Larry Appleton

Larry Appleton is a fictional character played by Mark Linn-Baker in the television sitcom Perfect Strangers. He was normally pronouncing "cosin" and his surname was mispronounced as "Ap-pleh-ton" by his cousin Balki Bartokomous.

Personality

Larry first moved away from his parents in the pilot (Knock Knock.. Who's There), at the age of 23 and moved into an apartment in Chicago, Illinois, where he intended to live alone and got a job as a clerk at Ritz Discount, a store in the ground floor of Larry's apartment building. The criminal store owner Donald Twinkacetti was Larry's boss and landlord. Shortly after Larry moved into his apartment, Balki that Larry did not even know came to his apartment intending to live with Larry. At first, Larry did not want Balki living with him because he wanted to live alone, after living with eight siblings. Later, Balki convinced Larry that it would be better to have a roommate to have someone to talk to.

In a season 2 episode (Hunks Like Us), Larry met beautiful Jennifer Lyons at a health club, who became his girlfriend and later his wife (The Wedding).

During seasons 1 and 2, Larry had a dream of being a photojournalist. In season 2 (Up on a Roof), he received 10th place in a photography contest, and was also invited to a party with a famous photographer (Tux For Two). In season 3, Larry got a job at the Chicago Chronicle. He originally intended to be a photojournalist, but his boss Harry Burns wanted Larry to write a story, so Larry became an investigative reporter, working out of the buildings basement. In season 4 (High Society), he proposed the idea of having an investigative team at the Chronicle. Although he did not get to head the team because of little prior experience, he became a member of the team(but the heads of the team repeatedly stole credit for his work). With the help of Balki, he helped uncover the story behind a mob in Los Angeles in season 5. In season 7 (Dimitri's World), Larry became an editorial writer.

In season 6, Larry's girlfriend broke up with Larry out of concerns that their relationship wasn't going anywhere and went back to her old boyfriend. Two weeks later, Balki convinced Larry to propose to Jennifer, and then Jennifer accepted his proposal (The Ring). Larry and Jennifer were married in season 7 (The Wedding).

In the final episode (Up, Up, and Away), Larry became a father for the first time when Jennifer gave birth to his son, Tucker Appleton, in a hot air balloon.

Family

Larry was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He has eight siblings, including brothers named Billy and Danny and a sister named Elaine. Larry grew up on a wheat farm. Larry was the salutatorian of his high school class. He has a tendency to come up with plans that annoy Balki, Jennifer and Mary Anne. Larry is willing to lie to make his plans succeed, the plans usually fail. Larry wanted to get quick money, seeing it as a means of independence, due to his owning a constant string of hand-me-downs during his childhood, but many of his get-rich-quick schemes fail, too. Larry studied journalism in college.