Larry Underwood

Larry Underwood is one of the heroes of the Stephen King Apocalyptic Thriller, The Stand.



He is a cocky, young singer and composer who, at the start of the book, is beginning to get significant success with his first single, "Baby, Can You Dig Your Man?" However, he tallies a debt with a local drug dealer while living in Los Angeles and travels to New York City to hide while visiting his loving, but very disappointed, mom. As the plague and chaos destroy New York, Underwood attempts to care for his dying mother, but he is unable to stop her from dying of the superflu. Pretty soon, Underwood finds that he is one of the few living people remaining in New York City. He meets a troubled, middle-aged woman named Rita Blakemoor and the two decide to leave New York together. They experience a scary expedition through the Lincoln Tunnel while leaving the island, and it is an incident that Underwood is often haunted by in the remainder of the narrative. Blakemoor soon dies from a drug overdose that Underwood concludes as "70% accident and 30% suicide."

Scared by his dreams of Randall Flagg, He's in a semi-catatonic state for several days until he finally passes out from exhaustion in New Hampshire. Recovering after a night’s sleep, Underwood travels to Maine, where he plans to spend the summer; until he meets Nadine Cross and the young Leo Rockway (known then only as "Joe"). The trio travel together to Ogunquit, where they find Lauder’s painted sign and the directions that it has written. He makes the decision to follow the directions, Underwood leads Nadine Cross and Joe to Stovington, Vermont, meeting Lucy Swann along the way. In Stovington, they discover only Harold Lauder's directions to Nebraska and he suceedingly takes the ever-growing party to Nebraska, an adventure that eventually leads to Colorado, in courtesy of Harold Lauder’s directions across the country.

Although he is romantically involved and takes an interest in Nadine Cross, she leaves him and he begins a relationship with Lucy Swann instead. The arrival of him in Boulder, he settles down with Swann and Joe, becoming a member of the Free Zone Committee. Nadine Cross tries to make amends for her relationship with Underwood, but he refuses to forgive her, choosing to remain with Swann. He later breaks into Harold Lauder’s home with Francis Goldsmith, after Joe instructs him to investigate before something horrible happens. They find Lauder's ledger, in which Lauder has written his plan of vengeance to kill Stuart Redman. But Harold Lauder's plan is already set in motion at this point and Stuart Redman narrowly escapes the fiery attack the next day. Underwood leaves Boulder with Stuart Redman, Ralph Brentner, and Glen Bateman, after Mother Abagail tells them to go to Las Vegas. Underwood leads the party after Redman breaks his leg during the travel to Las Vegas, where he and Ralph Brentner eventually die in the nuclear explosion caused by Trashcan Man.[8]

In the miniseries, Larry is portrayed by Adam Storke. He does not meet Rita Blakemoor in New York, instead meeting Nadine there, alone. After traveling with her, she abandons him. He later meets Lucy and Joe, and travels with them to Boulder.