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John Larch
John Larch
	Larch in Convoy (1966)
Born	Harold Aronin; October 4, 1914; Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	October 16, 2005 (aged 91); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Sinai Memorial Park
Other names	Harry Larch
Years active	1953–1990
Spouse	Vivi Janiss (m. 1955; died 1988)

John Larch (born Harold Aronin; October 4, 1914 – October 16, 2005; also credited Harry Larch) was an American radio, film, and television actor.

Early life

John Larch was born Harold Aronin^[1] to Jewish parents in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1914.^[2] Nicknamed "Harry" in childhood, Larch was the younger of two children of Mitchell Aronin and Rose (née Larch) 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

Career

Film

After his lead role in the radio serial Captain Starr of Space during the broadcast season of 1953–1954,^[5] he began to perform increasingly in films. He was usually cast on the "big screen" in Westerns (How The West Was Won, 1962) and in other action films outside that genre, including Miracle of the White Stallions as General George S. Patton Jr. (1963), the television film Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur as General Omar Bradley (1976), and replacing James Gregory as Mac in the Matt Helm movie The Wrecking Crew (1969) 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 (1965-1966).^[6] He guest-starred in Jefferson Drum; Johnny Ringo; Riverboat; Naked City (three episodes); Stoney Burke; Route 66 (three episodes); The Fugitive (two episodes); The Invaders; The Restless Gun (four episodes); Gunsmoke (seven episodes); The Virginian (four episodes, one of which was in 1970 as the Sheriff on The Men From Shiloh, which was the rebranded name that year for The Virginian); Bonanza; The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Hawaii Five-0; Mission Impossible (two episodes); The Troubleshooters; Bus Stop; The Law and Mr. Jones; Bat Masterson (season one, episode 30, which aired on 27 May 1959); 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", (S3 E8 1961) in which he played Bill Mumy's father with Mumy as a young boy; Rawhide, in the episode "Incident At Sugar Creek" (1962) as Sam Garrett; Vega$, in the season three episode "Deadly Blessing"; Dynasty (seven episodes); and Dallas (seven episodes). He also starred as hunter Sam in Daniel Boone in the episode, Chief Mingo. Appeared in Cannon (1973 TV series), 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.^[7]

