James Clancy

An Era of Excellence

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, 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 theatre 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.

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

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Gallery

A sampling of photos from SJSU-Clancy productions are displayed below.