Famed as Jimmy Olsen on TV's "Adventures of Superman" (1952), he is also a well-respected playwright and opera librettist whose collaborators include Virgil Thomson.
He had small roles in "The Adventures of Superboy" (1988) and in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993). He has yet to have a role in "Smallville" (2001), but considering it's not about Superman or Superboy, but instead about Clark Kent, an exception can be made. He had a small role in Superman Returns (2006).
He was a contract player at Warner Brothers.
His home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
In 2006, he told The New York Times that he quit acting in 1961 on the advice of his then-boyfriend Montgomery Clift. Larson had gone to an audition for producer Mervyn LeRoy, who had rejected Larson right away because he had played Jimmy Olsen. Clift counseled Larson not to put himself in that situation any longer, so Larson concentrated instead on producing and writing, becoming the first playwright to win a Rockefeller Foundation grant.
Is portrayed by Joseph Adam in Hollywoodland (2006)
Like George Reeves, Larson claimed that he did not want to do the role of Jimmy Olsen in the "Adventures of Superman" (1952) television series. His agent told him to do the role, take the money and that it would probably never be seen.
Longtime friend of Allene Roberts.
Participates in a UCLA scholarship program established in the name of his life partner, the late writer/director James Bridges, for young directors.
Was the life-partner of director James Bridges. Their relationship lasted over thirty years until Bridges' death in 1993.