Born 107 years ago today: my favorite radio actor, Larry Dobkin (16 Sep 1919 – 28 Oct 2002).
Character actor Lawrence Dobkin was a reliable and versatile supporting player on radio in the 1940s and 1950s, acting in hundreds of episodes across dozens of different programs. He was in 176 episodes of Gunsmoke, where he played all kinds of characters from gunmen to gentlemen. Other shows where he was often heard include Suspense (48 episodes), Escape (31 episodes), Romance (20 episodes), The Whistler (≥45 episodes), The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (33 episodes), Jeff Regan, Investigator (20 episodes), Let George Do It (58 episodes), Have Gun, Will Travel (28 episodes), and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (72 half-hour episodes, 15 multi-part stories).
Larry Dobkin's only leading role in a radio series was the title sleuth in Ellery Queen from 1947-02-12 through 1948-04-22—and even there he didn't get star billing, since, in keeping with the pseudonymous source material, the show tended to play it coy about identifying the actors who played Ellery. You might remember him as Lieutenant Matthews on Philip Marlowe, the first of three main Archie Goodwins on The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, Dave on The Man From Homicide, or Pat McCracken (usually) on Johnny Dollar—and, if you ask me, his most memorable and lovable radio character was Louie, the Brooklyn cabbie who sometimes played sidekick to Vincent Price on The Adventures of the Saint.
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Dobkin also played numerous roles on stage, film and television, and later in his career focused mainly on directing for television. For thorough biographical info on Larry Dobkin, including photos, check out this page at Ellery Queen, a website on deduction.
For a list of radio episodes in which Larry Dobkin appeared, see my spreadsheet at this link. As of today I know of 1,025 specific radio episodes he was in, 902 of which are readily available online—and this is far from being a complete record of his work in radio!
Some of my favorite radio episodes featuring Larry Dobkin:
Ellery Queen 1947-12-04 "The Man in the Street": A swindler is murdered before Inspector Queen and Ellery can put him behind bars. Whodunit? There were only about ten thousand people with a motive! The guest armchair detective is Gerald Mohr, in what was probably the first time but far from the last time he and Dobkin would work together.
Escape 1949-07-07 "The Fourth Man": Dobkin narrates this classic story of three "civilized" men adrift on a raft in the tropics, battling thirst and one another while their "savage" pilot quietly sits by.
NBC University Theater 1950-08-27 "Hedda Gabler": "An hour-length version of a great four-act play: Henrik Ibsen’s dark study of a tempestuous woman." With Larry Dobkin as Eilert Løvborg.
The Saint 1950-11-19 "No Hiding Place": The Saint tries to help a young man who has escaped from prison after several attempts on his life. Louie gets some great lines in this episode—one of the strongest of the series—which also features memorable performances from Sheldon Leonard and Peggy Webber.
The Saint 1951-04-08 "The Ghosts Who Came to Dinner": When their cab breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Simon Templar and Louie the cab driver investigate a creepy old house full of strange characters. I love this goofy story because it's one of only a couple episodes where Louie is in every scene, and his dynamic with Simon is always so funny and charming.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective 1949-07-09 "Charles Walsh and Bob Wells": An escaped convict, bent on revenge against Richard Diamond, kidnaps Diamond’s girlfriend.
Philip Marlowe 1950-01-21 "The Bid for Freedom": A woman has escaped from an insane asylum, and now her husband is in danger. Or maybe it’s not that simple.
Philip Marlowe 1950-07-28 "The Glass Donkey": Lieutenant Matthews calls to ask about a girl Marlowe used to date—a girl who’s just been murdered. It’s real personal as Marlowe offers his services to find out why a nice girl had to die.
Philip Marlowe 1951-08-18 "The Young Man’s Fancy": There’s no murder in this somewhat atypical Marlowe episode by Kathleen Hite. Marlowe goes out for Moscow Mule ingredients, and gets involved in the family troubles of his favorite lime vendor.
Broadway’s My Beat 1949-07-21 "The Otto Prokosh Murder Case": A vaudeville acrobat is murdered, and Detective Danny Clover questions a dancer who dances through the interview to the music of a battered phonograph.
Broadway’s My Beat 1950-03-17 "The Charles and Jane Kimball Murder Case": The mystery of two murdered newlyweds in a car at the bottom of the East River leads Danny to a genial ex–bank robber turned pigeon fancier.
The Whistler 1954-10-17 "Last Request": A gangster traveling on an ocean liner under an assumed name blackmails a doctor into helping with a strange escape plan. (See my commentary on this episode here.)
Damon Runyon Theater E39 "The Lacework Kid": A Nazi lieutenant puts an American prisoner of war to work… playing gin rummy.
The Story of Dr. Kildare 1951-02-16 "Pete Kosloff Is Mentally Ill": A madman with a gun is holed up inside a school building. Dr. Kildare goes in after him, while Dr. Gillespie scrambles to remotely diagnose a mental illness without ever talking to the patient.
Gunsmoke 1952-06-28 "The Ride Back": This long lost Gunsmoke episode, rediscovered in 2022, is almost entirely a radio play for only two voices, as Marshall Dillon brings a twisted killer through hostile Indian country.
Gunsmoke 1952-08-02 "Renegade White": Matt goes after a white man who’s been selling guns to Indians, and winds up a prisoner of the Indians himself.
Gunsmoke 1953-02-21 "Meshougah": Matt and Chester find a whole town held hostage by a crazed killer and his gang of outlaws.
Fort Laramie 1956-05-13 "War Correspondent": A smart newspaperman from the East tags along with Captain Quince, hoping to show the folks back home a fair picture of life on the frontier. He’s got a lot to learn!
Fort Laramie 1956-06-03 "Don’t Kick My Horse": One of Captain Quince’s soldiers is a meek little man whose only friend is his horse. He's been in the cavalry ten years, and it's time for a new horse.
Have Gun, Will Travel 1958-12-14 "The Outlaw": Paladin makes a deal with a convicted killer who wants to see his newborn son before being hanged.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 1956-01-09 – 1956-01-13 "The Todd Matter": A tip on an old burglary leads Johnny into a very fresh shooting. Dobkin plays five characters in this story, and what always strikes me is that he doesn't do five radically different voices. If you're specifically listening for it, all five do sound like him—but he's always such a consummate actor that you're not even inclined to notice the actor behind the character.
Suspense 1956-01-03 "The Eavesdropper": In this recently rediscovered Suspense episode, a husband and wife painstakingly plot to murder a blackmailer, but an unexpected witness throws a wrench into the works.
Suspense 1954-07-27 "Destruction": "And it had a kind of warmth to it, this dying…" A strange, melancholy, poetic script by radio noir greats Morton Fine and David Friedkin, about a pathetic little man at the end of his rope.
