Jack Larson
Encyclopedia
- For the textile designer, see Jack Lenor LarsenJack Lenor LarsenJack Lenor Larsen is a textile designer, author and collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship in all its forms.-Early life and education:...
Jack Edward Larson (born February 8, 1928) is an American actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character who appears mainly in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Olsen is a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Superman and Perry White...
on the TV series Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
.
Biography
Larson was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, is of Swedish and Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
descent, and reared in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. He graduated from Montebello High School
Montebello High School
Montebello High School is a secondary school of the Montebello Unified School District, located in Montebello, CA.Montebello High School has an enrollment of approximately 3400 students and a staff of 121 teachers...
in 1945 at the age of seventeen, and has at times claimed 1933 as his birth year.
Larson found the role of the cub reporter to be a handicap because of being typecast. He has not done much acting since then, mostly behind-the-scenes work such as writing and production. Larson has always been willing to sit for interviews about the Superman series and his connection to it, and in recent years has had a number of cameos that pay subtle tribute to his character and the series including a 1991 episode of the TV series Superboy
Superboy (TV series)
Superboy is a half-hour live-action television series based on the fictional DC Comics comic book character Kal-El's early years as Superboy. The show ran from 1988–1992 in syndication...
alongside Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...
, who had played Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
in Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action American television series based on the Superman comic books...
as an aged Jimmy Olsen in the episode "Brutal Youth", first telecast on October 20, 1996. Larson had a cameo in a late-1990s American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
card commercial with Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
and an animated Superman, directed by David Kellogg
David Kellogg
David Kellogg is an American film, commercial, and music video director.Kellogg has gained prominence for dozens of television spots that he has created for clients such as Pepsi, Fuji, AT&T, Sprite, Coke, Nike, Apple, IBM, MCI, United Airlines, and Mercedes-Benz...
. He and his co-star Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...
provided commentary on several Adventures of Superman episodes for the January 2006 DVD release of the 1953 season, and in 2006, he appears in Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...
's film Superman Returns
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
in a cameo role as "Bo the Bartender"; it was rumored prior to the film's release that his role would actually be Suicide Slum
Suicide Slum
Suicide Slum is a notorious fictional slum in publications from DC Comics. The area was first introduced in the "The Newsboy Legion" feature as a slum in New York City. It was later placed in Superman's city, Metropolis, when the Newsboy Legion was reintroduced...
resident and Superman fan, Bibbo Bibbowski
Bibbo Bibbowski
Bo "Bibbo" Bibbowski is a supporting character in Superman comics. He first appeared in Adventures of Superman #428 .-Fictional character biography:...
, a supporting character from the modern Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
comics. In one of Larson's Superman Returns scenes, where characters celebrate Superman's rescue of a plane, his character is shown wearing a bow tie in the style of Jimmy Olsen and hugging the film's incarnation of Jimmy Olsen played by Sam Huntington
Sam Huntington
Sam Huntington is an American actor, best known for his role as Mimi-Siku in the 1990s film "Jungle 2 Jungle" and as Jimmy Olsen in "Superman Returns". He now stars in the TV series Being Human.- Personal life :...
.
Larson and Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...
appeared together at the premiere of Superman Returns. They typically come across as good friends, much like the characters they played in the 1950s series, in which Jimmy and Lois often investigated stories together.
Larson most recently appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
, which aired on the NBC network on January 6, 2010, at 9:00 pm EST. In this episode, entitled "Quickie", Larson portrayed 'Dewey Butler', grandfather to a young suspect allegedly having unprotected sexual relations with women. In the episode's final scene, Larson's character ingests an overdose of sleeping pills, disinherits his grandson and sets up a trust fund to take care of the women whom the grandson may have infected with HIV/AIDs.
Among his other work, Larson wrote the libretto to the opera Lord Byron
Lord Byron (Thomson)
Lord Byron is an opera in three acts by Virgil Thomson to an original English libretto by Jack Larson, inspired by the historical character Lord Byron. This was Thomson's third and final opera. He wrote the opera on commission from the Ford Foundation for the Metropolitan Opera , but the Met...
to music by Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
. He wrote the verse play Cherry, Larry, Sandy, Doris, Jean, Paul in the mid 1960s.
