Larry Pennell

Lawrence Kenneth Pennell was an American television and film actor, often remembered for his role as Dash Riprock in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies. His career spanned half a century, including starring in the first-run syndicated adventure series Ripcord in the leading role of skydiver Theodore "Ted" McKeever, and as Keith Holden in Lassie. He was also a baseball player, playing on scholarship for the University of Southern California and later professionally for the Boston Braves organization.

Early life and education

Pennell was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania to entrepreneur Harold Pennell and homemaker Ruth Pennell. His parents moved to Niagara Falls, New York during the Great Depression in search of better opportunities. After a short time in New York, the family moved to California. They lived in a studio apartment overlooking Angels Flight in Downtown Los Angeles. His family moved again when he was still young, purchasing a home near Paramount Studios in Hollywood. He became a newsboy on the studio lot, but athletics distracted him from any early interest in film.
Pennell played baseball throughout his youth. He attended Hollywood High School, at which he played first base and was later inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. He was recruited by Rod Dedeaux to play baseball at USC, where he began playing in 1947. Pennell attended the university on a full baseball scholarship and became one of the school's all-time letter winners. He left school early to play professionally for the Boston Braves organization, from 1948 to 1953.

Baseball career

Just shy of graduating from USC, Pennell left the university to play professionally for the Boston Braves organization. During his time with the organization, his teammates often referred to him as "Bud", a nickname that stuck with him throughout his life. He was with the organization for a total of seven seasons between 1948 and 1954, playing first base and outfield for the Evansville Braves, Boston's minor league affiliate.
In his first year in professional ball, he broke the Appalachian League record for runs batted in with 147 and hit.338 for the season while hitting 18 home runs. He was portrayed in Hall of Famer, Eddie Mathews' autobiography, as a "fun-loving teammate." He did not play during the 1950–1953 seasons due to his service during the Korean War. He served in counterintelligence in the U.S. Army and received an honorable discharge upon completion of his service. Upon his return home, his baseball contract was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pennell never reported to spring training for the Dodgers and instead decided to pursue acting, a career he had dabbled in during the off seasons. Regarding his retirement from baseball, sportswriter Furman Bisher was quoted as saying "his future seemed unlimited...I shall always be frustrated by a desire to know how great a star he might have become."

