Larry Parks

He made only two more films before retiring permanently. The last two decades of his life were spent in Valley Center (Escondido), California. Following his admission before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Columbia Pictures dropped him. Later in his life, Reeves promoted drug-free bodybuilding and bred horses. Following his Oscar nomination, he made a few more movies that did little in the box office, until he appeared in the sequel, Jolson Sings Again in 1949, which was another hit. In that year he appeared as himself in the made-for-television A&E Biography: Arnold Schwarzenegger - Flex Appeal. He made several forgettable films untl he won the role of Al Jolson in the 1946 biographical film The Jolson Story, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. His last on-screen appearance was in 2000.

Having attended the University of Illinois, Parks played in stock companies for several years before signing a Hollywood contract in 1941. He went on to appear, starting in the 1950s, in a string of Samson and Hercules-type (also known as sword and sandal) movies. Born Samuel Lawrence Klausman Parks in Olathe, Kansas, his career was virtually ended when he admitted in 1951 to having been a member of a Communist party cell. Reeves first film was the 1949 Kimbar of the Jungle, made for television. Larry Parks (December 13, 1914 - April 13, 1975) was an American actor. De Mille, who considered him for the part of Samson. After WWII military service, Reeves came to the attention film director Cecil B.

Survivors from the Muscle Beach era recall how crowds used to follow Reeves when he walked along the beach, and how people who knew nothing about him would simply stop and stare, awestruck.. He was handsome, personable, and had a magnificent physique. Reeves was the right man in the right place at the right time. No champion was known to the general public--that is, until Steve Reeves came along.

However, bodybuilding still remained an obscure sport. .. By [the 1940s] the distinction between lifting weights purely for strength and training with weights to shape and proportion the body had been clearly made. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encylopedia of Modern Bodybuilding states:.