Petula Clark Net Worth

What is Petula Clark's Net Worth?

Petula Clark is a British singer, songwriter, composer, and actress who has a net worth of $30 million. In a career begun as a child entertainer and spanning over eight decades, she recorded such hit songs as "Sailor," "Romeo," "Chariot," "Downtown," "My Love," and "Don't Sleep in the Subway." As an actress, Clark appeared in such films as "I Know Where I'm Going!," "Here Come the Huggetts," "Made in Heaven," and "Finian's Rainbow," and in such stage musicals as "The Sound of Music,""Sunset Boulevard," and "Mary Poppins."

Early Life

Petula Clark was born Sally Clark on November 15, 1932, in Ewell, England to Doris and Leslie, both of whom were nurses at Long Grove Hospital in Epsom. With Welsh ancestry on her mother's side, Clark was raised in Abercanaid, Wales.

Career Beginnings as a Child Entertainer

Clark began her entertainment career at the age of seven. During her childhood, she appeared on radio, film, and television, as well as in print. While attending a BBC broadcast with her father in 1942, she volunteered to perform the song "Mighty Lak' a Rose" for the theater audience during a delay caused by an air raid. The response from the audience was so positive that Clark performed the song again for the broadcast, inaugurating a series of hundreds of radio appearances to entertain the troops during World War II. Beyond the radio, Clark performed for major political figures, including George VI and Winston Churchill, and toured the UK with fellow child entertainer Julie Andrews.

Film Career

Noticed by film director Maurice Elvey during a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1944, Clark was cast by Elvey as a war orphan in his 1944 film "Medal for the General." She went on to appear in many more films over the subsequent years, including Elvey's "Strawberry Roan," the thriller "Murder in Reverse?," Powell and Pressburger's romantic drama "I Know Where I'm Going!," and Wesley Ruggles's Technicolor musical "London Town." In 1948, Clark appeared in the comedies "Easy Money," "Vice Versa," and "Here Come the Huggetts." The year after that, she was in the sequels "Vote for Huggett" and "The Huggetts Abroad," as well as the comedy "Don't Ever Leave Me" and the drama "The Romantic Age."

Clark landed bigger roles more steadily in the 1950s, beginning with her role in "Dance Hall" at the onset of the decade. After that, she starred in "White Corridors," "Madame Louise," "The Card," "Made in Heaven," and "The Runaway Bus." In 1954, Clark starred in "The Gray Dog" and "The Happiness of Three Women," and in 1955 she starred in "Track the Man Down." Clark had a supporting part in her final film of the decade, the 1957 crime drama "That Woman Opposite." She didn't appear in many films after that, although she gave a Golden Globe-nominated performance in Francis Ford Coppola's 1968 adaptation of the musical "Finian's Rainbow." Her later film credits included "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), "Drôles de zèbres" (1977), and "Never Never Land" (1980).

Music Career

Clark began recording music in the late 1940s at the newly created Polygon Records, which was co-founded by her father. In the 1950s, she had a series of hits in the UK with such songs as "The Little Shoemaker," "Suddenly There's a Valley," and "With All My Heart." Particularly successful was "The Little Shoemaker," which charted internationally. After Polygon was sold to Nixa Records in 1955, Clark became signed to the merged company Pye Nixa Records. She later signed with Vogue Records in France. Clark reached the peak of her fame in the 1960s, when she began recording in such languages as French, German, and Italian. She continued to be highly popular in the UK, scoring the number-one hit song "Sailor" and the top-ten hits "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea." After that, Clark had big hits in France with "Ya Ya Twist" and "Chariot." In 1963, she composed her first film score, for the French film "À Couteaux Tirés"; she went on to compose scores for several other French films after that.

In 1964, Clark had her biggest hit yet with the song "Downtown," which was written and produced by Tony Hatch. Released in four different languages, the song charted around the world, and in early 1965 it became Clark's first number-one single in the US. This kicked off a series of hit songs for the artist in the US, including "I Know a Place," the number-one "My Love," "A Sign of the Times," and "Don't Sleep in the Subway." Clark received Grammy Awards for both "Downtown" and "I Know a Place." During the late 1960s, she toured throughout the US, performed at supper clubs, and helped foster new musical talent. Clark continued her commercial success in the early 1970s with such hit songs as "Melody Man," "The Song of My Life," and "I Don't Know How to Love Him"; she also continued touring. Clark has remained a consistent performer ever since, with various concert tours and albums well into the 21st century.

Singer Petula Clark Photographed in PARIS (Photo by Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images)

Television Career

Clark began her television career with an appearance on the BBC variety show "Cabaret Cartoons" in the 1940s. This led to her becoming the host of her own series. During the height of her fame in the 1960s, Clark made appearances on several variety shows in the US, including "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Hullabaloo," and "Shindig!" Notably, she also hosted an acclaimed, Emmy-nominated 1968 NBC special in which she sang an antiwar duet with Harry Belafonte. In the UK, Clark starred on the BBC variety program "This is Petula Clark." The next decade, she hosted two specials in the US as well as the musical variety series "The Sound of Petula" in the UK. Clark made her final television acting appearance in the 1981 French miniseries "Sans Famille." However, she has participated in several programs since then, including the BBC Wales family history series "Coming Home" in 2005.

Stage Career

Clark's first major role on stage was in a 1954 production of "The Constant Nymph." Because she mostly focused on music, film, and television after that, she didn't have another significant stage role until 1981, when she starred as Maria von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" on the West End. Declared "the best Maria ever" by the real Maria von Trapp, Clark earned a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her work. She went on to star in a production of "Candida" in 1983. At the end of the decade, Clark starred in and composed the music for the musical "Someone Like You," which toured the UK before opening on the West End in 1990. A few years later, she made her Broadway debut in the musical "Blood Brothers," with which she subsequently toured. Clark next starred in both the British and American touring productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard," from 1995 to 2000. In the latter year, she performed a one-woman play at Théâtre Saint-Denis in Montreal. Following a long break from the stage, Clark returned in 2019 to appear in the West End revival of "Mary Poppins."

Personal Life

In 1947, Clark met fellow recording artist Joe Henderson. They collaborated on many songs and became romantically linked for several years. Despite pressure to get married, Henderson ended the relationship over fears that he would become overshadowed by Clark. The two continued as friends and collaborators. Clark went on to date publicist Claude Wolff, whom she met at Vogue Records in France. They married in 1961, and had two daughters and a son. The couple separated around 2013, and Wolff passed away in 2024. Since the 1960s, Clark has resided in Geneva, Switzerland. She also owns a holiday chalet in the French Alps.

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