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Larry Drake, Emmy Award-Winning ‘LA Law’ Actor And Famed Horror Movie Villain, Dies At 66

By Joanna Jaguar
Published on: 06:34 PST, Mar 18, 2016

Larry Drake, the actor probably best known for his Emmy award-winning role of Benny Stulwicz on the television series LA Law, has died. He was 66-years-old.

For anyone who tuned into primetime television between 1987 and 1994, Larry Drake is easily recognizable as Benny Stulwicz, the sweet, developmentally disabled mailroom clerk — who stole hearts, and scenes — on the award-winning legal drama LA Law. To horror fans, Larry Drake will always be remembered for three key roles that still manage to send shivers down spines decades after the movies were first released, reports Fangoria.

In 1981, Larry Drake starred in the made-for-television horror film Dark Night of the Scarecrow, in which he portrays Bubba Ritter, a mentally disabled man who was falsely accused of raping and murdering a young girl and is subsequently murdered for crimes he didn’t commit. He returns as the titular scarecrow and exacts revenge on those who killed him. In 1990, and again in 1995, Drake played the role of Robert G. Durant in Sam Raimi’s Darkman, a ruthless and sadistic mob boss who turns Liam Neeson’s character into the film’s eponymous hero. In 1992, Drake played what is likely one of his most memorable villainous roles, Dr. Giggles, the deadly doctor with a maniacal laugh that’s nearly impossible to forget.

Before he won hearts on LA Law, or scared moviegoers silly, Larry Drake was a country boy who’s large stature caused him to stand out from the pack, although he often just wanted to fit in. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1950 to parents Lorraine and Raymond Drake, by the time Larry attended Tulsa Edison High School, he had already reached his full, adult height of six-foot-three. In a 1990 interview, Drake explained that he often attempted to hide his height, in order to fit in with the crowd.

“Even as a kid, I tried to disguise it anyway I could. I was probably the only person in the whole state who didn’t wear cowboy boots and a hat. I was already quite tall enough.”

After being urged to play for the high school football team because of his size and subsequently failing — “I was always the slowest guy on the team,” Drake had said in a 1988 interview — Larry Drake’s interests turned to acting, studying the medium at the University of Oklahoma following his high school graduation. In 1980, Drake made the move from Tulsa to Los Angeles, California, to try his hand at acting in earnest. Not long after his move, Larry Drake secured the part of Bubba in Dark Night of the Scarecrow, a role that would garner him some success. After Scarecrow, Drake would go on to play the role of Lennie in a San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It was his portrayal of the mentally disabled Lennie that led his agent to encourage Drake to try out for the part of Benny Stulwicz on LA Law.

According to the Washington Post, the character of Benny was originally just supposed to be in one episode of the popular television series, but the creators — and fans — loved Larry Drake’s portrayal of the character so much that they decided to work him into the show as a regular character, said Jacob Epstein, one of LA Law’s writers at the time.

“One of those lucky occasions when an actor does a wonderful job with a part and something very interesting happens. We put our heads together and tried to think of a way to see more of him, and [producer] Steve Bochco had the idea of bringing him in as a messenger boy.”

Although Larry Drake often quipped about being typecast and bemoaned the fact that overweight actors were often “under-represented” in the acting industry, he was very thankful for the roles he had. After LA Law ended in 1994, Larry continued working as an actor, but due to health problems arising from his weight, he opted to become an acting teacher in 2006, a job he remained in until his death at 66-years-old.

A specific cause for Larry Drake’s untimely death has not yet been announced.

[Image via Alan Light/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0]

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