Sept. 21--Jack Larson, a playwright, producer and actor best known as Jimmy Olsen in the iconic 1950s TV series "The Adventures of Superman," died Sunday at his home in Brentwood. 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, who was born in Los Angeles in 1928 and grew up in Montebello, was interested in journalism as a career when he was young. But while studying at Pasadena City College, he was discovered by talent scouts from Warner Bros. and was cast in the 1948 film "Fighter Squadron."
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For the Record, Sept. 21 3:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this story said that Jack Larson was 82. He was 87.
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A few years later, in 1951, he was offered the role of Olsen, the energetic cub reporter who works alongside Clark Kent and Lois Lane at the fictional Daily Planet newspaper. "The Adventures of Superman" ran from 1952 to 1957 and was one of the top-rated shows of its era.
It was so successful that viewers had difficulty imagining Larson in any other role. Feeling he had been irreversibly typecast, he turned to writing. His credits include "The Candied House," a play that retold the Hansel and Gretel story in verse. It opened in 1966 at the Bing Center Theater in Los Angeles and earned critics' praise.
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He later said his proudest achievement was as librettist for the opera "Lord Byron, composed by Virgil Thomson and directed by Oscar-winning actor John Houseman at the Juilliard American Opera Center in New York in 1972.
In the 1980s he teamed 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.
He said he eventually came to terms with the enduring popularity of Jimmy Olsen.
"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."
A complete obituary will appear at www.latimes.com/obituaries
Times staff writer Susan King contributed to this article.
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UPDATES
3:52: This post has been updated to correct Jack Larson's age.
This post was originally published at 12:57.
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