Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Jr. is the character portrayed by Chevy Chase in the National Lampoon Vacation movie series. Husband to Ellen Priscilla Ruth Smith Griswold and father to Audrey Griswold and Rusty Griswold, Clark is a character designed to be evocative of an intensely proud, loyal, and lovable middle class family man who often attempts to bring his family together during vacations which always causes numerous comedic dilemmas and incidents. Clark is extremely clumsy and accident prone, and seems to be susceptible to attractive women, despite being devoted to his wife, Ellen. He loves his family and would do anything he could do to make them happy, although, at times, they seem to be indifferent. Clark's good-natured attempts to provide a good time for his family almost always backfire and end up causing disastrous results. Clark seems to remain confident and extremely optimistic, despite all his misfortune, although, when it becomes certain that things are not going right, he tends to snap and go on insane tirades, frightening and disturbing those around him. The hapless, bumbling ways in which he executes his plans are inevitably concluded by a moment of good fortune that saves the family from certain disaster. Chevy Chase (born Cornelius Crane Chase on October 8, 1943) is an Emmy Award-winning American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. ... January 1973 cover of National Lampoon National Lampoon was an American humor magazine that began in 1970 as an offshoot of the Harvard Lampoon. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ...

Clark works for a chemical company that produces food colorings and additives (but not preservatives). He is intensely proud of his German heritage. Food coloring spreading on a soap bubble. ... Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or improve its taste and appearance. ... A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, etc. ...

He has appeared in the following:

1. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
2. National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
4. Vegas Vacation (1997)