Larry Pennell
Encyclopedia
Larry "Bud" Pennell aka Alessandro Pennelli, is an American television and film actor.
Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
, he is mainly a supporting actor
, best known for his role as "Dash Riprock," the conceited, image-conscious, and macho Hollywood movie star courting "Elly May Clampett" (played by Donna Douglas
) in the hit television series The Beverly Hillbillies
.
Pennell started acting in 1955, as "Oliver Brown" in the movie Seven Angry Men, the low-budget movie about abolitionist John Brown
, starring Raymond Massey
. That role led him to a lead in Hell's Horizon, with John Ireland
and Hugh Beaumont
, also in 1955.
After a few small parts in movies he drifted between television and movie appearances. In 1959 he played opposite Jimmy Stewart
(as "John Michael ('Chip') Hardesty") in the hit movie The FBI Story
, in the role of "George Crandall". After 1959 he mainly stuck with television, making guest appearances in shows like Death Valley Days
, The Outlaws
, Sea Hunt
, Wagon Train
, The Big Valley
, The Virginian
, and Dragnet
. In 1961 he was given a lead role in the television series Ripcord
, an action/adventure
series about skydiving, he co-starred, as "Ted McKeever," with Ken Curtis
as his older mentor, and became somewhat of a television idol, in the show that ran for seventy-six episodes between 1961 and 1963.
In 1965, he played in Karl May's "Old Surehand" as "The General." Pennell's debut on the "The Beverly Hillbillies" came January 20, 1965, in the episode "Elly in the Movies" (Season 3, Episode 16; 88th overall). "Milburn Drysdale" (played by Raymond Bailey
) invests some of "Jed Clampett's" (Buddy Ebsen
) money in a movie studio, Mammoth Pictures. Jed is distracted and upset that Elly May has not found any suitors in California. Elly May is bored at home, and jealous of Kitty Devine in the previous episode ("The Movie Starlet"), so Drysdale to smooth things over helps convince Jed and "Jane Hathaway" (Nancy Kulp
) to let her star in a movie. Dash doesn't know that she (Elly May) is the co-star of the movie and daughter of the studio owner (Jed), and mistakenly thinks that Jane Hathaway is. The next episode, "Dash Riprock, You Cad!," which aired the following week on January 27, also included Sharon Tate
(as Janet Trego), the beautiful actress who was murdered in 1969 by the Manson Family
. Tate appeared in 15 episodes as Trego.
In 1964, Pennell starred as John Chambers in the episode "Bad Little Rich Girl", with Diana Van der Vlis
in the title role as Mary Beth Warren, in the CBS drama Mr. Broadway
starring Craig Stevens
.
He was on "Lassie
" as "Keith Holden" in 1972 and 1974. Ron Hayes
had played his brother "Garth Holden" in six Lassie episodes in the 1971–1972 season. At that point, Larry Wilcox
also joined the Lassie cast.
In the 1970 film, "The Great White Hope", Pennell played former heavyweight champion Frank Brady, who is coaxed out of retirement to try to prevent a black boxer named Jack Jefferson (played by Oscar nominated James Earl Jones) from becoming the first black heavyweight champion. Older, and more distinguished, Pennell returned to big budget motion pictures, as "Captain Cyril Simard" in the World War II blockbuster Midway
, the 1976 film with a big all-star cast that included Charlton Heston
and Henry Fonda
.
He continued to do small parts, character roles and cameos, mainly on television shows and movies made for television, including "Little House on the Prairie
," "Magnum, P.I.
" (Tom Selleck
played an aide to Capt. Cyril Simard in the movie Midway), and the soap operas "General Hospital
" and "The Young and the Restless
." One notable role was that of Clark Gable
in the 1980 made for television movie "Marilyn: The Untold Story," with Catherine Hicks
as Marilyn Monroe
. In 1992 Selleck would get Pennell to join him again in the motion picture Mr. Baseball
.
His most recent roles have been in the movies: The Passing (2005 ; as "Charles-Butler"), Last Confession (2005 ; as "Father Conklin"), and in Seasons of Life (2006 ; as "Lauren's Father").
According to his page on BaseballReference.com, Pennell was a power-hitting left-handed first baseman and outfielder in the Boston Braves organization between 1948 and 1953. He was portrayed in Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews' autobiography as a fun-loving teammate.
Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...
, he is mainly a supporting actor
Supporting actor
A supporting actor is an actor who performs roles in a play or film other than that of the leads.These roles range from bit parts to secondary leads. They are sometimes but not necessarily character roles. A supporting actor must also use restraint not to upstage the main actor/actress in the...
, best known for his role as "Dash Riprock," the conceited, image-conscious, and macho Hollywood movie star courting "Elly May Clampett" (played by Donna Douglas
Donna Douglas
Donna Douglas is an American actress best known for her role as Elly May Clampett, in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies.-Early life:...
) in the hit television series The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
.
Pennell started acting in 1955, as "Oliver Brown" in the movie Seven Angry Men, the low-budget movie about abolitionist John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
, starring Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
. That role led him to a lead in Hell's Horizon, with John Ireland
John Ireland (actor)
John Benjamin Ireland was an actor and film director.-Biography:Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was raised in New York City from the age of 18. He started out in minor stage roles on Broadway...
and Hugh Beaumont
Hugh Beaumont (actor)
Eugene Hugh Beaumont was an American actor and television director. He was also licensed to preach by the Methodist church...
, also in 1955.
After a few small parts in movies he drifted between television and movie appearances. In 1959 he played opposite Jimmy Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
(as "John Michael ('Chip') Hardesty") in the hit movie The FBI Story
The FBI Story
The FBI Story is a 1959 American drama film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Richard L. Breen and John Twist is based on a book by Don Whitehead.-Plot:...
