# Jack Larson
**Jack Larson** (Jack Edward Larson, February 8, 1928 – September 20, 2015) was an American actor, playwright, librettist, and producer best known for playing cub reporter [Jimmy Olsen](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-olsen) on the television series *Adventures of Superman*, the first television incarnation of the Superman comic-book stories.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) After typecasting ended his acting career, he became a playwright and the librettist of Virgil Thomson's opera *Lord Byron*, and was the producing and life partner of writer-director James Bridges.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | February 8, 1928, Los Angeles; September 20, 2015, Brentwood, California, aged 87[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) |
| Signature role | Jimmy Olsen on *Adventures of Superman*, six seasons, 1952 to 1958, opposite George Reeves[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) |
| Salary | $350 per episode on *Adventures of Superman*[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0489001/bio/) |
| Major written works | *The Candied House* (1966), *Chuck* (1968), the libretto for Virgil Thomson's opera *Lord Byron* (1972), *The Astronaut's Tale* (1998)[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) • [3](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-jack-larson-jimmy-olsen-from-superman-series-dies-at-87/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i) |
| Distinction | First playwright to be awarded a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) |
| Partnership | Life and producing partner of James Bridges from 1958 until Bridges's death in 1993[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) |
| Later Superman cameos | *Superboy* (1991), *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman* (1996, as an older Jimmy Olsen), *Superman Returns* (2006, as a bartender)[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) |
## Early life and start in acting
Larson was born in Los Angeles and grew up in nearby Montebello. His father, George Larson, drove a milk truck, and his mother, the former Anita Kalikov, worked for [Western Union](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-union); they divorced when he was a child.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) He became a state bowling champion at 14 and considered bowling as a professional career, but he also wrote and acted in his own plays in junior high school.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html) A Warner Bros. scout saw him in a college production at Pasadena Junior College and signed him to a movie contract; he made his screen debut in the 1948 war film *Fighter Squadron*, directed by [Raoul Walsh](https://www.edgepedia.org/raoul-walsh).[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html)
## Jimmy Olsen
In 1951, at 23, Larson was offered the role of Jimmy Olsen, the eager young reporter and photographer at the fictional [Daily Planet](https://www.edgepedia.org/daily-planet) who idolizes Clark Kent and repeatedly gets himself and [Lois Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/lois-lane) into danger requiring Superman's rescue. He hesitated, fearing typecasting, because he aspired to a career on Broadway as an actor and playwright.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) His agent told him the series had no sponsor and was unlikely to be seen, advising him to take the money; Larson agreed to film 26 episodes.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) [Kellogg's](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelloggs) then became the sponsor, and the series, which premiered in 1952 and ran until 1958, became a hit.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html)
**Instant celebrity.** Within a month of the show airing, Larson said, he had gone from a young actor doing live television to what *People* magazine called a "TV teen idol"; he found the sudden fame frightening and stopped taking the bus or subway because strangers called out "Jimmy!"[6](https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-in-superman-tv-series-dies-at-87.amp) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html) He brought comedy to the role, with Olsen frequently captured by villains and placed in peril before Clark Kent switched to his Superman costume.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html) The bow tie he wore as Olsen was later preserved at the [Smithsonian Institution](https://www.edgepedia.org/smithsonian-institution), which Larson donated.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html)
**Typecasting.** His fears proved correct. "I was really bitter for years, about being typed, and it absolutely wrecked my acting career," he told the [New York Daily News](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-daily-news) in 1996. "I quit acting and wrote because I just couldn't get a job. They didn't want Jimmy Olsen walking through their films."[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) After an upsetting encounter in 1961 with the producer Mervyn LeRoy, who told him he could not cast him because he was too well known as Jimmy Olsen, the actor [Montgomery Clift](https://www.edgepedia.org/montgomery-clift), with whom Larson had a romantic relationship, advised him to stop putting himself in those casting situations. Larson gave up acting and built a new career as a writer.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) • [8](https://www.timteeman.com/2015/09/26/the-hollywood-life-of-jack-larson-americas-first-teen-heart-throb/) For years he refused interviews about the role, hoping public memory of it would fade.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html)
## Playwright and librettist
Larson wrote plays distinctive for their rhyming verse. His first major credit was *The Candied House*, a verse retelling of the [Hansel and Gretel](https://www.edgepedia.org/hansel-and-gretel) story, which opened in 1966 at the Bing Center Theater in Los Angeles and earned critical praise; a Los Angeles Times critic called it "a joy to hear from a man who loves and respects words."[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) • [4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) Other works included *Chuck* (1968), about an epileptic magazine salesman, and *Cherry, Larry, Sandy, Doris, Jean, Paul*, a comedy about being gay that played off-Broadway and at the 1969 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html) He was the first playwright to be awarded a grant by the [Rockefeller Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/rockefeller-foundation).[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson)
