Larry Parks, the 60-year-old actor who became famous playing the role of singer Al Jolson, has died at his home in Los Angeles of an apparent- heart attack. Parks was one of the main victims of the anti-communist purge of the 1950s in Hollywood, led by Senator Joseph Mc?Carthy. He abandoned his acting career almost entirely after telling a 1951 hearing of the Congress Un-American Activities Committee that he belonged to the Communist Party from 1941 to 1945. June 16, 1955.