, in the role of "George Crandall". After 1959 he mainly stuck with television, making guest appearances in shows like Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
, The Outlaws
The Outlaws (1960 TV series)
Outlaws is an NBC Western television series, starring Barton MacLane as U.S. marshal Frank Caine, who operated in a lawless section of Oklahoma Territory about Stillwater. The program aired 50 one-hour episodes from September 29, 1960, to May 10, 1962. The first season was shot in black-and-white,...
, Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...
, Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
, The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, and Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
. In 1961 he was given a lead role in the television series Ripcord
Ripcord (TV series)
Ripcord is an American syndicated television series that ran for 76 episodes from 1961 to 1963 about the exploits of a skydiving operation by the same name.-Overview:...
, an action/adventure
Adventure (genre)
The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...
series about skydiving, he co-starred, as "Ted McKeever," with Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke.-Early years:...
as his older mentor, and became somewhat of a television idol, in the show that ran for seventy-six episodes between 1961 and 1963.
In 1965, he played in Karl May's "Old Surehand" as "The General." Pennell's debut on the "The Beverly Hillbillies" came January 20, 1965, in the episode "Elly in the Movies" (Season 3, Episode 16; 88th overall). "Milburn Drysdale" (played by Raymond Bailey
Raymond Bailey
Raymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, movies, and television. He is best known for his role as wealthy banker, Milburn Drysdale, in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies....
) invests some of "Jed Clampett's" (Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
) money in a movie studio, Mammoth Pictures. Jed is distracted and upset that Elly May has not found any suitors in California. Elly May is bored at home, and jealous of Kitty Devine in the previous episode ("The Movie Starlet"), so Drysdale to smooth things over helps convince Jed and "Jane Hathaway" (Nancy Kulp
Nancy Kulp
Nancy Jane Kulp was an American character actress best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies.-Early life:...
) to let her star in a movie. Dash doesn't know that she (Elly May) is the co-star of the movie and daughter of the studio owner (Jed), and mistakenly thinks that Jane Hathaway is. The next episode, "Dash Riprock, You Cad!," which aired the following week on January 27, also included Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
(as Janet Trego), the beautiful actress who was murdered in 1969 by the Manson Family
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
. Tate appeared in 15 episodes as Trego.
In 1964, Pennell starred as John Chambers in the episode "Bad Little Rich Girl", with Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis was a Canadian stage, screen and television actress best known for her characters ‘Dr. Nell Beaulac’ on the ABC soap opera "Ryan's Hope" and 'Kate Hathaway Prescott’ on the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is...
in the title role as Mary Beth Warren, in the CBS drama Mr. Broadway
Mr. Broadway
Mr. Broadway is a 13-episode CBS adventure and drama television series starring Craig Stevens , formerly of Peter Gunn, as New York City public relations specialist Mike Bell. The program aired at 9 p.m. Eastern time Saturdays from September 26 to December 26, 1964...
starring Craig Stevens
Craig Stevens (actor)
Craig Stevens was an American motion picture and television actor.-Early and personal life:Born Gail Shikles, Jr., in Liberty, Missouri, his father was a high school teacher....
.
He was on "Lassie
Lassie (1954 TV series)
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
" as "Keith Holden" in 1972 and 1974. Ron Hayes
Ron Hayes
Ronald G. Hayes was an American television actor who, as an activist in the environmental movement, worked for the establishment of the first Earth Day, observed on April 22, 1970. He was a member of the Sierra Club and a founder of the ecological interest group Wilderness World...
had played his brother "Garth Holden" in six Lassie episodes in the 1971–1972 season. At that point, Larry Wilcox
Larry Wilcox
Larry Wilcox is an American actor, best known for his role as Officer Jonathan "Jon" Baker in CHiPs, an American television series.-Military service:...
also joined the Lassie cast.
In the 1970 film, "The Great White Hope", Pennell played former heavyweight champion Frank Brady, who is coaxed out of retirement to try to prevent a black boxer named Jack Jefferson (played by Oscar nominated James Earl Jones) from becoming the first black heavyweight champion. Older, and more distinguished, Pennell returned to big budget motion pictures, as "Captain Cyril Simard" in the World War II blockbuster Midway
Midway (film)
Midway is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Smight and produced byWalter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford. The music score was by John Williams and the cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr...
, the 1976 film with a big all-star cast that included Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
and Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
.
He continued to do small parts, character roles and cameos, mainly on television shows and movies made for television, including "Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
," "Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
" (Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
played an aide to Capt. Cyril Simard in the movie Midway), and the soap operas "General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
" and "The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
." One notable role was that of Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
in the 1980 made for television movie "Marilyn: The Untold Story," with Catherine Hicks
Catherine Hicks
Catherine Mary Hicks is an American stage, film, television actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven and as Karen Barclay in Child's Play.-Personal life:...
as Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. In 1992 Selleck would get Pennell to join him again in the motion picture Mr. Baseball
Mr. Baseball
Mr. Baseball is a 1992 American film that starred Tom Selleck and was directed by Fred Schepisi.-Plot:Jack Elliot is an aging American baseball player put on the trading block by the New York Yankees in favor of a rookie first-baseman , and there's only one taker: the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons of...
.
His most recent roles have been in the movies: The Passing (2005 ; as "Charles-Butler"), Last Confession (2005 ; as "Father Conklin"), and in Seasons of Life (2006 ; as "Lauren's Father").
According to his page on BaseballReference.com, Pennell was a power-hitting left-handed first baseman and outfielder in the Boston Braves organization between 1948 and 1953. He was portrayed in Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews' autobiography as a fun-loving teammate.