Larry Storch

Lawrence Samuel Storch was born on January 8, 1923, in New York City, the son of Alfred Storch, a cabdriver and broker, and Sally Kupperman Storch, a telephone operator, jewelry-store owner, and rooming-house operator. His parents were observant Jews. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx alongside Don Adams, who remained a lifelong friend. Due to financial hardship during the Great Depression, Storch left school before graduating and began working as a comic for $12 a week, opening for bandleader Al Donahue at the band shell in Sheepshead Bay. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy, where he was shipmates with Tony Curtis aboard the submarine tender USS Proteus. Storch died on July 8, 2022, at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at the age of 99.

Storch built his career first as a comedian and impressionist, capable of recreating hundreds of voices and dialects ranging from Muhammad Ali to Claude Rains. His television work brought him widespread recognition, most notably as Corporal Randolph Agarn, a scheming character on the 1965–67 situation comedy F Troop, alongside Forrest Tucker, Ken Berry, and Melody Patterson. That role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1967 for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. He lost that year to his childhood friend Don Adams, to whom he later remarked, "You kept it on the block." Storch also appeared as a guest on dozens of television series, including Mannix, Car 54 Where Are You, Get Smart, Columbo, Gilligan's Island, All in the Family, and Married with Children, among many others. In 1975, he reunited with Forrest Tucker on the Saturday morning children's series The Ghost Busters, which also featured Bob Burns in a gorilla costume.

As a voiceover performer, Storch contributed to numerous animated productions, including Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, where he voiced Mr. Whoopee, as well as The Pink Panther Show, Groovie Goolies, The Brady Kids, and Cool Cat. During the late 1960s, he worked with Mel Blanc and June Foray at Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, voicing characters such as Merlin the Magic Mouse and Cool Cat. He also voiced Amos in the 1972 Filmation production Journey Back to Oz. Storch appeared in more than 25 Hollywood films, among them Gun Fever (1958), Who Was That Lady? (1960), Captain Newman M.D. (1963), The Great Race (1965), Airport 1975 (1974), and S.O.B. (1981). In 2005, he appeared in Funny Valentine with Anthony Michael Hall and in the documentary feature The Aristocrats.

Storch's Broadway career spanned from 1956 to 2004. His first Broadway appearance was in Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?, the play that was later adapted into the 1960 film starring Dean Martin and Tony Curtis, in which Storch also appeared. His subsequent Broadway credits included Porgy and Bess, which he considered his favorite production and which he also toured throughout the United States and Europe, as well as Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross, and Jonathan Frid, and Annie Get Your Gun with Reba McEntire. Additional Broadway productions included The Littlest Rebel and Some Like It Hot. In 2004, at age 81, Storch appeared in Sly Fox alongside Richard Dreyfuss and Irwin Corey, performing eight shows a week. In March 2008, he marked his 50th anniversary performing on Broadway. Off-Broadway, he received strong notices for Breaking Legs, a production co-starring Philip Bosco and Vincent Gardenia that extended its run multiple times before touring.

In 1953, Jackie Gleason asked Storch to fill in for him during a summer hiatus, which led to the ten-episode The Larry Storch Show, featuring guest stars including Janet Blair, Risë Stevens, Dick Haymes, and Cab Calloway. Storch also appeared on variety programs including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Steve Allen Show, Laugh-In, and Hollywood Squares. He recorded the comedy LP Larry Storch at The Bon Soir for Jubilee Records and also recorded Larry Storch Reads Philip Roth's Epstein. A month before his death, he recorded the blues song Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee with Mike Clark and his trio; the recording was released posthumously.

Storch married actress Norma Catherine Greve on July 10, 1961. They remained married until her death on August 28, 2003, at age 81. The couple briefly appeared together in the television film The Woman Hunter (1972). He had three children: a stepson, Lary May; a daughter, Candace Herman, born in 1947 and later reunited with Storch after having been placed for adoption; and a stepdaughter, June Cross, born in 1954 to Norma and Jimmy Cross of the song-and-dance team Stump and Stumpy. His younger brother, Jay Storch (1924–1987), worked as an actor and voiceover performer under the name Jay Lawrence.