His proudest achievement, he said, was the libretto for *Lord Byron*, the third and last opera of the composer Virgil Thomson, commissioned by the [Metropolitan Opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/metropolitan-opera). Directed by the Oscar-winning actor [John Houseman](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-houseman), it premiered in 1972 at the Juilliard Theater in New York and received mixed reviews.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) His later works included *The Astronaut's Tale* (1998), a chamber opera with music by Charles Fussell, and *The Hyacinth From Apollo*, a monodrama with music by Gerhard Samuel.[4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html)
## Work with James Bridges
Larson met the writer-director James Bridges in 1957 on the set of *Johnny Trouble*, Ethel Barrymore's final film, and the two became partners in life and work for 35 years, until Bridges died of cancer in 1993.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) • [9](https://www.advocate.com/people/2015/9/21/actor-jack-larson-superman-fame-dies-87) Bridges became an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and director, and Larson was his production partner on films including *The Baby Maker*, *Mike's Murder* (1984), *Perfect* (1985), and *Bright Lights, Big City* (1988); he also helped develop the script for *The China Syndrome* (1979).[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-14-we-45668-story.html) The couple lived in a [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-lloyd-wright)-designed home, the George Sturges House, and did not hide their relationship; "We never pretended," Larson told the Los Angeles Times in 2011.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) • [9](https://www.advocate.com/people/2015/9/21/actor-jack-larson-superman-fame-dies-87) After Bridges's death, Larson donated $500,000 from the Bridges/Larson Foundation to upgrade a theater at UCLA and name it for Bridges.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html)
## Return to acting
Larson came to terms with the Jimmy Olsen legacy late in life and returned to acting in Superman-related roles. He appeared in a 1991 episode of *Superboy*, played an unnaturally aged Jimmy Olsen in a 1996 episode of *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman*, and appeared as a bartender in the 2006 film *Superman Returns*; one of his last television appearances was a 2010 episode of *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit*.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html) • [4](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html) He predicted his own obituary in a 1994 Los Angeles Times interview: even if he won the [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize), it would say "Jack Larson, best remembered as Jimmy Olsen." "I'm pleased with it," he added. "It's nice not to be forgotten."[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-14-we-45668-story.html)
## Death
Larson died on September 20, 2015, at his home in Brentwood, California, at 87. His death was confirmed by the writer-director Alan Howard, a longtime friend, who said Larson had not been ill and died peacefully with his dog nearby.[7](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html)
## References
1. [Jack Larson, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/jack-larson)
2. [Jack Larson Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0489001/bio/)
3. [Actor Jack Larson, Jimmy Olsen from "Superman" series, dies at 87, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-jack-larson-jimmy-olsen-from-superman-series-dies-at-87/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i)
4. [Jack Larson, 87; playwright also had starred as Jimmy Olsen, The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/09/21/jack-larson-playwright-better-known-jimmy-olsen-superman-dies/RixldK9uTAKYxjLPh3PKlM/story.html)
5. [Jack Larson: Actor who played Jimmy Olsen to George Reeves' Superman, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-larson-actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-to-george-reeves-superman-but-gave-up-his-career-to-write-for-the-stage-10517468.html)
6. [Actor who played Jimmy Olsen in 'Superman' TV series dies at 87, FOX 13 Seattle](https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/actor-who-played-jimmy-olsen-in-superman-tv-series-dies-at-87.amp)
7. [Jack Larson dies at 87; actor played Jimmy Olsen in 'The Adventures of Superman', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-larson-20150921-story.html)
8. [The Hollywood Life of Jack Larson, America's First Teen Heart-Throb, Tim Teeman](https://www.timteeman.com/2015/09/26/the-hollywood-life-of-jack-larson-americas-first-teen-heart-throb/)
9. [Actor Jack Larson of 'Superman' Fame Dies at 87, The Advocate](https://www.advocate.com/people/2015/9/21/actor-jack-larson-superman-fame-dies-87)
10. [Daily Planet Cub Reporter's World Is a Stage, Los Angeles Times (1994)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-14-we-45668-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames J to L*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license