‘Days of Our Lives’ star John Clarke dead at 88 following bout of pneumonia

Soap opera star John “Jack” Clarke has died at 88.

A representative for Clarke, who spent 39 years playing Mickey Horton on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” confirmed to Deadline Monday that the actor had died of complications from pneumonia on Oct. 16.

According to the outlet, the South Bend, Ind. native’s health was deteriorating over the last several years. He suffered a stroke in 2007.

In addition to his role on the daytime series, Clarke had a lengthy theater career at Chicago’s Tenthouse Theater, where he appeared in more than 75 productions as resident leading man — a role he also held for a season at the Palm Springs Playhouse.

Clarke appeared in multiple episodes of “The New Breed,” “Death Valley Days,” and made his film debut in 1961’s “Operation Bottleneck.” His 1961 film roles also included that of a prison guard in “Judgement at Nuremberg.”

In January 2004, he retired as Mickey Horton, for which he previously earned an Outstanding Actor nomination at the Daytime Emmys. A few months after moving on from the role, Clarke won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys.