• Lawrence "Larry" Hankin is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and director
• He is best known for his portrayal of Old Joe in the thriller crime series "Breaking Bad"
• He has appeared in close to 200 movies and TV series
• He has written, produced, directed, edited, and composed music for various films
• He is estimated to have a net worth of over $400,000

Who is Larry Hankin?

Lawrence Alan ‘Larry’ Hankin was born in New York City, USA, on 7 December 1937 – his zodiac sign is Sagittarius, and he holds American nationality. He’s an actor, comedian, film producer, and director, who’s appeared in close to 200 movies and TV series, while he’s perhaps still known best for his portrayal of Old Joe in the thriller crime series “Breaking Bad”. It was created by Vince Gilligan, starred Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn, and follows a high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, starts to manufacture methamphetamine with his former student. It aired from 2008 to 2013, and won 152 awards including 16 Primetime Emmys, while it was nominated for 238 other awards. The series ranks #4 best of all time on the website IMDb.

Early life and education

Larry was raised in New York City by his parents about whom nothing’s known, as he respected their privacy. Larry hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, and is thus believed to be an only child.

He was interested in various activities while attending a local high school, and acting was one of these. Larry was a member of the school’ drama club, and often portrayed supporting characters in the plays performed at the school. Upon matriculating in 1955, he enrolled at the University of Syracuse, at which he became more focused on acting, and began thinking about launching a career in the field. Larry was in the same class with the future famous American actor and screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, and the American actor Frank Langella; he graduated in 1959, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial design.

Roles in TV series

Larry spent a couple of years following graduation appearing solely in theatre plays and practicing his acting skills, and made his debut TV series appearance in 1966, with his portrayal of Gus in the episode “Rich Little Rich Kid” of the comedy “That Girl”.

The ‘70s saw him appear in an episode or two of only a couple of series, such as the crime drama “Lou Grant”, the family comedy “Laverne & Shirley”, and the historical family drama “Greatest Heroes of the Bible”.

In the ‘80s, Larry made a guest appearance in a couple of critically acclaimed series, such as the family comedy “Eight Is Enough” in 1981, the mystery crime drama “Hill Street Blues” in 1985, and the adventure comedy drama “Amazing Stories” in 1985 as well. The ‘90s saw the rise in popularity of sitcoms, and Larry got a chance to appear in some of the most popular of the decade, such as “Seinfeld”, “Married… with Children” and “Mad About You”. From 1994 to 1996, Larry played Mr. Heckles – aka The Weird Man – in the critically acclaimed romantic comedy “Friends”. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, aired from 1994 to 2004, and starred Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox, amongst many others.

It follows the lives of six friends who are living next door to each other, and the series won 77 awards including six Primetime Emmys, while it was nominated for 220 other awards.

The 2000s saw Larry make a guest appearance in numerous both popular and not-so-popular series, with some of his most notable performances being in the action crime adventure “Walker, Texas Ranger”, the romantic drama “ER”, and the family comedy “Malcolm in the Middle”; he could also have been seen portraying a Bearded Man, in the episode “Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny” of the crime comedy “Monk”.

A couple of Larry’s notable performances in the 2010s were in the mystery crime drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, the action crime drama “Vegas”, and the historical comedy “Adam Ruins Everything”, while his most recent appearance has been in the science fiction drama “Funny Science Fiction Podcast”.

He’s currently shooting for the upcoming comedy drama “Stripped”.

Roles in movies

Larry made his debut film appearance in 1967, with his portrayal of Snake Larson in the western comedy “Sheriff Who”, and the remaining ‘60s saw him play supporting characters in movies such as the comedy “Funnyman”, the family comedy “Yours, Mine and Ours”, and the comedy “How Sweet It Is!”

Larry appeared in a couple of popular films in the ‘70s, such as the 1978 crime thriller “Outside Chance”, the 1978 drama “Uncle Joe Shannon”, and the biographical crime action “Escape from Alcatraz”, which starred Clint Eastwood; he also appeared in the 1979 comedy “The Jerk”, written by Steve Martin who also starred in it.

Larry appeared in more than 20 movies in the ‘80s, with a couple of the most notable amongst these having been the 1982 family comedy “Annie”, the 1985 romantic comedy “The Sure Thing”, and the 1986 action crime comedy “Running Scared”.

Larry Hankin

In 1990, he was the supporting character Landlord, in the critically acclaimed romantic comedy “Pretty Woman”,  written by J. F. Lawton, directed by Garry Marshall, and starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts and Jason Alexander. It follows a businessman who has hired a prostitute to be his escort, and has fallen in love with her. It won eight of the 19 awards for which it was nominated, including an Oscar nomination.

A couple of the most popular movies in which Larry appeared in the ‘90s, were the 1990 family comedy “Home Alone”, which won 11 awards and was nominated for two Oscars, the 1994 action crime adventure “The Shadow”, and the 1995 comedy “Billy Madison”, which starred Adam Sandler.

The 2000s saw him play supporting characters in many movies, such as the 2004 romantic comedy “The Wager”, the 2007 crime comedy “Nobel Son”, and the 2008 mystery crime thriller “The Alphabet Killer”.

A couple of Larry’s most recent roles in movies have been in the comedy “Deluxe Edition: Yet Another Pop Culture Podcast” and the short drama “Riff Raff” both in 2020, and the 2021 science fiction horror thriller “The Eden Theory”. Still going strong at the age of 83, he’s currently shooting for a couple of upcoming movies, including the adventure mystery drama “I Hear the Tress Whispering”, and the short drama “Done Right”.

Writing, producing and directing credits

Harry has 14 writing credits, mostly focused on short movies with some of the most notable amongst these being the 2008 comedy “The Outlaw Emmett Deemus”, the 2016 crime comedy “Emmett in Peopleland”, and the 2018 documentary comedy “Just A Question”.

He has produced 11 movies, some of which were the 2004 short documentary comedy “Revenge of the Ring Thing”, the 2006 short comedy “My Uncle Emmett”, and the 2012 short animated comedy “Sometimes Jones & The Magic Credit Card”.

Larry has five directing credits too, including the 1980 short crime comedy film “Solly’s Diner”, “Revenge on the Ring Thing”, and the 2014 documentary action adventure “How to Become an Outlaw”.

He has also worked as an editor on four movies, including “Solly’s Diner”, “The Outlaw Emmet Deemus and the Porno Queen”, and “The Homeless Detective”.

Other credits

He composed the music for the 2004 movie “Revenge of the Ring Thing”.

Larry worked as an animator on the 2012 film “Sometimes Jones & The Magic Credit Card”.

He received special thanks for the 2017 short drama movie “Crazy Carl”.

Larry has been featured in a number of documentary movies, including the 2004 “20: Entertainment Weekly’s Best Holiday Movies”, the 2014 “How to Become an Outlaw”, and the 2017 “Since ’45 – In the Extraordinary House of History”.

He has made a guest appearance in an episode of various talk-shows, such as “Pat Boone in Hollywood”, “Playboy After Dark”, and “The Chris Gethard Show: Public Access”.

Awards and nominations

Larry has been nominated for three awards, in 1980 for an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Short Film, Live Action, for “Solly’s Diner” (shared with Harry Mathias and Jay Zuckerman), and in 2014, for a World Series of Screenwriting Gold Prize for Best Screenplay, for “The Outlaw Emmett Deemus.

In 2015, Larry was nominated for a Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Award for Best Actor, for his performance in the short comedy movie “The Parting Shot”.

Wife and children

Larry’s amongst the most secretive of people in Hollywood, as he hasn’t spoken of any women (or men) whom he has perhaps been with, in his 55 years (and counting) long career.

This is mostly why there are rumors circulating the internet, concerning both Larry’s current relationship status, and his sexual orientation.

Many of his fans believe him to be married, and that he simply prefers to keep his family away from the media’s attention. Some of the fans have claimed to have seen Larry spending time in Miami, Florida with his wife and their three children, but no evidence has been provided to support these claims, nor has Larry bothered to address the rumors.

There are also those who believe that he’s gay, and that this is why he hasn’t spoken of any women he’s dated, but this hasn’t been confirmed either.

As of June 2021, Larry seems to be single, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.

Hobbies and other interests

Larry has been a huge fan of comedy since his early teenage years, and was once a member of the popular improvisational comedy groups The Committee from San Francisco, and Second City from Chicago.

His two personal favorite comedians are the late Robin Williams, and Jim Carrey.

Larry was physically quite active in his 20s and 30s, and had a couple of training sessions at the gym each week, but preferred to play sports. He’s still today an avid golfer, and was once good at both tennis and table tennis.

Larry’s passionate about travelling, and has been to nearly all the US states for both work and pleasure, while he has also been to numerous European, Asian and African countries.

He’s a lover of animals, with dogs being his favorites, and he’s had a couple of pet dogs over the years.

Age, height and net worth

Even at 83, Larry still has his hair, although gray hair, brown eyes, and he’s still erect at 6ft 4ins (1.93m), weighing a healthy 180lbs (82kgs).

As of June 2021, his net worth has been estimated at over $400,000.

Author

Robbie is currently a reporter for TheBiography based in Santa Monica, CA. Prior to joining TheBiography in December 2020, he was an entertainment reporter in People.

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