Larry J. Blake

Acting

Larry J. Blake

Born 1914-04-24 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Larry J. Blake was born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York on April 24, 1914. At the age of 18, his talent at impersonations and dialects grew into a vaudeville act. Blake eventually became a headliner, playing the Orpheum circuit, as well as the Roxy Theatre and the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. In 1936, he signed to a contract with Universal studios, and his first job was in the serial Secret Agent X-9 (1937). Right after that, he was chosen for a featured role in James Whale's The Road Back (1937), a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). He appeared in other films for Universal including a string of 1938 films, Trouble at Midnight (1937), Air Devils (1938), Nurse from Brooklyn (1938), and The Jury's Secret (1938). With the outbreak of WWII, Blake joined the U.S. Navy serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific. He was mustered out and treated at a Naval hospital for his alcoholism. A Catholic priest helped Blake join Alcoholics Anonymous, and in 1946 he help start the first A.A. group for members of the motion picture industry. Blake returned to acting in 1946, working steadily in supporting and bit parts throughout the 1950s. He is best known for his roles in Sunset Blvd. (1950) and High Noon (1952). In Sunset Boulevard he played the first finance man who comes to repossess William Holden's car. In High Noon, Blake played Gillis, the owner of the saloon who is punched by Gary Cooper. As television's popularity began, Blake found plenty of work from westerns, crime dramas to comedies. He was a regular in The Pride of the Family (1953) television series, as well as the recurring part of the friendly jailer in Yancy Derringer (1958). His last role was as the museum security guard in Time After Time (1979), when he was forced to retire due to emphysema. Until his death in 1982, Blake continued helping others in the A.A. program. (IMDB)

Acting credits

Sunset Boulevard poster
8.3

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Sunset Boulevard

1950

Sex and the Single Girl poster
6.6

A womanizing reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown.

Sex and the Single Girl

1964

Diamonds Are Forever poster
6.4

Diamonds are stolen only to be sold again in the international market. James Bond infiltrates a smuggling mission to find out who's guilty. The mission takes him to Las Vegas where Bond meets his archenemy Blofeld.

Diamonds Are Forever

1971

High Noon poster
7.7

Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.

High Noon

1952

Hang 'em High poster
6.9

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

Hang 'em High

1968

The Love Bug poster
6.6

Down-on-his-luck race car driver Jim Douglas teams up with a little VW Bug that has a mind of its own, not realizing Herbie's worth until a sneaky rival plots to steal him.

The Love Bug

1968

Herbie Rides Again poster
6.2

The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.

Herbie Rides Again

1974

Call Northside 777 poster
6.7

In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal to look into the case. For some time, McNeal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.

Call Northside 777

1948

Demon Seed poster
5.9

A scientist creates Proteus, an organic supercomputer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creator's wife.

Demon Seed

1977

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers poster
7.1

In 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that they want to get married too.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

1954

Time After Time poster
6.8

Writer H. G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to modern day San Francisco after the infamous serial killer steals his time machine to escape the 19th century.

Time After Time

1979

That Darn Cat! poster
6.6

A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than she imagined.

That Darn Cat!

1965

The Strongest Man in the World poster
6.2

Medfield College science major Dexter Riley and his classmates have been working on a new vitamin compound when a lab accident creates a supercharged mix that ends up in Dexter's cereal box, giving him superhuman strength. The powerful formula comes to the attention of the college dean and two rival cereal companies, touching off a hilarious chain of events.

The Strongest Man in the World

1975

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers poster
6.1

Test space rockets exploding at liftoff and increased reporting of UFO sightings culminate in a direct attempt by alien survivors of a dead, extra-galactic civilization to invade Earth from impervious flying saucers, using ray-weapons of mass destruction.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

1956

Holiday Affair poster
6.9

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, who's actually a comparison shopper sent by another store. Steve lets her go, which gets him fired. They spend the afternoon together, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, when he finds out, but delights her young son Timmy, who quickly takes to Steve.

Holiday Affair

1949

Elmer Gantry poster
7.3

A charismatic charlatan begins a business — and eventually romantic — relationship with a roadside evangelist to sell religion to 1920s America. Based on Sinclair Lewis' novel of the same name.

Elmer Gantry

1960

The Rare Breed poster
6.2

When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West. They enlist Sam "Bulldog" Burnett in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford named Vindicator, to a breeder in Texas, but the trail is fraught with danger and even Burnett doubts the survival potential of this "rare breed" of cattle.

The Rare Breed

1966

Angel Face poster
7.1

Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.

Angel Face

1953

The Stone Killer poster
6.3

A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.

The Stone Killer

1973

One More Train to Rob poster
5.4

Harker Flet and compatriots Timothy X. Nolan and Katy, along with three other men, steal $40,000 in money and jewelry from a California train in the gold-mining country of the 1880's. The six split up and while they are hiding out awaiting the rendezvous to divide the loot, Hark is cornered, framed and sent to prison. He is released after two-and-a-half years and sets out to find Katy and Nolan and get his share of the loot.

One More Train to Rob

1971

The Blue Gardenia poster
6.5

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.

The Blue Gardenia

1953

Man of a Thousand Faces poster
6.8

The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bearer of many personal misfortunes that even his great success could not mitigate.

Man of a Thousand Faces

1957

Maisie Goes to Reno poster
6.6

A Brooklyn showgirl gets mixed up in a divorce between a soldier and his wife.

Maisie Goes to Reno

1944

While the City Sleeps poster
6.9

Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".

While the City Sleeps

1956