Larry
Ward was born on October 3, 1924 in Columbus, Ohio. His father was a former
college football coach and a member of the Ohio State Senate. Ward studied at a
number of universities before joining the United States Navy, where he served
for three years.
Enrolling
in the American Theatre Wing under the G.I. Bill of Rights, Ward soon appeared
in several outstanding productions. He turned his talents to writing but also
kept his hand in the acting profession by appearing in a television soap opera
titled ‘The Brighter Day’ in 1954. Here he played a character called Dr. Randy
Hamilton, but Ward had his sights set on Hollywood and left the show in 1957
when his character died of a myocardial infarction.
Larry
got his break in 1962 while he was visiting the Warner Brothers studio to
discuss a film script with producer Jules Schermer, who was so impressed with
his appearance that he gave him a minor part as Blake Stevens in the episode
"The Holdout" of the western series ‘Lawman’, starring John Russell
and Peter Brown, which was filming the following morning during its last season
on the air. This break was followed by minor roles in other TV series, and in
1963 Schermer gave Ward the starring role of U.S. Marshal Frank Ragan in a new
western series called ‘The Dakotas’, which also featured Chad Everett, Mike
Greene, and Jack Elam as Ward's deputies. The series was suddenly canceled
after a public outcry over the nineteenth episode, in which a priest was killed
during a gunfight at a church.
In
the 1966-1967 season, Ward guest starred on the NBC series ‘The Road West’ in
the episode entitled "Shaman". In 1976, Ward appeared in an episode
of the CBS western series Sara. As his career started to decline Larry followed
many other American actors to Italy. Here he appeared in two Euro-westerns:
“Kill the Wicked” (1967) and “Saguaro” (1968).
His last on-screen appearances were on two
episodes in 1982 of CBS's M*A*S*H
Ward
died at the age of sixty in Los Angeles, California on February 16, 1985.
Today
we remember Larry Ward on what would have been his 90th birthday.
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