Acting career

In the baseball off-seasons, Pennell returned home to Hollywood. Shortly after his contract was purchased by the Brooklyn organization, he decided not to report to spring training and instead began his career in films. After being seen by a talent scout, Pennell got a screen test at Paramount Pictures where he went under contract. Then he traveled to New York City to learn from drama teachers such as Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler.
It was in 1955 when Pennell's acting career was launched. He appeared in his first role as Oliver Brown in the movie Seven Angry Men, a film about abolitionist John Brown, starring Raymond Massey. That role led him to a lead in Hell's Horizon, which was followed by The Far Horizons, starred Charlton Heston and Donna Reed. His next film role was as George Crandall opposite James Stewart in The FBI Story.
Other roles followed, including the leading role as Johnny Jargin in the car racing adventure movie The Devil's Hairpin. Early in his acting career, Pennell went to Europe to appear in films, including Old Surehand, a German production based upon a Karl May's novel. In European films he was occasionally credited as Alessandro Pennelli. He returned to the United States and made guest appearances in several western television series such as Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Death Valley Days, Have Gun – Will Travel, Wagon Train, Bat Masterson, The Big Valley, The Virginian, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rango, Custer, Branded, The Rough Riders, Cimarron City and Tombstone Territory.
File:Larry Pennell as Dash Riprock with Donna Douglas The Beverly Hillbillies.png|thumb|Larry Pennell as Dash Riprock with Donna Douglas as Elly May from The Beverly Hillbillies, ca. 1967
In 1961, he landed the leading role on the television series Ripcord as the handsome skydiver Theodore McKeever. His co-star was Ken Curtis, later as Festus Hagen on Gunsmoke, as his inseparable, level-headed older mentor and best buddy James Buckley. Ripcord ran for a total of 76 half-hour episodes from 1961 to 1963 and inspired a range of tie-in merchandise such as toy parachutes, action figures, jigsaw puzzles, board games, clean slates, reading books, comic books and coloring books, to name a few. More television guest appearances followed on The Outer Limits, Thriller, The Millionaire, The West Point Story, Wire Service, The Case of the Dangerous Robin, Steve Canyon, Sea Hunt, The Aquanauts, The Everglades, Adventures in Paradise, Dragnet, and Suspense Theater.
As Dash Riprock on The Beverly Hillbillies, he appeared in ten episodes as a film star courting Elly May Clampett. After The Beverly Hillbillies, Pennell guest-starred in other television series like Blue Light, My Friend Tony, Mayberry, R.F.D., Family Affair, Land of the Giants, Bracken's World, BJ and the Bear and Salvage 1.
Pennell travelled to Europe in 1965 where he starred Our Man in Jamaica and Old Surehand.
Throughout his career, Pennell appeared in a variety of genres in television series and movies. He was cast in a lead role as Keith Holden in 1972 in the CBS series Lassie. He made guest-starring appearances in various shows, including Mannix, Longstreet, Hunter, Banacek, Mission: Impossible, The Streets of San Francisco, McMillan and Wife, Magnum, P.I., The Rookies, Little House on the Prairie, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, O'Hara, U.S. Treasury, Run, Joe, Run, Apple's Way, Silk Stalkings, Diagnosis Murder, Quantum Leap and Firefly and soap operas such as General Hospital and The Young and the Restless.
Pennell's film credits include roles in films such as The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in which Pennell played former heavyweight champion Frank Brady. Pennell also appeared in the big budget World War II film Midway, as Captain Cyril Simard, alongside Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda. He had roles in other major films such as The Revengers, Journey Through Rosebud and Matilda. Pennell bore a striking resemblance to Clark Gable and played the actor in three roles. One of his notable roles as Gable was in the television film Marilyn: The Untold Story. It was said of his work in that role "Pennell's performance is a little gem." In 1992, Pennell and Tom Selleck rejoined for a third time to appear in Mr. Baseball. Other films include The Fear, Bubba Ho-Tep starring Ossie Davis, Five Minutes, Last Confession, Seasons of Life and The Passing.
Pennell experimented with his acting with drama teachers such as Milton Katselis and Daniel Mann. Pennell's stage work encompassed over 50 plays, including The Poker Game, Desperate Hours, Pieces of Time and Dead Autumn's Soul. He wrote and starred in The Signing and Close-Up and won best actor at The Method Fest 2002 for his work in the short film Five Minutes. Throughout his career, Pennell accumulated over 400 credits in roles across stage, film and television as well as commercials and print advertisements.

Filmography

Selected film credits

Selected television credits

Year	Title	Medium	Role	Notes	-
1956	General Electric Theater	Television series	Ealter Kellen		-
1956	Studio 57	Television series	Bruce		-
1956–1957	The West Point Story	Television series	Bob Matson and Marson	1 w/ Leonard Nimoy	-
1956	Wire Service	Television series	Johnny		-
1957	Schlitz Playhouse	Television series	Bob		-
1958–1960	The Millionaire	Television series	Larry Maxwell		-
1958	Tombstone Territory	Television series	Bill Doolin		-
1958	Steve Canyon	Television series	Lt. Hawk Cameron		-
1958	The Rough Riders	Television series	Creed Pearce		-
1958	Cimarron City	Television series	Drew McGowan		-
1958	Have Gun – Will Travel	Television series	Henry Carver		-
1959	Adventures in Paradise	Television series	Dr. Patrick Donovan		-
1960	The Alaskans	Television series	Harry Seattle		-
1960	Tales of Wells Fargo	Television series	Ben Hardie		-
1960	The Aquanauts	Television series	Tyler Sack	Episode: "The Paradivers"	-
1960	Death Valley Days	Television anthology series	Roner Maxwell	Episode: "Queen of the High-Rollers"	-
1960	Klondike	Television series	Rule Lukas		-
1960	Zane Grey Theater	Television series	Jason Tully	Episode: "The Black Wagon" with Esther Williams	-
1961	Outlaws	Television series	Bob Dalton		-
1961	Thriller	Television series	Larry Weeks	Episode: "Late Date"	-
1961	The Case of the Dangerous Robin	Television series			-
1961	Bat Masterson	Television series	Cal Beamus		-
1961	Sea Hunt	Television series	Steve / A counterfeiter leader	Episode: "The Meet"	-
1961–1963	Ripcord	Television series	Skydiver Theodore McKeever	76 episodes	-
1963	General Hospital	Television series	Hank Pulaski	Unknown episodes	-
1964	Wagon Train	Television series	Marshal Trace McCloud	Episode: "The Trace McCloud Story"	-
1964	The Outer Limits	Television series	Dr. Evan Marshall	Episode: "The Mutant"	-
1964	Mr. Broadway	Television series	John Chambers		-
1964–1967	The Virginian	Television series	Carl Rand / Wally Koerner	2 episodes	-
1965	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Television series	Phil Scanlon		-
1965–1969	The Beverly Hillbillies	Television series	Dash Riprock	10 episodes	-
1965	Branded	Television series	Tuck Fraser		-
1966	Blue Light	Television series	Nick Brady		-
1967	The Big Valley	Television series	Jack Kilbain		-
1967	Rango	Television series	Larkin	Episode: "Requiem for a Ranger"	-
1967	Three for Danger	Television series	Chris		-
1967	Custer	Television series	Chief Yellow Hawk		-
1967	Cimarron Strip	Television series	Rapp		-
1968	Dragnet 1967	Television series	John Anzo / A Police Commissioner		-
1968–1974	Gunsmoke	Television series	Ben Akins / John Woolfe	2 episodes	-
1969	My Friend Tony	Television series			-
1969	Mayberry R.F.D.	Television series	Chuck		-
1969	Land of the Giants	Television series	Guard		-
1969	Bracken's World	Television series	Chuck		-
1969-2+71	Mannix	Television series	Agent Barnes / Troy McBride	2 episodes	-
1970	Mission: Impossible	Television series	Karl Burroughs		-
1970	Family Affair	Television series	Ken Granger		-
1971	City Beneath the Sea	Television movie	Bill Holmes		-
1971	Longstreet	Television series	Ward Blakeman		-
1971–1972	O'Hara, U.S. Treasury	Television series	Charles Donaldson / S.A. Peter Wade	2 episodes	-
1971–1974	McMillan & Wife	Television series	Agent Cushing	Episode: "Buried Alive"	-
1972–1973	Lassie	Television series	Keith Holden	21 episodes	-
1973	The Young and the Restless	Television series	Judge Chet Ashford		-
1973	Banacek	Television series	Pete Biesecker		-
1973–1974	The Streets of San Francisco	Television series	Becker / A High School coach	2 episodes	-
1974	Apple's Way	Television series	Sam Ferguson		-
1974	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law	Television series	Sargeant Bill Carrington		-
1974	The Rookies	Television series	Henry Glass		-
1974	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Television series	Dave Fletcher		-
1974	Run, Joe, Run	Television series	Sheriff Frost	Episode: "Blind Girl"
1977	Hunter	Television series	Michael Orlin		-
1977	Little House on the Prairie	Television series	Ben Griffin		-
1979	Salvage 1	Television series	Street		-
1979	BJ and the Bear	Television series	Mary Ellen		-
1982–1986	Magnum, P.I.	Television series	Jack Martin / Norm Vogel	2 episodes	-
1993	Quantum Leap	Television series	Clark Gable	Episode: "Good-Bye, Norma Jean"	-
1997	Diagnosis: Murder	Television series	Dr. Arthur	Episode: "Looks Can Kill"	-
1997	Silk Stalkings	Television series	Dr. Kurland	Episode: "The Wedge"	-
2002	Firefly	Television series	Murphy	Episode: "Shindig"	-