Personal life
Larson was the life partnerLife partner
A life partner is a romantic or otherwise very close friend for life. The partners can be of the same or opposite sexes, married or unmarried, and monogamous or polyamorous....
of director James Bridges
James Bridges
James Bridges was an American screenwriter and film director.Bridges was born in Paris, Arkansas. He got his start as a writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of his episodes, "An Unlocked Window", earned him a 1966 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV...
from 1958 until Bridges' death on June 6, 1993. Prior to that, he was the companion of actor Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
.
Larson owns and resides in the Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
-designed George Sturges House
George Sturges House
The George Sturges House is a single-family house, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built for George D. Sturges in the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Designed and built in 1939, the one-story residence is fairly small, , but features a 21-foot...
in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, California.
Film
- 1948 Fighter SquadronFighter SquadronFighter Squadron is a 1948 Technicolor war film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Edmond O'Brien as a maverick World War II fighter pilot.-Plot:...
- 1949 Flame of Youth
- 1950 Redwood Forest Trail
- 1950 A Wonderful Life (short)
- 1950 Trial Without Jury
- 1951 StarliftStarliftStarlift is an American musical film released by Warner Brothers in 1951, starring Janice Rule, Dick Wesson, Ron Hagerthy and Ruth Roman. The film was directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by Karl Lamb and John D. Klorer...
- 1951 On the Loose
- 1951 Fighting Coast Guard
- 1952 Flat Top
- 1952 Battle Zone
- 1952 Belles on Their ToesBelles on Their ToesBelles on Their Toes is a 1950 book written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. This book was the follow-up to the 1948 book Cheaper by the Dozen which covered the period before Frank Gilbreth Sr died. Belles on Their Toes was written about the family after the death of...
- 1952 Kid Monk BaroniKid Monk BaroniKid Monk Baroni is a 1952 American film directed by Harold D. Schuster.The film is also known as Young Paul Baroni in the United Kingdom.- Plot summary :From the NY Times:...
- 1953 Man CrazyMan CrazyMan Crazy is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates. It was first published as a full novel in 1997 .-Plot summary:Man Crazy follows the early life of Ingrid Boone, from early childhood to adulthood...
- 1953 Three Sailors and a GirlThree Sailors and a GirlThree Sailors and a Girl is a 1953 musical film made by Warner Bros.. It was directed by Roy Del Ruth, and written by Devery Freeman and Roland Kibbee, based on the George S. Kaufman play The Butter and Egg Man...
- 1953 Star of Texas
- 1954 About Mrs. LeslieAbout Mrs. LeslieAbout Mrs. Leslie is a drama film directed by Daniel Mann and starring Shirley Booth and Robert Ryan. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 1955.-Storyline:Mrs...
- 1954 Stamp Day for SupermanStamp Day for SupermanStamp Day for Superman is a 1954 black-and-white short film starring George Reeves as Superman and Noel Neill as Lois Lane. It was produced by Superman Inc. for the United States Department of the Treasury to promote the purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds...
(short) - 1957 Johnny Trouble
- 2006 Superman ReturnsSuperman ReturnsSuperman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
- 2009 Bob's New Suit
Television
- 1952 Adventures of SupermanAdventures of Superman (TV series)Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
(1952-1958) - 1955 Navy LogNavy LogNavy Log is an American anthology series that initially aired on CBS. The series featured over 70 regular guests and told about the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955. The following year, it was moved to ABC, where it...
(1955-1957) - 1960 The Millionaire
- 1965 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...
- 1991 The Adventures of SuperboyThe Adventures of SuperboyThe Adventures of Superboy was a proposed TV series that was put into production in 1961. It was meant to capitalize on the success of Adventures of Superman, which was cancelled years earlier. A revival was planned, but abandoned following the death of George Reeves, but only a pilot episode,...
- 1996 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of SupermanLois & Clark: The New Adventures of SupermanLois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action American television series based on the Superman comic books...
- 2010 Law & Order: Special Victims UnitLaw & Order: Special Victims UnitLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...