by Kelly Reeves
Have you ever met a fellow so lucky that he could fall in a barrel of nickels and crawl out with a two-dollar bill? Well, I’ve met a few over the years, but I recently made a new friend that takes ‘luck’ to a whole different level. I’m a firm believer that luck is predictable. The harder a person works, the luckier they seem to get. My friend Larry Wells would probably tell you he’s simply been blessed, and I’d have to agree.
Though our friendship is relatively new, it’s certainly authentic and comes with a bonus: his identical twin brother, Garry Wells. If you have one as a friend, you have the other. I recently got to spend some time with both men and learn more about the ride they are on.
Larry Wells never thought he would be an actor. In fact, for most of his life, his world revolved not around cameras, scripts, and celebrities, but around tools, blueprints, and blue-collar folks. Yet today, he finds himself walking red carpets and sharing scenes with Hollywood legends.
It’s a journey that feels almost cinematic in itself. Long before acting entered the picture, Larry was a custom home builder working on expansive properties in North Texas, where automatic gates were a necessity, rather than a luxury. But when the homes were complete, and the gates were installed, he encountered a frustrating reality: there was no one to service the automatic gate openers. Instead of outsourcing the problem, Larry chose to step in and do the job himself.
Through persistence, experimentation, and countless hours of hands-on learning, he taught himself the intricacies of gate automation. What began as a practical skill soon became a passion and eventually a full-time career. So Larry walked away from home building and dedicated himself entirely to the gate business, a decision that would define the next 35 years of his professional life.
“Most people don’t realize that there’s an art to gate automation,” Larry says. “Precise angles, exact dimensions, and complex electrical systems mean that even a small error can lead to major problems. Diagnosing issues requires both technical knowledge and intuition.”
Today, the business, LWC Services Incorporated in North Richland Hills, Texas, is run mostly by his son, Brady Wells, allowing Larry to step back from daily operations and focus more on his new career…acting.
Larry’s acting career got its start the way a lot of great stories do, purely by accident. Back in 2020, he was just a regular customer at his local Tractor Supply Company, the kind of familiar face folks recognize and greet by name. Larry said, “Tractor Supply Company was one of my regular stops for horse feed and other supplies I needed.” One day, while shopping in Tractor Supply, he was asked if he’d want to appear in a Tractor Supply Company commercial. He figured, why not?
Turns out, that small, unexpected favor stirred up something bigger than anyone expected. The company liked what they saw and heard. You see, Larry has ‘that’ kind of voice; warm and soothing, yet authoritative and easily recognizable.
Before long, Larry was not just in a commercial, he was showing up in print ads for their clothing line. Soon after that, his voice was drifting across their radio and television ads, too. What began as a one-time opportunity turned into a new chapter he never saw coming, just proof that sometimes life opens a door when you are simply minding your own business.
Around the same time, the Taylor Sheridan hit series 1883 was filming in Fort Worth. The same agent who booked Larry with Tractor Supply then encouraged him to try out for the Taylor Sheridan project. So Larry took a leap of faith, and sure enough, he landed a featured role as a deputy. Suddenly, he was on set with Billy Bob Thornton, Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, and other A-listers. “I caught the acting bug,” he admits.
From there, Larry dove headfirst into the industry, appearing in other local and national commercials, modeling men’s fashion in Dallas, and enrolling in acting workshops with actor and casting director Roni Hummel to sharpen his skills. He was later cast as an Amarillo deputy in Sheridan’s sequel to 1883, called 1923. Both series were prequels to the hit series Yellowstone. Along the way, he built friendships and discovered a community of which he never expected to be a part.
Larry’s family has been very supportive, attending premieres and events with him, and encouraging him to embrace this new path forward. “I’ve got an amazing family. We talked about Garry earlier. I’ve also got two younger brothers, Alton and Jonathan. All of them have been very enthusiastic about this new chapter,” he says. “There’s also no way I could do this without the help of my kids. My son Brady runs the family business, and my daughter, Brenna, and her husband, Samuel, well, they help me with everything else. I couldn’t chase my dream without them.”
As we sat visiting, it was easy to see where Larry’s heart truly is. I couldn’t help but see the pride Larry had each time he spoke of his family, especially his granddaughter Landry, whom he calls “the light of his life.”
“What could be more important than family?” Larry asked. “Nothing.”
