King Lear |
1955 He Who Gets Slapped |
|
Twelfth Night |
1949 Agamemnon |
Madwoman of Chaillot |
|
1940 Once in a Lifetime |
Love for Love |
1956 Each in His Own Way |
|
Henry IV |
Rose of the Rancho |
Blood Wedding |
|
Heartbreak House |
The Sea Gull |
The Man of Ashes |
|
Masses and the Man |
1950 The Heiress |
The Skin of Our Teeth |
|
Hell Bent Fer Heaven |
1951 Antigone |
Shadow and Substance |
|
Much Ado About Nothing |
The Flies |
1957 Green Grow the Lilacs |
|
1941 The Father |
The Three Sisters |
Macbeth |
|
Holiday |
Phedre |
The World is Round |
|
The Torchbearers |
Jenny Kissed Me |
1958 The Caucasian Chalk Circle |
|
The Rivals |
Curious Savage |
The Italian Straw Hat |
|
1946 Tonight We Improvise |
Othello |
The Misanthrope |
|
Duchess of Malfi |
1952 Nights of Wrath |
1953 Eurydice |
|
1947 Doctor in Spite of Himself |
Trickery of Scapin |
The Sheep Well |
James Clancy, Actor
|
1930 Judas Iscariot |
Death Takes a Holiday |
1941 Hamlet |
|
Courage |
1935 Hay Fever |
1946 The Glass Menagerie |
|
He Who Gets Slapped |
Chimera |
1947 The Guardsman |
|
1931 Queen's Husband |
1936 The Guardsman |
1948 Androcles and the Lion |
|
Houseparty |
There's Always Juliet |
Romantic Young lady |
|
1932 Romeo and Juliet |
1937 Peer Gynt |
King Lear |
|
1933 Lilliom |
1938 Squaring the Circle |
1950 The Glass Menagerie |
|
1934 Hedda Gabbler |
Arms and the Man |
1951 Accidentally Yours |
|
Three to Get Ready |
Weep Jesus |
1952 Trickery of Scapin |
|
School for Scandal |
1939 Night Must Fall |
1955 Hamlet |
|
Hamlet |
Our Town |
|
