I saw the interview when it first aired in 1982. I had grown up watching The Adventures of Superman and was very happy to see Jack Larson on television again after all those years. This was one of the first times that Mr. Larson abandoned his low profile and embraced his Jimmy Olson legacy. He passed away in 2015 and will always be fondly remembered.
@@stevescontriano860 That wasn't 'today', and the residual system is ridiculous. I still get resids from shows I did in the mid-eighties. Can you imagine how ridiculously intricate that residual system has to be to distribute even small resids (I got one recently for $.86)?
@@stevescontriano860 I believe it's b/c contracts were written that way. Actors didn't demand it b/c nobody thought re-runs would amount to anything. I understand Jerry Lewis had it in his contracts for movies, a very smart move.
Me too. I'm 67. When I got married, my wife came to understand that she had to watch every episode of every season of "Superman." I don't think she minded, though. She began saying things like, "Golly, Superman, are we glad to see you!"
Alby 52 Your condolences for the Superman cast are very thoughtful, but you should have had the decency to spell Noel Neill's name correctly. Pathetic.
I was 2 when this interview happened. RIP Jack bka Jimmy. One love. Thank God for Nick @ night, loved those shows that came before me. Superman is the best!!
Nice to see an interview that is just a simple adult conversation without an apparent need for constant quips and "funny" comments/asides of the type that characterize almost all late night interviews these days. Very interesting guest and chat.
And Phyllis Coates was the best Lois Lane...she played the part as a quite aggressive female reporter...she was ahead of her time, in that regard...She also was quite a babe!
Superman was my first hero as a small boy. At one point Kelloggs was selling a Superman costume which I very much wanted but was told we couldnt afford. Instead of that I remember going around the neighborhood wearing a towel as a cape and believed I could fly, even jumping from trees. Was so pleased to see this interview on Letterman. Like most I'm sure, I had no idea of the real man and his many talents. Remarkable how young he still looked.
Those Letterman shows from the beginning were great, he was doing 'alternative' Late Night and it was so entertaining. I still liked Johnny but Letterman, as a 21 yr old was someone I could call my own.
It just hit in this video. George Reeves reminded me of President Franklin Roosevelt in his voice and delivery. Oh George I wish you could have seen a way out of your misery.
Larson's last dramatic television appearance was in "Quickie," an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," in January 2010 - which aired on NBC. Larson played Dewey Butler, a grandfather of a young suspect allegedly taking revenge on women by spreading AIDS. He was actually quite good.
I really don't know how he got so type cast because he really was a talented actor, and actually played the original Corporal under Frank Sutton's Sergeant Carter on Gomer Pyle USMC in it's beginning seasons, for one episode. I think he chose not to continue with the show because he didn't want to get involved with another TV series, although I understand, but I think that might have been a career mistake as that role would have brought him out his type casting. He was a very convincing Marine Corporal
It should be noted that the Opera law-abiding was pretty pricey back in those days to go see you couldn't touch front roll or mid ochre seat but it was very good I never knew a Jack Lawson actually wrote this a tip of a hat to you sir wherever you may be
I'm not lying...I actually watched that stamp episode on youtube today!!! I stumbled onto this and had to see it...Jack always spoke so highly of George and the cast/crew in general of that show...you can see how important it was in his life.
Anyone else notice how the George Reeves Clark Kent character on the classic tv show was a pretty cool guy while the Christopher Reeve Clark Kent character in the movie was a clumsy geek,and Jack also played on some episodes of Gomer Pyle USMC.
Unfortunately residuals were several decades away. The only way an actor could really get rich in those days was if he owned the show. William Boyd mortgaged everything he had to buy up his old "Hopalong Cassidy" movies and edited them into TV shows. He made huge money doing that.
@@daveconleyportfolio5192 You can thank Ronald Reagan for that. He was the president of the screen actors guild and SCREWED many famous actors & actresses out of residuals. The Three Stooges were the most well known as being screwed out of royalties related to their short subject films. Thank you Ronnie.
I think you have it backwards. He didn’t screw performers out of residuals. When he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, Ronald Reagan staged a showdown with studio executives and won the creation of the residual payment system that lives today. @@martinlutherbling424
Does anyone remember the cold open to this show? Jack Larsen is seen sitting in the green room, and a file cabinet falls on top of him. "Help!" I can't remember if Dave was in costume or not, but he comes, moves the file cabinet, and saves Jack, who says, "Thanks Letter Man!"
Jack Larson was always a class act. He was a real mover behind the scenes. He was gay and in a long-time committed relationship, which must have been difficult at times.
The circumstances involving Georges death are highly suspect. Many folks leave the case open to foul play based on circumstance and lack of clear evidence regarding suicide. Evidently Jack went along with the official story. Perhaps he did this in order not to make any waves which might had affected his career negatively. Aside of that Jack Larson was a fantastic Jimmy Olsen and was good friends with his leading cast member George Reeves.
Jack Larson aged very well! I also notice when they show the black & white clip, you see flashes of color, that's a problem TV stations had years ago. Many of them would cut the color completely during a B&W broadcast for this reason.
Jack Larson was a multi-talented individual who unfortunately ended up typecast as Jimmy Olsen. Not only that but he, and the rest of the 'Superman' cast, were paid peanuts and locked into a contract that made it impossible to find other work during the 1950s when Superman was on the air.
I always liked Jimmy Olsen's voice and delivery. I'm curious if the poster of this video substituted the entire PSA, as it seemed a bit long for the Letterman Show.
I substituted nothing. This is what aired. This was just over a month into Late Night’s run, where long clips were used, simply to fill airtime, because, at this time, guests were difficult to book.
