Lawrence Dobkin

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Lawrence Dobkin
Lawrence Dobkin-RaidersofOldCalifornia.jpg
Born (1919-09-16)September 16, 1919
Where New York City, New York, U.S.
Died October 28, 2002(2002-10-28) (aged 83)
Where Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Gender {{{gender}}}
Years Active 1946–2001
Roles {{{roles}}}
Parents {{{parents}}}
Spouse Anne Collings (1970-2002) (his death) 3 children
Joanna Barnes (1962-1967) (divorced)
Birth Name {{{birth_name}}}
Occupation Television actor, director, screenwriter
Appearances
First Appearance: {{{first}}}

Last Appearance: {{{last}}}


Lawrence "Larry" Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002) was an American television director, 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."[1]

Radio[edit | edit source]

A former child actor, Dobkin began working in radio to pay for his studies at the Yale University School of Drama.[citation needed] He understudied on Broadway before serving with a radio propaganda unit of the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.[citation needed] 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.[2]

His other radio work included Escape (1947–1954), Gunsmoke (1952–1961), Yours Truly (1956–1960), and the anthology series Lux Radio Theater. "The few of us who are left," Dobkin said of his radio days not long before he died, "keep telling each other that we never had it so good."[1]

He was also Lieutenant Matthews on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, along with several other characters.

Continuing to work as a voice actor throughout his career, Dobkin contributed to the video game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999).

Television[edit | edit source]

Dobkin began a prolific career in television in 1946, having worked as an actor, narrator and director. In 1953, he guest-starred on Alan Hale's short-lived CBS espionage series set in the Cold War, Biff Baker. He was cast in an episode of the early syndicated series The Silent Service, based on true stories of the submarine section of the United States Navy. He appeared also in the religion anthology series, Crossroads, based on experiences of American clergymen, and later on the ABC religion drama, Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly.

In the 1957-1958 television season, Dobkin played a director on the CBS sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve, starring Howard Duff and Ida Lupino as fictitious married actors residing in Beverly Hills, California. He guest-starred in 1958 in the first season of ABC's The Donna Reed Show. In 1960, Dobkin appeared as Kurt Reynolds in "So Dim the Light" of the CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson and also as an escape artist on the run from a possible murder charge in Wanted: Dead or Alive. He also appeared in the David Janssen crime drama series, Richard Diamond. Dobkin also starred in a heartfelt episode of The Rifleman portraying General Philip Sheridan from the American Civil War.

Often also cast as a villain, Dobkin portrayed gangster Dutch Schultz on ABC's The Untouchables. He appeared on the ABC/Warner Brothers crime drama, The Roaring 20s and in the NBC western with a modern setting, Empire. He was cast as a mass murderer in the 1972 pilot for ABC's The Streets of San Francisco, starring Karl Malden. He guest-starred on ABC's The Big Valley, starring Barbara Stanwyck.[3] He received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama for his work in the CBS Playhouse program, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (1967). In 1991, Dobkin appeared in an episode of the television series Night Court as State Supreme Court Justice Welch.

As a writer, Dobkin created the title character for the 1974 film and the 1977–1978 NBC series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. He began directing for television in 1960, and his work in this area included the pilot and episodes of The Munsters (1964), 16 episodes of The Waltons (1972–1981), and an episode of Sara (1976).

Dobkin also appeared in several episodes of I Love Lucy: ("Equal Rights" and "Paris at Last".)

Films[edit | edit source]

Dobkin's notable supporting film roles include Twelve O'Clock High (1949), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Julius Caesar (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), The Defiant Ones (1958), Johnny Yuma (1966) and Patton (1970). He had a cameo appearance in the 1954 sci-fi thriller Them. In an uncredited performance in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, Dobkin has a memorable line as an intelligence official who remarks on the plight of the hapless protagonist, on the run for murder after being mistaken for a person who doesn't exist: "It's so horribly sad. Why is it I feel like laughing?"[citation needed]

Work within the Star Trek franchise[edit | edit source]

Dobkin directed the original series episode "Charlie X" and later portrayed the traitorous Klingon ambassador Kell on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the fourth-season episode "The Mind's Eye".

Theme parks[edit | edit source]

He was believed to be narrator at the 1964 New York World's Fair during the Skydome Spectacular presented after the Carousel of Progress

From 1971 to 1993, Dobkin served as the narrator of The Hall of Presidents show, returning to re-record the presidential roll call each time a new U.S. President was elected.

From 1982 to 1986, the EPCOT Center attraction Spaceship Earth featured Dobkin as the narrator along with a very simple and quiet orchestral composition throughout the attraction. Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar did an interview saying that he didn't understand why everyone said the narrator was Vic Perrin.[citation needed]

Filmography[edit | edit source]

Television[edit | edit source]

Adventures of the Falcon, 1957, Jack McKenzie in "Snake Eyes"

Trackdown, 3 episodes: "Look For the Woman", "The Boy", and "The End of the World" (1957-8) - Lee Caldwell / Joel Paine / Walter Trump[citation needed]

Radio[edit | edit source]

Video game[edit | edit source]

Personal life[edit | edit source]

On June 24, 1962, Dobkin married actress Joanna Barnes; they had no children, but he had one daughter, Debra Dobkin, by his first wife, Frances Hope Walker.[4] Dobkin married actress Anne Collings in 1970 and had three children: identical twin daughters, Kristy and Kaela, and a son named Laird.[citation needed] His identical-twin daughters followed him into the business — Kristy Dobkin[5]Template:Better source as a writer, and Kaela Dobkin[6]Template:Better source as an actress.

His ashes were cast into the Pacific Ocean.[citation needed]

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References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Vallance, Tom (2002-10-09). "Obituary: Lawrence Dobkin: Prolific and Versatile Character Actor". The Independent (London). 
  2. "Lawrence Dobkin (Larry Dobkin)". Saint.org. Retrieved 2013-06-27. 
  3. Erickson, Hal. "Lawrence Dobkin". All Movie. Retrieved 2013-06-27. 
  4. "Lawrence Dobkin: Biography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 8 June 2014. 
  5. Kristy Dobkin at the Internet Movie Database
  6. Kaela Dobkin at the Internet Movie Database

External links[edit | edit source]


Category:1919 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Male actors from New York City Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male radio actors Category:American male voice actors Category:American male television actors Category:American television directors Category:Writers from New York City Category:Male actors from Los Angeles Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:Western (genre) television actors