Partial filmography

Bitter Creek (1954) - Hired Gunman
This Is My Love (1954) - Police Detective (uncredited)
Tight Spot (1955) - First Detective (uncredited)
Seven Angry Men (1955) - Truce Flag-Bearing Sergeant (uncredited)
5 Against the House (1955) - Police Detective (uncredited)
The Phenix City Story (1955) - Clem Wilson
Gunsmoke (1955) - Clay
The Naked Street (1955) - Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
The McConnell Story (1955) - Cy (uncredited)
Illegal (1955) - District Attorney's Man (uncredited)
The Killer Is Loose (1956) - Otto Flanders
Behind the High Wall (1956) - William Kiley
Seven Men from Now (1956) - Payte Bodeen
Written on the Wind (1956) - Roy Carter
Man from Del Rio (1956) - Bill Dawson
Gun for a Coward (1957) - Stringer
The Careless Years (1957) - Sam Vernon
Quantez (1957) - Heller
Man in the Shadow (1957) - Ed Yates
The Restless Gun (1957-1958) (4 episodes)
- (Season 1 Episode 6: "The Shooting of Jett King") - Jett King
- (Season 1 Episode 21: "Hornitas Town") - as Sheriff Ryker
- (Season 1 Episode 29: "The Crisis at Easter Creek") - as Red-Eye Kirk
- (Season 2 Episode 4: "Thunder Valley") - as Sheriff Anse Newton
From Hell to Texas (1958) - Hal Carmody
The Saga of Hemp Brown (1958) - Jed Givens
The Walter Winchell File (1958) (4 episodes)
- (Season 2 Episode 1: "Portrait of A Cop: File #27") - Lieutenant Michaels
- (Season 2 Episode 3: "Too Many Clues") - Lieutenant Michaels
- (Season 2 Episode 4: "Exclusive Story: File #31") - Lieutenant Michaels
- (Season 2 Episode 5: "A Short Run to Broadway") - Lieutenant Michaels
Bat Masterson (1959) (Season 1 Episode 30: "The Secret is Death") - Garrickson
Bonanza (1959) (Season 1 Episode 3: "The Newcomers") - Blake McCall
Hell to Eternity (1960) - Captain Schwabe
Gunsmoke (1955-1961) (7 episodes)
- (Season 1 Episode 7: "Smoking Out the Nolans") (1955) - Clay Young
- (Season 3 Episode 11: "Fingered") (1957) - Jim Cobbett
- (Season 4 Episode 37: "The Constable") (1959) - Rance
- (Season 5 Episode 10: "The Boots") (1959) - Zeno
- (Season 5 Episode 25: "Jailbait Janet") (1960) - Dan
- (Season 6 Episode 32: "Long Hours, Short Pay") (1961) - Serpa
- (Season 7 Episode 5: "All That") (1961) - Shanks
The Twilight Zone (1959-1961) (3 episodes)
- (Season 1 Episode 9: "Perchance to Dream") - Dr. Eliot Rathmann
- (Season 2 Episode 12: "Dust") - Sheriff Koch
- (Season 3 Episode 8: 'It's a Good Life") - Mr. Fremont
The Rifleman (1961) (Season 3 Episode 15: "Six Years and a Day") - Jack Cooke
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962) (Season 7 Episode 15: "The Door Without a Key") - Sergeant Shaw
How the West Was Won (1962) - Grimes (uncredited)
Miracle of the White Stallions (1963) - General George S. Patton, Jr.
The Wrecking Crew (1969) - MacDonald
The Great Bank Robbery (1969) - Sheriff of Friendly
Hail, Hero! (1969) - Mr. Conklin
Move (1970) - Mounted Patrolman
Cannon for Cordoba (1970) - Warner
Play Misty for Me (1971) - Sergeant McCallum
Dirty Harry (1971) - Chief
Women in Chains (1972) - Barney
Santee (1973) - Banner
Winter Kill (1974, TV Movie) - Dr. Bill Hammond
Bad Ronald (1974, TV Movie) - Sergeant Lynch
Framed (1975) - Bundy
The Amityville Horror (1979) - Father Nuncio
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) - Prosecuting Attorney
Dallas (1985-1990) (7 episodes)
- (Season 8 Episode 28: "Deeds and Misdeeds") (1985) - Wally Windham
- (Season 8 Episode 29: "Deliverance") (1985) - Wally Windham
- (Season 13 Episode 18: "The Crucible") (1990) - Arlen Ward / Atticus Ward
- (Season 13 Episode 19: "Dear Hearts and Gentle People") (1990) - Arlen Ward
- (Season 13 Episode 20: "Paradise Lost") (1990) - Arlen Ward
- (Season 13 Episode 21: "Will Power") (1990) - Arlen Ward
- (Season 13 Episode 22: "The Smiling Cobra") (1990) - Atticus Ward

References

^ "California County Marriages", marriage license and certificate of Harold Aronin to Vivi Janiss, March 26, 1955, Los Angeles, California; Bureau of Vital Statistics, California State Board of Health, Sacramento; digital image of original document, archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (CJCLDS), Salt Lake City, Utah.
^ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915", Harold Aronin, October 4, 1914, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; Massachusetts Archives, Boston.
^ "Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", family of Mitchell Aronin, "Fourth Assembly District", New York City, January 2, 1920; digital image of original enumeration page; CJCLDS Archives.
^ "John Larch Finds Success At End of the 'Road Back'". The Berkshire Eagle. Massachusetts, Pittsfield. September 18, 1965. p. 28. Retrieved April 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Dionne, Jerome M. Curley, Dorothy V. Malcolm, and Nelson L. (2013). Legendary Locals of Salem. Arcadia Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9781467100809. Retrieved January 15, 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.