Larry Hovis
Encyclopedia
Larry Hovis was an American
singer and actor
best known for playing a fictional
prisoner of war
on the 1960s television sitcom Hogan's Heroes
.
, and moved to Houston, Texas
, as a small child. As a youth, he was a singer, appearing on Arthur Godfrey
's Talent Scouts. Hovis attended the University of Houston
. During the mid 1950s, Hovis sang in nightclubs. He wrote songs and signed with Capitol Records
and released one album
.
He also began appearing in local theater productions
. After some success, he moved to New York City
in 1959 and appeared in Broadway
revue
s such as From A to Z
that showcased his singing and comedy
talents.
in 1963 where he performed
stand-up comedy
and tried to break into television
. In 1964, he was discovered by Andy Griffith
's manager and was hired to appear on the hit TV series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
where he played "Pvt. Larry Gotschalk". He also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show
as Gilley Walker, the owner of a car that had several chronic noises that Goober
attempted to repair eventually disassembling and reassembling in the Mayberry Courthouse.
In 1965, Hovis was cast
as "Sgt. Andrew Carter" in the television show Hogan's Heroes
. Hovis' character was part of a group of five Western Allied
POWs; each character had a specialized task or talent (Sgt. Carter was the ordnance expert; in a typical episode
of the series, it was Sgt. Carter who would be called upon to make an explosive device
). In the series Carter was of Sioux
ancestry; Larry Hovis was partly of Yakama
Indian ancestry. In one episode of the comedy Alice
, Hovis played a Native American
police detective who arrests a fake Native American conman.
While Hovis was a regular on Hogan's Heroes, he also did other work in the entertainment industry, including writing the screenplay
for the 1966 spy
-spoof
Out of Sight
. He also appeared in and wrote comedy bits for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
.
and appeared in the mid-1970s game show
Liar's Club
.
In the early 1980s, Hovis toured in the musical Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Melvin P. Thorpe. Later in the decade, Hovis teamed up with Gary Bernstein to form Bernstein-Hovis Productions, which produced the game shows Anything for Money
, the original version of Lingo and the short-lived Yahtzee
, a TV version of the classic dice game, for which Hovis also announced and served as a regular panelist.
Beginning in the 1990s, Hovis taught
drama
at Southwest Texas State University, recently renamed Texas State University-San Marcos in San Marcos, Texas
.
Larry Hovis died in Austin, Texas
, of esophageal cancer
in 2003.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for playing a fictional
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
on the 1960s television sitcom Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
.
Early life and career
Hovis was born in Wapato, WashingtonWapato, Washington
Wapato is a city in Yakima County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,997 at the 2010 census.-History:The town was originally founded in 1885 by Indian Postmaster Alexander McCredy as a railroad stop on the Northern Pacific Railroad as Simcoe, Washington...
, and moved to Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, as a small child. As a youth, he was a singer, appearing on Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
's Talent Scouts. Hovis attended the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. During the mid 1950s, Hovis sang in nightclubs. He wrote songs and signed with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and released one album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
.
He also began appearing in local theater productions
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
. After some success, he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1959 and appeared in Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s such as From A to Z
From A to Z
From A to Z is a musical revue with a book by Woody Allen, Herbert Farjeon, and Nina Warner Hook and songs by Jerry Herman, Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers, Everett Sloane, Jay Thompson, Dickson Hughes, Jack Holmes, Paul Klein, Norman Martin, William Dyer, and Charles Zwar.Although a critical and commercial...
that showcased his singing and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
talents.
The move to television
Hovis moved to CaliforniaCalifornia
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...
in 1963 where he performed
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
and tried to break into television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. In 1964, he was discovered by Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
's manager and was hired to appear on the hit TV series 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...
where he played "Pvt. Larry Gotschalk". He also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
as Gilley Walker, the owner of a car that had several chronic noises that Goober
Goober Pyle
Goober is a fictional character in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and its later sequel series Mayberry RFD. He was played by George Lindsey. Lindsey initially read for the part of Gomer Pyle, which went to singer Jim Nabors...
attempted to repair eventually disassembling and reassembling in the Mayberry Courthouse.
In 1965, Hovis was cast
Casting (performing arts)
In the performing arts, casting is a pre-production process for selecting a cast of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.-Casting process:...
as "Sgt. Andrew Carter" in the television show Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
. Hovis' character was part of a group of five Western Allied
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
POWs; each character had a specialized task or talent (Sgt. Carter was the ordnance expert; in a typical episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
of the series, it was Sgt. Carter who would be called upon to make an explosive device
Explosive device
An explosive device is device that relies on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Explosive devices have applications as demolition devices and as weapons in the military....
). In the series Carter was of Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
ancestry; Larry Hovis was partly of Yakama
Yakama
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, or simply Yakama Nation , is a Native American group with nearly 10,000 enrolled members, living in Washington. Their reservation, along the Yakima River, covers an area of approximately 1.2 million acres...
Indian ancestry. In one episode of the comedy Alice
Alice (TV series)
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series was based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job...
, Hovis played a Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
police detective who arrests a fake Native American conman.
While Hovis was a regular on Hogan's Heroes, he also did other work in the entertainment industry, including writing the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the 1966 spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
-spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Out of Sight
Out of Sight (1966 film)
Out of Sight is a 1966 beach party film with elements of the spy spoof. It is the third and last of a series of films geared at teenagers by director Lennie Weinrib and producer Bart Patton for Universal Pictures...
. He also appeared in and wrote comedy bits for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
.
After Hogan's Heroes
After Hogan's Heroes was cancelled in 1971, Hovis appeared in several TV shows. He also producedTelevision producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and appeared in the mid-1970s game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Liar's Club
Liar's Club
Liar's Club is an American comedy game show, produced by Ralph Andrews that had three syndicated runs. It was first seen in 1969 with Rod Serling as host, and returned for a three-season run from 1976-1979...
.
In the early 1980s, Hovis toured in the musical Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Melvin P. Thorpe. Later in the decade, Hovis teamed up with Gary Bernstein to form Bernstein-Hovis Productions, which produced the game shows Anything for Money
Anything For Money
Anything For Money was a television game show hosted by Fred Travalena and announced by Johnny Gilbert which ran in syndication from September 17, 1984 to September 1985...
, the original version of Lingo and the short-lived Yahtzee
Yahtzee (game show)
Yahtzee is a game show that aired from January 11 to September 1988. Based on the dice game Yahtzee, the show was hosted by Peter Marshall, with Larry Hovis serving as both the show's announcer and a regular panelist...
, a TV version of the classic dice game, for which Hovis also announced and served as a regular panelist.
Beginning in the 1990s, Hovis taught
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
at Southwest Texas State University, recently renamed Texas State University-San Marcos in San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
.
Larry Hovis died in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, of esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
in 2003.
External links
- Larry Hovis website
- Larry Hovis at Find a Grave