From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Brian Patrick Clarke born August 1 1952 is an American actor Clarke was born in Gettysburg Pennsylvania and graduated from Yale University in 1974 Following his time at Yale Clarke has appeared in numerous films and television shows over the last 30 years including the popular comedydrama series Eight is Enough as Merl The Pearl General Hospital and The Bold and The Beautiful He has also run several marathons including a sub threehour marathon in Los Angeles in the late 80s Clarke is married to artistic gymnast Kathy Johnson and currently resides in Orlando Florida Clarke was a threetime AllIvy league football player at Yale and held the schools records for most field goals in a game season and career when he graduated He tried out for the Dallas Cowboys and the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League before pursuing an acting career Description above from the Wikipedia article Brian Patrick Clarke licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia