Jack Larson, TV icon Jimmy Olsen of ‘Superman,’ dies at 87

LOS ANGELES – In the early 1950s, when Jack Larson was offered a role in a new Superman TV series, he was loath to accept. Playing the hapless sidekick of a caped superhero on a kids’ show had no appeal for an actor with dreams of Broadway stardom.

But his agent prevailed, largely by arguing that the show would probably never be broadcast.

“No one may ever know you’ve done it. So just take the money and run,” Larson, recalling the agent’s words, told the Indianapolis Star decades later.

He took the money but, to his chagrin, “The Adventures of Superman” became a tremendous hit after its 1952 debut. The show indelibly fixed Larson in the public’s mind as Jimmy Olsen, the effervescent, cub reporter in a bow tie who works alongside Clark Kent and Lois Lane at the fictional Daily Planet newspaper.

Larson, who turned to writing plays when he realized that he could not escape the character remembered for lines like “Golly, Mr. Kent” and “Jeepers,” died Sunday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 87.

His death was confirmed by writer-director Alan Howard, a longtime friend. The cause was not immediately known, but Howard said Larson had not been ill and “died peacefully with his beloved dog Charlie” nearby.

Larson was born in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 1928, and grew up in Montebello, east of L.A. His father drove a milk truck and his mother worked for Western Union; they divorced when their son was a child.

He was interested in journalism as a career but was not a stellar student, often ditching class to go bowling. Encouraged by teachers to read Shakespeare, he began writing and directing plays at Pasadena City College. Discovered there by talent scouts from Warner Bros., he was cast in the 1948 film “Fighter Squadron,” directed by Raoul Walsh.

A few years later, he was offered the role of Olsen, the energetic cub reporter and magnet for evil-doers who truss him up, kidnap him and lock him in vaults until Kent as the Man of Steel comes to his rescue.

“The Adventures of Superman,” which originally aired from 1952 to 1957, cast Larson into the pop culture pantheon. The bow tie he wore as Jimmy Olsen later went to the Smithsonian, preserved along with Archie Bunker’s armchair, the Fonz’s leather jacket and a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

At the time, however, being Jimmy Olsen felt like a trap.

“I was really bitter for years, about being typed, and it absolutely wrecked my acting career,” Larson told the New York Daily News in 1996. “I quit acting and wrote because I just couldn’t get a job. They didn’t want Jimmy Olsen walking through their films.”

His proudest achievement was as librettist for the opera “Lord Byron,” about the flamboyant English poet. Composed by Virgil Thomson and directed by Oscar-winning actor John Houseman, it opened at the Juilliard Theater in New York in 1972.

It received mixed reviews. One of the harshest notices came from Martin Bernheimer of the Los Angeles Times, who pronounced it “a colossal exercise in operatic ineptitude and pretension.”

In the 1980s Larson teamed up with his life partner, writer-director James Bridges, to produce a number of Bridges’ films, including “Mike’s Murder,” starring Debra Winger, in 1984; “Perfect,” with John Travolta, in 1985; and “Bright Lights, Big City,” starring Michael J. Fox, in 1988.

Larson lived with Bridges in a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home known as the George Sturges House. After Bridges died of cancer in 1993, he donated $500,000 from the Bridges/Larson Foundation to upgrade a theater at UCLA and name it after his longtime companion.

Larson had no immediate survivors.

After years of trying to ignore the role that made him famous, he came to terms with his legacy and returned to acting.

In 1991, he appeared in an episode of “Superboy,” a syndicated show focusing on Clark Kent as a college student, although he did not play Olsen. He finally returned to the part several years later, portraying an older Olsen in an episode of “Lois &Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” And in the 2006 film “Superman Returns,” he was cast as a bartender in a scene with actor Brandon Routh as Kent.

“I know that, though I go on writing, and if I should win the Pulitzer Prize, and indeed the Nobel Prize, when they write my obituary it will say, ‘Jack Larson, best remembered as Jimmy Olsen on the popular 1950s Superman series,’” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “I’m pleased with it, I’m proud of it, and I would certainly do it again in hindsight.

“It’s nice not to be forgotten.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.