RIP LARRY STORCH

1923-2022

Lawrence Samuel Storch was an actor and comedian best known for his comic television roles, including the bumbling Corporal Randolph Agarn on “F Troop” (1965-67). He started acting on television in 1951. Several of his early appearances were at or for Desilu. 

In February 1955, Larry Storch appeared on the Desilu variety series “Shower of Stars” titled “That’s Life.”  Storch did an impression of a Russian radio reporter describing a baseball game. 

In February 1964, he returned to Desilu for an episode of “The Greatest Show on Earth” titled “Clancy” co-starring with Jack Palance, Marta Kristin, and Edmund O’Brien.  

In 1965, Storch appeared in the Blake Edwards film The Great Race, which also featured Vivian Vance in one of her rare screen roles. Lucille Ball visited the set to observe filming. 

In August 1966 he appeared on the Desilu series “Vacation Playhouse,” an anthology series of unproduced pilots. This one was titled “My Lucky Penny” starring Richard Benjamin, Brenda Vaccaro, Joel Gray, and Jonathan Harris. 

In November 1967, Storch played a bank robber on an episode of the Desi Arnaz sitcom “The Mothers-in-Law” titled “I Thought He’d Never Leave”. The episode was produced and directed by Elliott Lewis, husband of Mary Jane Croft. Wilbur Hatch was the show’s musical director. It was filmed at Desilu Studios. 

That same year, Storch appeared in an episode of “Gomer Pyle: USMC”, which was filmed on the Desilu backlot. Storch played Manuel Cortez, who  comes to America to observe the Marine Corps in action to help his country’s armed forces. In December 1968, he returned to play the character in one more episode of the series. 

He was seen in an episode of “Mannix” – a show championed by Lucille Ball – in February 1968.  The episode was titled “Another Final Exit” in which Storch played the down-and-out brother-in-law to a mobster.  In 1974, Storch returned for a second episode titled “Portrait in Blues.”

Storch and Lucille Ball both appeared in “Ann-Margret: From Hollywood with Love” (1969).  The second half of the special opened with Storch hosting a mock celebrity gossip show titled “Jeremy Farber’s Hollywood at Home”.  Storch and Ball did not have share screen time. 

In March 1976, the Bob Hope star-studded special “Joys!” (a pun on Jaws), featured (among many others) Larry Storch and Desi Arnaz Sr.  Also in the cast was Storch’s childhood friend Don Adams. 

In January 1978, Storch played Elwood Riggs on a two-part episode of “The Love Boat” that also featured Desi Arnaz Jr.

“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.” ~ LARRY STORCH

Storch was married to his wife Norma from 1961 until her passing in 2003. They had one child. He was 99 years old.