Larry Haines Dead at 89

Larry Haines, a successful Broadway actor who for 35 years played Stu Bergman, one of the convivial neighbors on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, which at the time of its cancellation was television's longest-running soap opera, died July 17 near his home in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his lawyer and friend, Tom Dachelet.

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW ran from 1951 to 1986, first on CBS and then, for its last four years, on NBC.

For all but the first two months of that run, Mr. Haines played Stu, the best friend of his next-door neighbor, the recently widowed Jo Gardner, owner of a boarding house. In the way of soap operas, her last name changed over the years from Barron to Tate to Vincente to Tourneur.

By 1986, the flow of romance through their tightly knit fictional town, Henderson, was a bit too staid for ratings-conscious NBC executives. In November, the "Search" ended.

Mr. Haines received Daytime Emmys in 1976 and 1981. "Doing a daytime show requires a great deal more concentration than people give us credit for," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1967. "Every episode is like opening night, because it's a new script every day."

His other soap roles included Sidney Sugarman on ANOTHER WORLD in 1989 and Neil Warren on LOVING from 1994 to 1995. He also had a role on THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS which marked his debut in daytime drama.

Mr. Haines also had opening nights on Broadway, usually billed as A. Larry Haines. He received two Tony nominations: for "Generation," a 1965 play starring Henry Fonda; and in 1968 for "Promises, Promises," the musical version of the film "The Apartment."

He also had roles in the 1962 Broadway comedy "A Thousand Clowns" and, in 1978, in "Tribute," starring Jack Lemmon.

Larry Hecht - Haines was his stage name - was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Aug. 3, 1918. He was married twice. Both of his wives, Gertrude Haines and Jean Pearlman Haines, and his daughter, Debora, died before him.