American character actor, instantly recognizable due to his bulbous nose and heavily lined face, who possessed the remarkable ability to convey integrity or menace with equal effectiveness. His illustrious career began on radio as Captain Starr of Space in 1953, where he used ray guns to combat Martians and alien queens.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Larch accumulated an impressive array of TV series credits, spanning nearly the entire spectrum of popular western, crime, and science-fiction shows. His authoritative personality and demeanor typically typecast him as police officers, military men, attorneys, and politicians, often portraying characters that were either corrupt or outright villains.
One notable example of his exceptional performance was as a tough hood in The Phenix City Story (1955),described by Bosley Crowther as "stinging" in "hard malevolence" in the New York Times on September 3, 1955.
At his best, Larch was the nervous Mr. Fremont, father to the ominously dangerous Anthony (Bill Mumy) in the classic entry into The Twilight Zone (1959),"It's a Good Life". In The Invaders (1967) episode "Genesis", he shone as police officer Greg Lucather, initially skeptical but ultimately swayed by irrefutable evidence to assist in David Vincent's quest.
On the big screen, he is perhaps most famously remembered as Harry Callahan's Chief of Police in the original Dirty Harry (1971).
