Larry J. Blake was born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York on April 24, 1914. At the age of 18, his talent at impersonations and dialects grew into a vaudeville act. Blake eventually became a headliner, playing the Orpheum circuit, as well as the Roxy Theatre and the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center.

In 1936, he signed to a contract with Universal studios, and his first job was in the serial Secret Agent X-9 (1937). Right after that, he was chosen for a featured role in James Whale's The Road Back (1937), a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). He appeared in other films for Universal including a string of 1938 films, Trouble at Midnight (1937), Air Devils (1938), Nurse from Brooklyn (1938), and The Jury's Secret (1938).