A familiar face from classic TV has died: Larry Storch, the comedic actor best known for playing the bumbling Corporal Randolph Agarn on the comedy western F Troop, has died at 99.
The actor’s family announced the news on his Facebook page.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share with you the news our beloved Larry passed away in his sleep overnight,” the statement reads. “We are shocked and at a loss for words at the moment.”
“Please remember he loved each and every one of you and wouldn’t want you to cry over his passing. He is reunited with his wife Norma and his beloved F Troop cast and so many friends and family.”
Storch was the last surviving member of the main F Troop cast, and his wife Norma passed in 2003.
Storch was born January 8, 1923 in New York City. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and later began a career as a comic. He got his start on the radio, becoming known for his skillful impressions.
He found success in the early days of TV: he guest hosted Cavalcade of Stars, and hosted a short-lived variety show called The Larry Storch Show in 1953, a summer replacement for CBS’ The Jackie Gleason Show.
Storch then had a recurring role on the classic sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? and lent his voice to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, one of the first Saturday morning cartoons.
But it was his performance on F Troop that he will always be known for. Storch played Corporal Randolph Agarn, the bumbling sidekick of the frequently-scheming Sgt. O’Rourke.
The sitcom, a slapstick-heavy western comedy set in an Army outpost in the Old West, aired for two seasons on ABC between 1965 and 1967, and remained a cult favorite.
It provided Storch his biggest and most memorable role. He received an Emmy nomination, and it gave him a chance to flex his impressionist skills. In addition to playing Agarn, he would play dual roles as numerous long-lost relatives.
“If you tell a joke, if you can do it in dialect, you’re way ahead of the game,” Storch told the New York Times in 2010. “I had cousins who came from Moscow, Mexico, Montreal.”
In addition to F Troop, Storch was a fixture of television for decades. He appeared in guest roles on many classic shows, including The Love Boat, I Dream of Jeannie, Columbo, Get Smart, Gilligan’s Island and Married… With Children.
Storch was also a regular on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He also appeared on variety shows like Sonny and Cher, Laugh-In and the game show Hollywood Squares.
He was also a prolific voice actor, voicing characters on cartoons like The Pink Panther Show, Groovie Goolies and The Brady Kids.
While best known for TV, he appeared in a number of Hollywood films. According to CBS News, he became friends with actor Tony Curtis during the war, and Curtis cast him in several of his films, including Who Was That Lady? and The Great Race.
Storch also appeared on Broadway. He acted in Arsenic and Old Lace, the 1983 revival of Porgy and Bess and the 2000 revival of Annie Get Your Gun opposite Reba McEntire.
But he will always be remembered for F Troop — something Storch was perfectly fine with.
“He embraced it. He loved being Agarn,” his manager Matt Beckoff told CBS News.
“Sometimes, I walk out on stage, and you can hear from the balcony, ‘Hey, Agarn,’” the actor once said, as quoted by CNN. “It still tickles me after 40 years.”
Rest in peace to the great Larry Storch. Thanks for all the laughs all these decades.
Please share this news with your favorite memories of Larry Storch and F Troop.