Jack Larson

Jack Edward Larson was born in Los Angeles, California, to Anita (Calicoff) and George E. Larson. He was raised in Pasadena, and attended Pasadena Junior College (by coincidence, exactly as did his Adventures of Superman (1952) co-star George Reeves). He was a contract player at Warner Bros. Typecast as Jimmy Olsen, Larson found it virtually impossible to get other acting roles after the series went off the air and retired from acting a few years later, concentrating on writing. His plays have been highly acclaimed and he has had works performed in theaters and opera houses around the world.

He was a contract player at Warner Brothers, but was not involved with any of the "Superman" films that starred Christopher Reeve. In addition, Larson and the two "Lois Lane" actresses (Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill) were never brought in to the television production of Wonder Woman (1975) for guest appearances in any episode of that series.

Was the life-partner of writer/director James Bridges of Urban Cowboy (1980) and The China Syndrome (1979) fame. Their relationship lasted over thirty years until Bridges' death in 1993.

He had small roles in Superboy (1988) and in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993). He has yet to have a role in Smallville (2001), but considering it's not about Superman or Superboy, but instead about Clark Kent, an exception can be made. He had a small role in Superman Returns (2006).

In 2006, he told The New York Times that he quit acting in 1961 on the advice of his then-boyfriend Montgomery Clift. Larson had gone to an audition for producer Mervyn LeRoy, who had rejected Larson right away because he had played Jimmy Olsen. Clift counseled Larson not to put himself in that situation any longer, so Larson concentrated instead on producing and writing, becoming the first playwright to win a Rockefeller Foundation grant.