John Larch


John Larch was an American radio, film, and television actor.

Early life

John Larch was born Harold Aronin to Jewish parents in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1914. Nicknamed "Harry" in childhood, Larch was the younger of two children of Mitchell Aronin and Rose Aronin, both of whom immigrated to the United States from Russian-occupied areas of Poland prior to 1908. According to Massachusetts birth registries and federal census records, Mitchell supported his family as a "cutter" in shoemaking factories. By 1920, the Aronins had moved to New York City, where Mitchell continued to work as a shoe cutter.

Military service

Larch served four years in the United States Army during World War II, an experience that left him troubled for years after his discharge. In a 1965 interview with The Berkshire Eagle, a newspaper in his home state, he shared his views on how military service had affected him personally, especially his difficulties in readjusting to civilian life:
What was my hangup then? Just about everything. I was looking for the four years I had lost in service. I was also looking for a rhyme or reason to the mass murders that took place. I was looking for the ideals I had once had. I was disgusted with the world — a world in which civilians acted as though there hadn't been a worldwide holocaust.

Career

Film

After his lead role in the radio serial Captain Starr of Space during the broadcast season of 1953–1954, he began to perform increasingly in films. He was usually cast on the "big screen" in Westerns and in other action films outside that genre, including Miracle of the White Stallions as General George S. Patton Jr., the television film Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur as General Omar Bradley, and replacing James Gregory as Mac in the Matt Helm movie The Wrecking Crew starring Dean Martin, Sharon Tate, and Elke Sommer. Larch also appears in two 1971 Clint Eastwood films, Dirty Harry and Play Misty for Me.

Television

Larch had the role of Captain Ben Foster on the NBC series Convoy. He guest-starred in Jefferson Drum; Johnny Ringo; Riverboat; Naked City ; Stoney Burke; Route 66 ; The Fugitive ; The Invaders; The Restless Gun ; Gunsmoke ; The Virginian ; Bonanza; The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Hawaii Five-0; Mission Impossible ; The Troubleshooters; Bus Stop; The Law and Mr. Jones; Bat Masterson ; The Rifleman; the final episode of the James Stewart legal drama Hawkins; The Feather and Father Gang; The Millionaire; three episodes of Twilight Zone: "Perchance to Dream", "Dust", and "It's a Good Life", in which he played Bill Mumy's father with Mumy as a young boy; Rawhide, in the episode "Incident At Sugar Creek" as Sam Garrett; Vega$, in the season three episode "Deadly Blessing"; Dynasty ; and Dallas. He also starred as hunter Sam in Daniel Boone in the episode, Chief Mingo. Appeared in Cannon, Episode - To Ride A Tiger.

Personal life

Larch married actress Vivi Janiss, the former wife of actor Bob Cummings. Larch and Vivi married in Los Angeles in March 1955. Vivi died in 1988. The couple had no children.

Joint acting appearances with Janiss

During their long acting careers, Larch and his wife Vivi performed together periodically on television. Larch, for example, appears with her in the 1968 episode "Yesterday Died and Tomorrow Won't Be Born" on the CBS weekly crime drama Hawaii Five-O starring Jack Lord. On earlier television series, they appear in the roles of Johnny and Elsie in the 1959 episode "End of an Era" on NBC's Western series Tales of Wells Fargo; as Isaiah and Rebecca Macabee in the 1960 episode "The Proud Earth" on the NBC anthology series Goodyear Theatre; as another married couple, Ben and Sarah Harness, in the 1960 episode "The Cathy Eckhart Story" on NBC's Wagon Train; and as John and Mary Clark in "No Fat Cops", the 1961 premiere episode of The New Breed starring Leslie Nielsen.

Death

Larch continued to reside in Los Angeles, in Woodland Hills, until his death in 2005 at age 91. He is interred in a wall crypt at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in nearby Hollywood Hills.

Partial filmography

  • Bitter Creek - Hired Gunman
  • This Is My Love - Police Detective
  • Tight Spot - First Detective
  • Seven Angry Men - Truce Flag-Bearing Sergeant
  • 5 Against the House - Police Detective
  • The Phenix City Story - Clem Wilson
  • Gunsmoke - Clay
  • The Naked Street - Police Desk Sergeant
  • The McConnell Story - Cy
  • Illegal - District Attorney's Man
  • The Killer Is Loose - Otto Flanders
  • Behind the High Wall - William Kiley
  • Seven Men from Now - Payte Bodeen
  • Written on the Wind - Roy Carter
  • Man from Del Rio - Bill Dawson
  • Gun for a Coward - Stringer
  • The Careless Years - Sam Vernon
  • Quantez - Heller
  • Man in the Shadow - Ed Yates
  • The Restless Gun
  • * - Jett King
  • * - as Sheriff Ryker
  • * - as Red-Eye Kirk
  • * - as Sheriff Anse Newton
  • From Hell to Texas - Hal Carmody
  • The Saga of Hemp Brown - Jed Givens
  • The Walter Winchell File
  • * - Lieutenant Michaels
  • * - Lieutenant Michaels
  • * - Lieutenant Michaels
  • * - Lieutenant Michaels
  • Bat Masterson - Garrickson
  • Bonanza - Blake McCall
  • Hell to Eternity - Captain Schwabe
  • Gunsmoke
  • * - Clay Young
  • * - Jim Cobbett
  • * - Rance
  • * - Zeno
  • * - Dan
  • * - Serpa
  • * - Shanks
  • The Twilight Zone
  • * - Dr. Eliot Rathmann
  • * - Sheriff Koch
  • * - Mr. Fremont
  • The Rifleman - Jack Cooke
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Sergeant Shaw
  • How the West Was Won - Grimes
  • Miracle of the White Stallions - General George S. Patton, Jr.
  • The Wrecking Crew - MacDonald
  • The Great Bank Robbery - Sheriff of Friendly
  • Hail, Hero! - Mr. Conklin
  • Move - Mounted Patrolman
  • Cannon for Cordoba - Warner
  • Play Misty for Me - Sergeant McCallum
  • Dirty Harry - Chief
  • Women in Chains - Barney
  • Santee - Banner
  • Winter Kill - Dr. Bill Hammond
  • Bad Ronald - Sergeant Lynch
  • Framed - Bundy
  • The Amityville Horror - Father Nuncio
  • Little House on the Prairie "A New Beginning" - Arthur Mahoney
  • Airplane II: The Sequel - Prosecuting Attorney
  • Dallas
  • * - Wally Windham
  • * - Wally Windham
  • * - Arlen Ward / Atticus Ward
  • * - Arlen Ward
  • * - Arlen Ward
  • * - Arlen Ward
  • * - Atticus Ward