Larry Storch

Overview

Born
January 8, 1923 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Died
July 8, 2022 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA (in his sleep overnight)
Birth name
Laurence Samuel Storch
Height
5′ 8″ (1.73 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trivia

Inadvertently set in motion the Cary Grant line, "Judy, Judy, Judy . . . " during one of his nightclub acts. Legend has it that he was in the middle of a Grant impersonation when Judy Garland walked in. Apparently, this is how he addressed the star. Even though the line was never said in any of Grant's movies, Storch's impression inexplicably stuck and was often used by other impressionists.
During WWII he served on a submarine tender, the USS Proteus, with Tony Curtis. They became lifelong friends. Storch and Curtis appeared in eight movies together. In 2003, both were in the (theatrical) musical version of Some Like It Hot (1959) that toured across the country.
His Hollywood Hills residence was located in Nichols Canyon. He would stand on his back deck and practice blowing his horns. Entertainer and tenor John Castello built a hilltop enclave at the top of Nichols Canyon on Solar Drive. Entertaining guests for dinner, the sounds of a sax and a trumpet would break the night silence of the hilltop wind. Guests would ask, "Who's playing the horn?" Nonchalantly, Castello would reply, "Oh, that's only Larry!".
A native New Yorker, he enjoyed playing the saxophone in Riverside Park.
His best-known role remains that of Cpl. Randolph Agarn, the bumbling sidekick of the double-dealing Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) on the 1965-67 sitcom F-Troop (1965). On 9/11/2014, 91-year-old Storch made his final Los Angeles stand-up performance at the Comedy Store Sunset Blvd. Five days later he received his star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame. The Comedy Store show, "Larry Storch Live: At Ease, Boys and Girls!" featured appearances by Bernie Kopell, Hank Garrett, Bob Burns, Ken Berry--who starred with him as the hapless Capt. Wilton Parmenter on "F Troop"--and Marion Ross. Berry, who introduced Storch to the Comedy Club audience, had been a longtime fan of his comedy and impressions even before "F Troop." Berry said, "He used to do things like 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' I never saw anyone work like that before. Working with Larry and some of those other guys was great--it was like recess every day." Hank Garrett, who performed some of his own stand-up material, worked with Storch when the comedian guest-starred in the 1961-63 NBC sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? (1961) (Garrett played Officer Ed Nicholson on the show). "I learned so much watching Larry," said Garrett, who, like Berry, has remained close with Storch. "I call him all the time. He's an amazing guy--and at 91 he does yoga head-stands." The Comedy Store played an important part in Storch's early career. Then known as Ciro's nightclub, it was where Storch made his first professional comedy appearance there serving in the U.S. Navy on the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) during World War II (one of his fellow crew members was Tony Curtis). "I wanted to hitchhike across the country [to New York City] in my sailor's uniform because nobody would refuse a sailor," said Storch. As fate would have it, bandleader Phil Harris picked him up in Los Angeles. "Phil Harris said, 'Get in sailor,' after Storch told Phil he was heading to New York City. Harris said, 'Your first stop will be Palm Springs.' On the way to the desert, Storch told Harris about his comedy background and did his impressions. "When we got to Palm Springs, he turned the car around and said we're going back to Hollywood," said Storch. "He takes me to Ciro's nightclub, and sitting in an empty room was Lucille Ball listening to her husband Desi Arnaz rehearse the band for tomorrow evening's opening. I did Frank Morgan and various other notable actors. Lucille Ball said, "Lose the sailor suit, get into a blue suit and be here tomorrow at 8 p.m. You will lead off, and Desi will follow you onstage'. That's the way it worked out".

Quotes

I'll never forget what Edward Everett Horton said to me: "Promise me, Larry, you will never grow old". I've tried my best to use that advice.
Sometimes, I walk out on stage, and you can hear from the balcony, "Hey, Agarn!" It still tickles me after 40 years. They don't make them like F-Troop (1965) anymore!
The most money I ever made was on a McDonald's hamburger commercial.
[about the running gag on F-Troop (1965), in which Cpl. Agarn's cousins from various parts of the world kept showing up] If you tell a joke, if you can do it in dialect, you're way ahead of the game. I had cousins who came from Moscow, Mexico, Montreal.
[on Nat Hiken, for whom he worked on Car 54, Where Are You? (1961)] Nat Hiken was one of the great writers of all time. I wish I had got to know him better. It was strictly a "Hello, how are you?" sort of thing. I think he ranked with Fred Allen and Larry Gelbart. He was right up there with the best of them.