His brother Garry followed with, “Larry and I have been best friends since we were born, and still are. I’ve been able to share Larry’s successes by serving as a body double and a stand-in now and then. He lets me grab on to his coattails, and he is gracious enough to drag me along with him. We’ve been each other’s wingman our whole lives.”
The stories rolled on like they often do when old friends get to talking.
“We grew up in Coppell, Texas, when it was a really small town,” Larry said. “Our senior class had twenty-two students.”
Garry quickly chimed in, “And nineteen of us graduated!”
Larry laughed before continuing. “My mother had eighteen brothers and sisters, five sets of twins. Then, she had us. There are twenty-two sets of twins in our family.”
“That meant we had a whole lot of cousins,” Garry added. Our cousins were our playmates and best friends as kids, and still are.” Family is the most important part of their lives, and both men gleamed with pride while speaking of them.
Larry’s acting career has also led to unforgettable friendships with legends he’s met while working with the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. After 1883, Larry was invited to join the annual Stock Show parade alongside acting legends Barry Corbin (Urban Cowboy, War Games, Lonesome Dove, and many more) and Buck Taylor (Gunsmoke, Hell or High Water, Yellowstone, and more), where they appeared as Western actors and met Purple Heart recipients. This opportunity led to their friendships. Larry reflected on these new relationships and shared, “Barry Corbin and Buck Taylor are so knowledgeable and experienced in this business, and they have really helped me with my acting skills. They taught me to immerse myself into the character I’m portraying. I’m very grateful to those guys.”
“One time, on the set of 1883, I sat on a park bench beside Sam Elliott, and we just talked about his life and career, and the little acting I have done. Then, he patted me on the back and said, “Let’s go wrap this up.”
Who gets to experience that? That’s a memory I’ll never forget,” said Larry. And “The time I’ve spent with Buck Taylor and Barry Corbin are all times that I cherish.”
About a year and a half ago, Barry Corbin was inducted into the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame in Denton, Texas. He served our country as a U.S. Marine and was being recognized for his lifetime of accomplishments. While planning the event, Corbin asked if I would do the voice-over for his introduction video.
“To have Barry Corbin entrust me to do a six-minute monologue about his life was a privilege and honor that I’ll never forget,” said Larry. “Later on, I got to moderate Barry’s live show, An Evening With Barry Corbin. I had the time of my life.”
At this point, Larry has had the privilege of doing a number of television commercials. He’s been cast as a deputy in 1883 and 1923. He’s done print ads, modeled men’s suits, and he’s even been in and co-produced two faith-based music videos. One of the music videos titled “The Power Of A Second Chance” is a song of redemption by Trinity Church Palestine Pastor, Singer/Song Writer Justin Todd Herod from Palestine, Texas. This video won Video Of The Year last year, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville from the Inspirational Country Music Association (ICMA). Another video with Justin Todd Herod is set to be released in March.
Larry has also crossed paths with Ken Spurgeon, a writer and director with whom he plans to collaborate on an upcoming project. Larry has even been a presenter at awards shows for the Texas Country Music Association (TCMA) and the Academy of Western Artists (AWA). Larry said, “Linda Wilson, the President of the TCMA, and Bob Saul, the President of the AWA, have both been very gracious in sharing their platforms with me.”
In February, Larry moderated actor Barry Corbin’s live show called “An Evening with Barry Corbin”, which kicked off the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Bastrop, Texas. Larry currently has a lead role and is a producer on a movie called Anderson County, currently being filmed in East Texas. It is a true story from 1951 that pays tribute to fallen Texas Game Warden Gus A. Engling, who was murdered by a poacher. The movie is near completion and should be in theaters this fall.
In closing, I asked Larry Wells if there is any advice he could give an aspiring actor. He answered, “This pertains to anyone in any business. Listen more than you speak. Do everything with honesty and integrity. Give it 100 percent, and stay focused. I’m living proof that you can do almost anything if you work hard and stay focused.”
The story of Larry Wells is proof that life can flip the script when you least expect it. He mastered a technical trade, built a successful business, and now he’s discovered a passion for acting. He is a ‘What you see is what you get’ kind of guy. His life reflects a combination of grit, curiosity, creativity, and maybe just a little bit of luck. When Larry was asked what he thinks about his new adventures, he humbly says, “It’s been a wild ride. I’m having a lot of fun, and I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings.”