Typecasting is a problem in Hollywood. That said, I get the feeling that many of these actors who hit it big on a show tend to get a little full of themselves, they turn down parts because those parts are now "beneath them". Not saying that typecasting isn't a real issue and does hurt careers. But I think a character actor, or supporting actor, should take as many different parts as he can and never feel a part is not big enough or challenging enough. I recall after Bonanza became a hit Pernell Roberts starting mouthing off about the plots and scripts, saying they didn't "challenge" him as an actor. He quite the show in season 6 to go on to bigger and better things. Or so he thought. He wound up drifting to guest spots on TV shows for almost 15 years before hitting it big again with Trapper John, MD. I also recall Claude Akins saying he was never invited to any Hollywood parties. But his career spanned 40 years and he worked steadily as a first rate, reliable character actor that entire time before his untimely death at 67 of cancer.
Seems like Larson wasn't being offered much because he was too typecast. So not only were the parts not coming, but what he was offered was not interesting enough (or financially viable) for him to continue, especially since he had a (sounds like) greater love for writing over acting. He was very successful as the latter, and apparently happier for it.
What a great guy. It is too bad he got typecast. But worse that he didn’t get residuals from the reruns. It seems inconceivable that those who had worldwide admiration don’t get a penny from reruns but faceless, untalented opportunists are making millions. Back then they didn’t even have the concept of reruns. Even though they didn’t know their show would be re-aired billions of times and be so valuable they still should have been compensated.
You can thank Ronald Reagan for that. He was the president of the screen actors guild and SCREWED many famous actors & actresses out of residuals. The Three Stooges were the most well known as being screwed out of royalties related to their short subject films. Thank you Ronnie.
@@martinlutherbling424 True, Reagan destroyed millions of people’s lives. He was a psychopath. I think everyone involved in a movie should get residuals. They are the ones who created the program. I looked on Prime to see what a season of Superman cost. It was $16!!! And not a penny of that will go to the people who made the program popular. Like I said in my earlier post the people who are making millions off shows are non talent crooks. They do absolutely nothing. Same for Prime and other streaming services. It doesn’t cost anything to add programs to their databases. I’m so sick of greed and capitalism. We should tax the hell out of the extremely rich and impose extremely tough regulations on corporations. The tax rate under Eisenhower was 91%. That’s what we need to return to and we need to force corporations to pay workers livable wages. And give residuals to all actors and production teams even if it is a small percentage. Those percentages would add up over a person’s career so they could retire without worrying about affordable housing or healthcare. But to do that we need to throw all corporate owned politicians out of office and replace them with progressives. Progressives are the only ones who work for other people. Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive. So was FDR. Todays republicans would call them communists and socialists today. But republicans don’t even know what those words mean. They’re brainwashed dolts. Outlaw greed!
I had such a crush on him as Jimmy Olsen when I was a kid. I wish I'd known he was gay at the time. Would have made growing up a little bit easier. Seems like a really kind guy. Thanks for posting!
Phyllis Coates was the hottest ... unfortunately she only played the first season... due to her decision to leave.. and then was replaced.. still hot @ 90+ years...
@@michaelgasiciel9317 as a kid, I always liked Noel better, she seem more likable as Phyllis was too rigid and serious. Phyllis was definitely a more serious actress and beautiful...her Lois was no nonsense...and I enjoy her episodes more today and appreciate her acting contrasting to Noel's which was more fun and friendly for kid viewers.
@@michaelgasiciel9317 Phyllis had been a successful pin-up girl, during the mid-to late 1940s...She made a few movies in the 1950s, after her stint as Lois Lane, but her career never really took off. She was a fabulous-looking woman.
I was always a fan of Dave and his show. This was the first year of Late Night on NBC following his failed daytime show. He was minding his p’s and Q’s still in his probationary first year and not taking the liberties and license that later became his hallmark. Lucky for Jack, but Letterman always did maintain a reverence for certain sports figures, and show biz types that had made an impression on him as a young man growing up in the Midwest so Jack being the solid citizen that he was had carte Blanche and was going to be in Dave’s good graces no matter what era he had guested on.
He said he would never do another television series again, but did not say why. Would love to have learned why his experiences turned him against wanting to be a regular in a series (it seemed that he was open to being in an episode of a television series, but not a daily, regular character).
@@StevieStitches I remembered he was in one episode of Gomer Pyle, but I had no idea which one. Thank you so much. You identified which episode, and I looked it up on RU-vid and watched it, something I wanted to do for years. Thanks again.
Poor guy was still desperate to be separated from that character. Success. I didn’t know all that about him. Don’t really care but recognize the human component of that which affects most of us at some time.
As 'Blue Skye' said, "Serious interview with a few light-hearted moments." I kinda wish there were one more: "When was it that you realized Superman was Clark Kent?" 😃
Noel Neil followed him 10 months later in 2016 in her 90's. I find it odd that Phyllis Coates is her age now just turned 94 on Jan 15th...Lois before Noel in that series, but Noel was the original Lois with Kirk Allyn prior serials and that's how they selected her after Phyllis quit.
Good interview. George Reeves might have been frustrated by being typecast, but obviously he had other problems that drove him to suicide. I’m not surprised that the discussion didn’t go into those kinds of details.
I don't! I believe Jack just gave an easy answer, to an uninformed Letterman; &, his equally, mostly uninformed audience. Far more tragically tjough, is that as one commenter said here, that he doesn't even care; whatever the subject: typecasting; shady deaths; residuals, ballet; opera; writing, theatre; plays; acting; literature; silent movies; Etc.; for nearly all Americans, they do NOT care; except, for beer, hotdogs, football, sports, sex, pop culture tv., cartoons, violence; &, all things: mindless; lazy; very stupid; &, braindead.
