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 comedy-drama 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 three-hour marathon in Los Angeles in the late 80's. Clarke is married to artistic gymnast Kathy Johnson and currently resides in Orlando, Florida. Clarke was a three-time All-Ivy league football player at Yale, and held the school's 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 CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.