Stuart Randall

Stuart's entertainment career began as a child in school, acting and singing in school plays, then in the late 1920's he began entertaining professionally as Larry Sothern. He was the lead singer in the Will Bradley Orchestra, as well as the John Phillip Souza Band, going on to have his own band, the Larry Sothern Orchestra. While in Florida he joined the Theater of Fifteen, appearing in a number of plays that toured the US in the late 30's and early '40's. Although Larry had been a singer all his life, he wanted very much to be an actor, and at last he saw in the Fifteen an opportunity to gain experience in the theater. He took a small part in "Give My Regards to Broadway," which ran four weeks instead of the usual two, and gave him additional time to work on his next part, which was a leading role in a new play, "U. S. Ark." He worked intensively and came through with an amazingly professional performance as Fanchon, the Communist. Larry performed in six plays over nine months in 1940. U.S. Ark, The Texas Ranger, The Gentle People, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, A Man From the Band and Battle of Angels. A Man From the Band proved to be a leading role for Larry. He played Ernie Craig, a band leader who marries a socialite. In mid 1941 Larry joined the cast of "My Sister Eileen". The play was on Broadway for better than a year with the original cast, but a different cast played Chicago for over eight months, this was the cast that Larry was with. After Chicago, the play went on the road for approximately one year, performing at St. Louis, Decatur, Cincinnati, Detroit, Dayton, Minneapolis and Lansing, then traveling to the west coast to Oakland and Los Angeles, closing sometime in 1942. World War II put a hold on Larry / Stuart's career when he was called into the U. S. Army in 1942 under his birth name of Clarence Maxwell, with Basic Training, as well as his advanced training with the 55th Field Artillery Division being accomplished at Camp Roberts, San Louis Obispo County. After returning from an over-seas assignment, he was discharged in November of 1944, with the rank of Sergeant. As with a number of actors and actresses, Larry Sothern changed his name to Stuart Randall and became an actor with his first movie being Bells of Coronado, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, which was released in January of 1950, Some of Stuart's movies are Storm Warning, with Ronald Reagan, Wells Fargo Gunmaster, The Hoodlum, Carbine Williams, Pony Soldier, with Tyrone Powers, Pony Express, with Charlton Heston, Southwest Passage, starring Rod Cameron, The Far Country with Jimmie Stewart, Indestructible Man with Lon Chaney, Run of the Arrow, Verboten!, Frontier Uprising, with Jim Davis, Taggart, and True Grit, with John Wayne. He appeared in nearly all of the popular western television series of the 50's, 60's and 70's at least once, some of them numerous times, including: three times on the Lone Ranger; twice on Zane Grey Theater; twice on Colt .45; five times as a series regular on Cimarron City; three times on Sugarfoot; five times in Restless Gun; three times on The Texan; Wagon Train twice; seven appearances in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp; twice each on The Rifleman, Wanted: Dead or Alive and Lawman; three in Riverboat; twice on Death Valley Days; seven times on The Virginian and six times on Bonanza and of course his most memorable appearance in Laramie, thirty-four times as Sheriff Mort Cory as well as two other appearances earlier in the series, portraying other characters. Stuart also appeared in non-western series, including: Lassie eleven times; Tightrope twice; Navy Log twice; twice in Wire Service; Schlitz Playhouse five times; The Star and the Story twice; The Loretta Young Show three times; Public Defender three times; and twice on Waterfront. Stuart's entertainment career spanned forty-five years, with his last screen appearance being on the television series Alias Smith and Jones - Dreadful Sorry Clementine, Season 2, Episode 10, in November, 1971. Stuart passed away at his home in Victorville, California on June 22, 1988.