John Larkin was an American actor known for his radio work, particularly for portraying Perry Mason in the 1950s.
Born in the San Francisco Bay city of Oakland, Larkin acted on radio, the prime entertainment venue in American homes during the Depression in the 1930s. By the latter part of the decade, when he was in his mid-twenties, Larkin had worked for a number of stations, including KCKN and WHB in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, where he was an announcer and, later, in Chicago, where he became known for versatility in performing announcing and hosting duties in addition to acting in front of the microphone for numerous scripted shows, including Vic and Sade, one of network radio's most popular programs of the 1930s, and the one for which he received his first major credit as a radio actor.
John Larkin was identifiable as Perry Mason, but it wasn’t the only program he depended on to keep the pantry filled with groceries. Jim Cox, author of The Great Radio Soap Operas, guesstimated in a 2006 Radio Recall article that the actor worked on 14 “weepies,” tying him with his old Chicago colleague Olan Soule and Ned Wever. Larkin’s daytime drama resume includes Helpmate (as Steve Harper), Lone Journey (as Lance McKenzie), Ma Perkins (as Tom Wells), Portia Faces Life (as Eric Watson), The Right to Happiness (as Governor Miles Nelson), and The Road of Life (as both Frank Dana and Dr. Sam Martin). John was also in the casts of Backstage Wife, The Brighter Day, The Romance of Helen Trent, and Stepmother. On True Story, John would work with and later marry actress Teri Keane (who later appeared on Big Sister and Life Can Be Beautiful, not to mention many TV soaps), his second of three marriages (the couple divorced in 1961). Cox humorously notes in Soap Operas that Mr. and Mrs. Larkin were for many years separated by “a station break”: Keane was the star of The Second Mrs. Burton, heard over CBS at 2pm, followed by Perry Mason at 2:15.
John Larkin also portrayed the lead on Buck Rogers in the 24th Century when the series was revived on Mutual (September 30, 1946 to March 28, 1947) and was one of three actors (the others were Matt Crowley and Staats Cotsworth) to portray Ed Dodd’s comic strip hero Mark Trail on a program that aired on Mutual and ABC from 1950 to 1952. In the summer of 1949, John played dipsomaniac patriarch “Johnny Nolan” on a radio series of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (the Nolan role had been played by James Dunn in the 1945 feature film, for which Dunn won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Once again, Larkin relied on his singing talents to play Nolan.
Rounding out John Larkin’s radio c.v. are appearances on 21st Precinct, The Cavalcade of America, Candid Microphone, Chandu the Magician, The Chase, The Columbia Workshop, Dimension X, The Eternal Light, The Ford Theatre, Gang Busters, High Adventure, Inheritance, John Steele, Adventurer, The Lux Radio Theatre, Mr. I.A. Moto, Mr. Mercury, The New Theatre, Radio City Playhouse, Suspense, and X-Minus One.
Fans of nostalgia know that the series for which John Larkin became well-known to radio listeners, Perry Mason, eventually came to television in the fall of 1957 with another radio veteran, Raymond Burr, portraying the famed defense attorney. But the Raymond Burr Mason was the second attempt to bring the radio show to the small screen. The first was in 1956 with The Edge of Night, which began a lengthy TV run (it departed the airwaves in 1984) with Larkin on board as the show’s main character, renamed “Mike Karr.” (Procter & Gamble was unable to reach an agreement with Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, thus necessitating the name change.) John was with Night until October 1961—his character of Karr was amusingly replaced (temporarily) by another attorney already established on the program, Ed Gibson, played by a young Larry Hagman. (Larkin also reprised his Road to Life role as “Frank Dana” for a few months in 1954 when that radio soap made its brief transition to TV).
John Larkin had decided to pursue other opportunities in Hollywood, and began a slew of guest appearances on such TV favorites as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, The Untouchables, Wagon Train…and he even appeared four times on Perry Mason (when Mason meets Mason!). Larkin landed a regular role as city editor “Mark Grainger” on the season-long drama Saints and Sinners (which starred former Rebel Nick Adams as crusading reporter “Nick Alexander”). In the 1964-65 season, John joined the cast of 12 O’Clock High (a series based on the 1949 feature film) as “Major General Wiley Crowe.” His work on High lasted but a single season as John Larkin succumbed to a heart attack in January of 1965 at the age of 52. Two motion pictures in which he received onscreen credit, Those Calloways and The Satan Bug, were released after his passing.
His prolific radio career led him to work on approximately 7,500 drama programs.
After radio, Larkin turned to television, where he continued his career in series such as The Edge of Night and 12 O'Clock High.
In short, John Larkin was a towering figure in radio and television, leaving a significant legacy in the entertainment industry.
John Larkin died at Valley Doctor's Hospital in North Hollywood after suffering a heart attack at his home. He had a daughter, Cathleen, from his first marriage and another daughter, Sharon, from his second marriage, on June 10, 1950, to future Edge of Night actress Teri Keane.
