The remarkable life of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors
Breaking Bad‘s Junkyard Dog by Steven Karras
Breaking Bad has had its countless supporting actors fill the ranks of drug enforcement agents, Mexican cartel psychopaths, and tweakers in its five seasons of crank-laden high opera. But only Larry Hankin, the veteran actor who played Old Joe…
Howard Hesseman
“Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books’ publication of Howl put Beat Literature on the map, and it was always known for being an iconoclastic community.” From the moment The Committee opened its doors in April of 1963, its anarchic humor and treatment of difficult...
Paul Willson
"Even though I knew I would never make a penny working with Hankin, whenever he asks me to be in a project of his--to this day--I say, 'How high?'" said actor Paul Willson who has acted in several of Hankin's films. "I also have way too many magazine subscriptions."...
Carl Gottlieb
Even among his contemporaries in The Committee, Hankin was legendary for his ballsy, risk-taking theatrics. Carl Gottlieb, who eventually joined the company after a two-year stint in the US Army, remembers his friend's fearlessness, even in the face of controversy....
Alan Myerson
“Finally, after ten days or so, [director] Alan Myerson decided it’s time to put the ‘Man on the Street’ back on the show. With trepidation, the actors are hovering in the wings, waiting to hear what the audience suggests is the news topic of the day." Amidst that...
The Committee
1971 Committee cast photo by Jerry WainwrightHankin’s rendezvous with destiny happened on a cold winter night in 1963 when an old Chevy town car full of “malcontents,” double-parked at the corner of Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago, outside The Second City,...
The Second City
Hankin’s fledgling stage act caught the attention of agents Charles Joffe and Jack Rollins, who added Hankin to their client roster (which included Woody Allen), and soon he graduated to club dates opening for Allen, Richard Pryor, and Miles Davis. “I was labeled as a...
Fred Willard
The Homeless Detective via IMDb“Larry and I started out together in the Village,” said actor and comedian Fred Willard. “We’d sit back in the dressing room for hours waiting for a spot to go on, while one folk singer after the other would sing. Larry’s a very bright...
Breaking Bad Q&A
Veteran actor Larry Hankin, who plays Old Joe in AMC’s Breaking Bad, explains what makes him such a good junkyard owner and describes what went into creating the infamous magnet scene in Season 5.Breaking Bad via AMCQ: You’ve been on some of the more iconic television...
Nice website! Well designed. A pleasure to browse through. Thank you! Interesting life you’ve led (erm… are leading)! 😀
Whatever happened to Dooby’s Taxiola?
Sorry for the delay. I don’t know but I hope it’s in some museum.
Last night I spotted you in the S01Ep01 of Lou Grant (you were the cab driver) and I remembered you were in the Halloween episode “I was a teenage Taylor” on Home Improvement almost 25 years ago – I was in the audience! Congratulations on a career spanning all these decades!
I just listened to Derecks podcast and I am going to buy that book on Amazon sounds interesting.
You are a very funny, cool man…I like your website also.
Thanks, Tracee. I’ve got some new things coming down the road. Maybe even my own podcast or book about more of those stories. Stay tuned!
Hey Larry – like a lot of people, I’ve seen you in various roles but didn’t know your name. Am re-watching “Friends” and so enjoyed your role there. Decided to actually read the credits and found your name. Congrats on a long career. I hope you have some more roles in you.
All the best,
Marc
Is it true that you played a helper of sorts named “Sykes” for Freddy Krueger, in the waking world, where you had makeup effects that made it look like your eyelids were peeled back & stapled to your forehead, in a deleted scene from 1991’s “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare”???
I’m re-watching “Breaking Bad,” and had to comment on the episodes where you, as a junkyard owner (and 4th Amendment constitutional expert) help Walter and Jesse, trapped by Hank in an RV, and the episode involving the magnet erasing the laptop. Beautiful work! You really make those scenes.
Charlie Butz, Kokolovitch and Tom Pepper are my favorites. Love your weasel laugh in Billy Madison too. A truly great career. Good luck with what’s next!
I remember you from Far Rockaway High School. You were a sweet and funny guy. I was so happy to see you in Home Alone==they kept your first name. way to go you made it big!!
Wow, Larry – you are in EVERYTHING!! I was looking through your Wikipedia page, just going down the long list of your work. Thank you for all the laughs! Great website! Happy New Year!!