Child actor Kevin Clark — best known for his role as drummer Freddy “Spazzy McGee” Jones in the 2003 film, School of Rock — has died at age 32 after being fatally struck by a motorist while riding a bicycle in Chicago, Illinois.
Police said Clark was riding a bike early on Wednesday — around 1:20 a.m. — when he was fatally struck by a Hyundai Sonata at a notoriously dangerous intersection on the Northwest Side, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Chicago Fire Department and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said paramedics found Clark on Logan Boulevard and took him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m.
The driver of the Hyundai Sonata is a 20-year-old woman, who was issued several citations.
Clark’s School of Rock co-star Jack Black took to Instagram on Wednesday to express his dismay over the news. “Devastating news. Kevin is gone. Way too soon. Beautiful soul. So many great memories. Heartbroken. Sending love to his family and the whole School of Rock community,” Black wrote.
School of Rock was Clark’s only film credit. The child star previously told TMZ he only got the movie role because he actually knew how to play the drums.
“He loved music, He’s just a raw talent. He’s got a heart of gold,” his mother Allison Clark told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He wasn’t an actor, wasn’t thinking about being an actor.”
Years later, Clark stuck with music, going on to create bands, write songs, and teach children. Clark had also recently stared a new band that performed live for the first time over the past weekend on the North Shore.
Allison Clark added her son told his bandmates “just yesterday” that “this is finally the life I want to live. And we’re going to make it. You’re my musical family — my family — and we’re all going to make it.”
Another of Clark’s School of Rock co-stars, Rivkah Reyes — who played the bassist, Katie — also took to social media on Wednesday, tweeting, “love you forever, spaz. i will never forget your hugs and your laugh and the sheer joy on your face when we’d run into each other in chicago. thank you for always showing up for me with that ‘big brother I never had’ energy.”
love you forever, spaz. i will never forget your hugs and your laugh and the sheer joy on your face when we’d run into each other in chicago. thank you for always showing up for me with that “big brother I never had” energy. pic.twitter.com/aIjYUBn1iS
— rivkah reyes (@rivkahreyes) May 26, 2021
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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