Larry Hovis

Larry Hovis

Born: February 20, 1936
Died: September 9, 2003
in Wapato, Washington
Larry Hovis was born February 20, 1936, in Wapato, Washington. He grew up in Houston, Texas. He started out as a vocalist, singing with his sister Joan Hovis, then joined a quartet called "The Mascots", and they appeared on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" (1948). While Larry was earning his degree in philosophy at the University of Houston, he was signed to Capitol Records, where he recorded the album "My Heart Belongs to Only You". In the late 1950s, he moved to New York and appeared in the Broadway shows "The Billy Barnes Revue" (1959) and "From A to Z" (1960).

In 1963, Larry relocated his family to California, where he performed stand-up comedy routines in local clubs. His first notable appearance on a major TV show was in 1964 on "Gomer Pyle: USMC" (1964), appearing in ten episodes. He also appeared in two episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960). Larry eventually landed a minor role on the pilot episode of "Hogan's Heroes" (1965). When two other actors backed out of the series, he was given the permanent role of demolition man "Sgt. Carter". While a regular on the popular TV series, Hovis continued to write scripts for television specials and also wrote and performed on the breakthrough comedy series "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (1967). In 1966, he wrote the screenplay for the film Out of Sight (1966). After the unexpected cancellation of "Hogan's Heroes" (1965), Hovis appeared in such TV programs as "The Doris Day Show" (1968), "Adam-12" (1968), "Chico and the Man" (1974), "Holmes and Yo-Yo" (1976), "Alice" (1976) and others. Behind the scenes Larry produced several game shows, including "Liar's Club" (1976), in which he was a panelist from 1976 to 1978. In 1993, he appeared in the theatrical film Shadow Force (1992).

Movies for Larry Hovis...

Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind
Title: Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind
Character: Tillman
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
A gambler, a Texas ranger and an FBI agent are investigating a series of vigilante murders.
bee
Sex and the Married Woman
Title: Sex and the Married Woman
Character: Arnie Fish
Released: September 13, 1977
Type: Movie
A suburban housewife writes a novel based on her neighbors' sex lives. It becomes a runaway best seller, but causes no end of trouble in her marriage and her relationships with her neighbors.
bee
Title: Alice
Released: August 31, 1976
Type: TV
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.
bee
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
Title: The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
Character: Clel Tonkins
Released: May 29, 1976
Type: Movie
Three young women who posed as the daughters of an elderly homesteader find out that he has been falsely accused of murder, convicted, and sentenced to hang. They hatch a plot to smuggle him out of prison.
bee
Title: Chico and the Man
Released: September 13, 1974
Type: TV
Chico and the Man is an American sitcom which ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to July 21, 1978. It stars Jack Albertson as Ed Brown, the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and Freddie Prinze as Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic Chicano young man who comes in looking for a job. It was the first U.S. television series set in a Mexican-American neighborhood.
bee
Title: Here We Go Again
Character: Pool Man
Released: January 20, 1973
Type: TV
Here We Go Again is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from January to April 1973 on Saturday Night at 8:00pm. The show, produced by Metromedia/Bobka Productions, ran for 13 episodes.
bee
Wild in the Sky
Title: Wild in the Sky
Character: Capt. Breen
Released: March 1, 1972
Type: Movie
Three anti-war activists hijack a B-52 bomber.
bee
Title: Adam-12
Character: Art Phillips
Released: September 21, 1968
Type: TV
Adam-12 is a television police drama that followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12.
bee
Title: The Carol Burnett Show
Character: Self
Released: September 11, 1967
Type: TV
The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."
bee
Title: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Character: Regular Performer
Released: September 9, 1967
Type: TV
An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.
bee
Title: Hogan's Heroes
Character: Andrew Carter
Released: September 17, 1965
Type: TV
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to July 4, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the camp, and John Banner was the inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Hans Schultz. The series was popular during its six-season run. In 2013, creators Bernard Fein through his estate and Albert S. Ruddy acquired the sequel and other separate rights to Hogan's Heroes from Mark Cuban through arbitration and a movie based on the show has been planned.
bee
Title: Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Released: September 25, 1964
Type: TV
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy Griffith Show on May 18, 1964. The show ran for five seasons and a total of 150 episodes. In 2006, CBS Home Entertainment began releasing the series on DVD. The final season was released in November 2008. The series was created by Aaron Ruben, who also produced the show with Sheldon Leonard and Ronald Jacobs. Filmed and set in California, it stars Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, a naive but good-natured gas-station attendant from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina, who enlists in the United States Marine Corps. Frank Sutton plays Gomer's high-octane, short-fused Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, and Ronnie Schell plays Gomer's friend Gilbert "Duke" Slater. Allan Melvin played in the recurring role of Gunnery Sergeant Carter's rival, Sergeant Charley Hacker. The series never discussed nor addressed the then-current Vietnam War, instead focusing on the relationship between Gomer and Sergeant Carter. The show retained high ratings throughout its run.
bee
Title: Shindig!
Character: Self - Singer
Released: September 16, 1964
Type: TV
Shindig! is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz. The original pilot was rejected by ABC and David Sontag, then Executive Producer of ABC, redeveloped and completely redesigned the show. A new pilot with a new cast of artists was shot starring Sam Cooke. That pilot aired as the premiere episode.
bee
Title: Ben Casey
Released: October 2, 1961
Type: TV
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff was a medical consultant for the show and may have influenced the personality of the title character.
bee
Title: The Andy Griffith Show
Character: Gilly Walker
Released: October 3, 1960
Type: TV
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by." The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.