Larry Haines

Larry Haines (born Larry Hecht; August 3, 1918 – July 17, 2008) was an American actor.

Early years

Haines was born on August 3, 1918 in Mount Vernon, New York. (Some sources say August 18, 1918, in the same city). He had been active in dramatics in high school, and while he was in college, he was advised to try acting. After a few months of instruction in dramatics, he passed an audition with CBS. He dropped out during his sophomore year of college and "went right into radio working on little stations all around New York City," beginning at WWRL.

Radio

Haines first became known in the 1930s as an actor on the radio crime series ''Gangbusters''. Playing Joe Lincoln, he was the star of ''Treasury Agent'' on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1947-48, and he had the title role of Mike Hammer in ''That Hammer Guy'' on Mutual in 1953-54. He also was featured in ''The Chase'', ''Cloak and Dagger'', ''Inner Sanctum Mystery'', ''The Man Behind the Gun'', and ''This Is Nora Drake''.Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press. . Pp. 150, 160, 346, 430, 659, 665, 680. It was estimated that he acted in more than 15,000 radio programs in the 1940s and 1950s.
Four decades later, he would return to radio, starring in 82 episodes of the ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater''.

Television

His best known role was that of next door neighbor Stu Bergman on the soap opera ''Search for Tomorrow''. Haines joined the show for its eleventh episode in 1951, and remained on the serial for the show's duration. He won Daytime Emmy Awards in 1976 and 1981, and was First Lady Pat Nixon's favorite soap opera actor. Haines was reunited with longtime ''Search for Tomorrow'' costar Mary Stuart on the prime-time special which saluted 50 years of the soaps in 1996.

In the 1980s, he co-starred with one of his ''Search for Tomorrow'' co-stars, Rick Lohman (who had played his grandson, Gary Walton) in a short-lived sitcom, called ''Phyl & Mikhy''. Larry played Max Wilson, the father of Phyllis Wilson Orloff (Murphy Cross), who was married to Mikhy Orloff.

In 1989, several years after the cancellation of ''Search for Tomorrow'', he briefly joined the cast of another NBC/Procter and Gamble serial, '' Another World.'' Haines played the role of Sid Sugarman, Ada Hobson's old boyfriend who escorted her to a gala honoring the show's 25th anniversary. He was later in the cast of Agnes Nixon's '' Loving'', playing Neal Warren, the biological father of Gwyneth Alden with whom he was reunited right before she was identified as the serial killer in the slaying of the Alden family and several other characters. In the last episodes of the show, his character proposed to old girlfriend Kate Rescott.

Stage

Haines' Broadway debut came in 1962, when he played in ''A Thousand Clowns''.
He earned Tony nominations for his work in ''Generation'' (1965) and '' Promises, Promises'' (1968). His other Broadway appearances were in ''Last of the Red Hot Lovers'', ''Twigs'', ''No Hard Feelings'', and ''Tribute''.

Death

Haines died in Delray Beach, Florida, on July 17, 2008. He was predeceased by his former wives, Gertrude Haines and Jean Pearlman Haines as well as by his only daughter, Debora Haines.PalmBeachPost.com: Obituaries
/ref> He was survived by one niece.

Film

Haines appeared in the role of Speed in the film version of ''The Odd Couple'' (1968). He also appeared in the films ''The Seven-Ups'' (1973) and ''Tank'' (1984).

Film roles

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haines, Larry
1918 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American male actors
Actors from Mount Vernon, New York
American male film actors
American male radio actors
American male soap opera actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
Daytime Emmy Award winners
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winners
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winners
Jewish American male actors
Male actors from New York (state)
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews