Ernie Magnotta interviews Jeff East

I f you’re a fan of movies and television from the 1970s and 80s, you definitely know Jeff East. The gifted actor played Huckleberry Finn in both 1973’s Tom Sawyer and 1974’s Huckleberry Finn. He was also featured in several 70s made-for-TV movies like The Ghost of Cypress Swamp (1977) and Wes Craven’s Stranger in Our House aka Summer of Fear (1978). During the 1980s, Jeff had prominent roles in memorable films such as Klondike Fever (1980), Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing (1981), Up the Creek (1984) and Stan Winston’s Pumpkinhead (1988).

However, he will probably always be remembered first and foremost for his wonderful portrayal of teenage Clark Kent in Richard Donner’s 1978 masterpiece Superman: The Movie. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Jeff, who now lives in France, was nice enough to speak to me about his adventures as Smallville’s most famous resident.

How did you get involved with Superman?

I got a call from my agent. Casting director Lynn Stalmaster had requested that I come in and meet with Richard Donner because Richard had seen a film of mine that was just released called The Hazing. The editor of The Hazing, Carol Littleton, was being interviewed by Donner about her editing abilities and that’s how he saw the footage of me. He immediately thought of me for the role of young Clark Kent because of my athleticism. I was a jock and a track runner. Plus, I was eighteen-years-old; the perfect age for the part.

So Donner basically gave me the role. I didn’t even have to audition. They just gave me the script and told me to read it. I did and then I went back to Richard and said, “Okay. I like it, but I’m not putting on a cape. He just laughed and said, “You don’t have to wear a cape. You’re the real guy.” I said, “Oh, I just play Clark Kent, huh?” And Richard said, “Yeah, but you have super powers.”

So that’s basically what happened. And the next day I flew to London with Richard and worked there for a year. Well, it wasn’t a whole year, but close to it. We shot from March to October in 1977. And then we spent one month in Canada and two weeks in New York. It was great because Superman was my favourite comic book.