Larry Davis Delaney, 77
Daily Inter Lake
October 16, 2015
Larry Davis Delaney passed away peacefully on Sunday,
Oct. 11, 2015, at his home in Whitefish, surrounded by family.
He was born Sept. 24, 1938, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to
Evelyn P. Morgan and Charles Mims.
For those who knew him, Larry was “The Most Interesting
Man Alive.” Raised by a Marine during World War II, he spent his youth
traveling from Midway Island to the Carolinas before settling in Orange County,
California.
After high school, he enlisted in the Navy where he drove
submarines and was a UTD Frogman, a precursor to the Navy SEALS.
During his 20s, Larry was a deputy for the Orange County
Sheriff’s Department, trained guard dogs, and married and had his first child,
Deborah. He worked for the Olympic Committee during the Mexico Olympics before
moving to Los Angeles in the mid-‘60s to pursue a writing career at an
entertainment trade journal.
He eventually became the magazine’s editor but was
courted by Capitol Records where he became the head of press relations, working
intimately with The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Glen Campbell among
others. Earning the camaraderie of The
Beatles, he became integral in helping them launch their independent label
Apple Records.
At the dawn of the ‘70s, Larry’s savvy PR skills were
noticed by the White House and he successfully helped spearhead Richard Nixon’s
re-election campaign.
He returned to the entertainment industry but this time
as an actor, starring in such television shows and films as “Brian’s Song,”
“West World,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and “Mayberry” where
Larry met and married TV star Arlene Golonka. He also appeared in “The Streets
of San Francisco,” acting alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. But his most
prominent acting role was as Jay Livingston on the iconic soap opera “Days of
our Lives.”
In between acting gigs, Larry penned New York Times
best-selling novels “Blood Red Wine,” “Triton Ultimatum,” “Sea Ranch,” “Blood
Harvest,” as well as “No Sympathy for the Devil” under the pseudonym Fredrick
Snow.
It was at this time he rekindled an old romance with and
married Mary (Hart) Delaney, whom he had briefly dated during his Capitol
Records days. When she became unexpectedly pregnant and gave birth to a baby
boy, they decided to give up the city life and moved to an old log cabin in
Whitefish.
Larry put his vast skills to good use, working for Big
Mountain Ski Resort’s marketing department where he teamed up with Doug Betters
of the Miami Dolphins to form the Doug Betters Winter Classic.
Over the years, Larry worked for such local innovative
companies as Applied Information Services, CyberPort, one of the first Internet
providers in Montana, and Silicon Valley-based semiconductor company Integrated
Materials.
Upon retirement, Larry spent his twilight years
beekeeping, writing and mentoring his son Morgan in the art of storytelling.
Larry is survived by daughters, Elizabeth Phillips, Deb
Puckett, Kim DeGeer and Jennifer Clemente; son, Morgan Delaney; brother, Bill
Mims; and granddaughters, Meghan Walker, Kristen Walker and Jenna Lee Walker.
A celebration of life will be held for Larry from 1 to 5
p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Bohemian Hall, 125 Blanchard Lake Road, behind
Montana Coffee Traders in Whitefish.
DELANEY, Larry
(Larry Davis Delaney)
Born: 9/24/1938,
Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A.
Died:
10/11/2015, Whitefish, Montana, U.S.A.
Larry Delaney’s
westerns – actor:
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1972 (Ray Hutson)
Westworld – 1973 (technician)
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