Larry Pennell February 21, 1928 – August 28, 2013

When I was a kid I caught in reruns an episode or two of Ripcord. I really liked it. The exciting adventures (is there any other kind?) of Ted McKeever and his sidekick Jim Buckley (Ken Curtis). Memories are kind a fuzzy as a kid, so when I got older and nobody else remembered the show, I started to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing! Then 50 years later we have what they call the “internet” and I could research all these things.

I had remembered the very personable Larry Pennell from the popular series back then, The Beverly Hillbillies and his role as Dash Riprock. The person watching a show has no idea what an actor is really like. You just have to go by your gut and reading between the lines. One of the things I read about Larry was that he had 1 marriage his entire life to one Patricia Throop. That says something, especially for Hollywood. He was a professional baseball player for 5 years for the Boston Braves (who became the Milwaukee Braves, and then the Atlanta Braves).

He’s just one of those guys like Ron Ely, Clint Walker, Fess Parker and Denny Miller, that strike you as really decent people. It wasn’t until late in life that I realized that’s what either attracts me to someone, or repulses. One of the funniest stories I heard was when I found out the relationship between Andy Griffith and Francis Bavier. Everybody’s favorite Aunt Bee, just did not like Griffith, and was a real bitch towards him. A few months before her death she called him and apologized for her behavior.