It’s always a sad day when you lose a good friend, and one of Superman’s best friends died this past weekend, as actor Jack Larson, best known for playing Jimmy Olsen in the classic Superman series of the 1950s, passed away. He was 87.
Larson died in his Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood on Sunday, September 20. A cause of death was not given, according to The New York Times, but we’re fairly certain this wasn’t the nefarious work of Lex Luthor or the Mole Men.
Born in Los Angeles on February 8, 1928, Larson spent part of his early life building up to a career in the arts, writing and acting in his own plays at a young age. And although he initially dropped out of high school, he went to a junior college to get his diploma, and this is where a Warner Bros. executive found him and got him a job on the 1948 film Fighter Squadron with Robert Stack. Although his film career was overshadowed by his small screen work, he could be seen in later films like Trial Without Jury and Johnny Trouble, among others.
Super-powered heights of fame came in 1951 as Larson was offered the role of Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen for the syndicated Adventures of Superman for Warner Bros. TV. He almost didn’t take the role due to a disinterest in being typecast as a naïve young man, but was convinced anyway, and played the role through each of the show’s six seasons. There were talks about bringing it back after it initially ended, but the death of George Reeves in 1959 put a stop to that.
He actually did get typecast at that point, and apparently followed the advice of former lover Montgomery Clift to quit acting altogether, which he mostly did, although he still popped up now and again, usually as a part of something Superman-related. He was in a 1991 episode of The Adventures of Superboy and reprised his role of Jimmy Olsen in an interesting way for a 1996 episode of Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman. He took on the role of a bartender in Superman Returns, which you can see below. Larson was last seen on TV in a 2010 episode of Law & Order: SVU.
Outside of acting, Larson was an accomplished playwright for over 30 years, penning such works as The Candied House, The Hyacinth from Apollo and The Astronaut’s Tale. For much of his life, he was a partner to the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director James Bridges, and the two were together until Bridges’ death in 1993.
We at Cinema Blend send out our thoughts and condolences to Larson’s family and friends in their time of mourning.
