Lawrence Dobkin | |
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Dobkin in Raiders of Old California
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Born |
New York City, New York, U.S. |
September 16, 1919
Died | October 28, 2002 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 83)
Cause of death | Cardiovascular disease |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Occupation | Television actor, director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1946–2001 |
Spouse(s) | Anne Collings (1970-2002) (his death) 3 children Joanna Barnes (1962-1967) (divorced) |
Children | 1 child |
Lawrence "Larry" Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002) was an American television director, character actor and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades.
Dobkin was a prolific performer during the Golden Age of Radio. His voice was used to narrate the classic western Broken Arrow (1950). His film performances include Never Fear (1949), Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and North by Northwest (1959). He announced the landmark television series Naked City (1958–1963), closing each episode with the statement, "There are eight million stories in the naked city, and this has been one of them."
A former child actor, Dobkin began working in radio to pay for his studies at the Yale University School of Drama. He understudied on Broadway before serving with a radio propaganda unit of the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. When he returned to network radio he was one of five actors who played the detective Ellery Queen in The Adventures of Ellery Queen. In The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe (1950–1951), Dobkin played detective Archie Goodwin opposite Sydney Greenstreet's Nero Wolfe.
While playing Louie, The Saint's cab-driving sidekick on NBC Radio in 1951, he was asked to step into the lead role of Simon Templar to replace Tom Conway for a single episode — making Dobkin one of the few actors to portray Leslie Charteris' literary creation.