Larry Parks

Larry Parks (born December 13, 1914 in Olathe , Kansas , † April 13, 1975 in Studio City , California ; actually: Samuel Klausman Lawrence Parks ) was an American film and stage actor .

Life

Larry Parks, who had both German and Irish ancestry, grew up in Joliet , Illinois and had a childhood ravaged by diseases; he suffered from rheumatic fever, among other things . To fulfill his parents' wishes, he enrolled at the University of Illinois and began studying medicine . However, through his participation in theater groups, he soon recognized his true passion - acting. He moved to New York City , where he worked as an usher in the Carnegie Hall and as a leader in Radio City earned his living, and occurred on smaller stages, and so was hoping for a breakthrough. During this time - 1934 - he made his film debut in a supporting role in the classic black and white film You Belong to Me . In 1937 he achieved the success he had hoped for at the theater when he was seen in the play Golden Boy on Broadway . After further productions, including All the Living and Pure in Heart , it was the death of his father in the late 1930s that prompted him to move back to his family in Chicago . For some time, Parks worked as a conductor for the New York Central Railroad until he received a film offer from Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles in 1941 , and he therefore moved to California. It was the drama Mystery Ship , only his second film, that made Parks famous in Hollywood .

In addition to his work in film, he was still on the theater stage, so that he commuted back and forth between Los Angeles and New York. In 1944 he met the musical actress Betty Garrett during one of his appearances , whom he married in the same year. Both settled in Los Angeles after Garrett signed a contract with MGM .

It was the 1940s that marked the zenith of Parks' career. In 1946 he played the American musician Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer , and in 1947 he was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Leading Actor for his performance .

In 1951, Parks received a subpoena before the Committee on Un-American Activities , abbreviated in the US HUAC . He was accused of belonging to a Communist Party cell . Although he had nothing to blame in this regard, and Parks also endured all controls, he was unofficially put on the blacklist, which meant that he was banned from working in all Hollywood studios. In 1952, after a year-long delay, his last major Hollywood film was released in American cinemas: The Sweet Trap with Elizabeth Taylor . The film was produced in early 1951.

Parks and his wife Betty then founded a vaudeville theater with which they tried to survive financially in New York, but also later in London . At the end of the 1950s, when the controversy surrounding Parks had subsided a bit, he managed to take on small roles again on Broadway, including in Bells Are Ringing , alongside Judy Holliday . He also stood in front of the camera for the last time in 1962 in the biopic Freud by director John Huston .

Larry Parks then withdrew into private life, which he dedicated to his wife Betty and their two sons, the future film actor Andrew Parks and the future music composer Garrett Parks . Parks died of a heart attack in 1975 at the age of 60 . Larry Parks was the godfather of the film actor Jeff Bridges .

Filmography (selection)

• 1941: You belong to me ( You Belong to Me )
• 1942: Blondie Goes to College
• 1942: A kiss too much ( They All Kissed the Bride )
• 1942: You were never captivating ( You Were Never Lovelier )
• 1942: Atlantic Convoy
• 1946: Hated, Hunted, Feared ( Renegades )
• 1946: The Jazz Singer ( The Jolson Story )
• 1947: A goddess on earth ( Down to Earth )
• 1948: Blood feud ( The Swordsman )
• 1948: The Marshal's Mistress ( The Gallant Blade )
• 1949: Jolson Sings Again
• 1952: The sweet case ( Love Is Better Than Ever )
• 1962: Freud ( Freud - The Secret Passion )

Web links

• Larry Parks in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Larry Parks in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Images by Larry Parks In: Virtual History