C. Larry Roberts was born on August 2, 1944, in WaKeeney, Kansas.[1] He had a brother.[1] He obtained a BS at Fort Hays State University in 1966 and an MA from the University of Denver in 1969.[2]
Originally an art teacher, Roberts became interested in film after seeing the work of such creators as Stan Brakhage and Bruce Conner.[3] In 1973, he released The Smara, centering on a middle-aged woman waking up to find herself in a homage to 8½;[3] the film won a 1973 Bijou Film Festival award.[2] Other films he made include Calamus (1978), an "inverted Gothic with comedy", involving "outrageous parodies of social norms"; Strong Willed Women Subdue and Subjugate Reptiles (1982), a found footage short film which won a 1983 Ann Arbor Film Festival prize;[2] and I Was a Teenage Travelogue, where he is briefly seen meeting Luis Buñuel; as well as Muskrats.[3][1] In total, he created thirty films,[3] mostly experimental film,[4] and the time of his death he was working on another film, The Divine Abyss.[1]
Roberts joined KUTV as a producer and director in 1976,[2] and he worked at the station's newsmagazine Extra as a producer.[1] He also became a co-producer and director at Beecher Films in 1979.[2] He worked as a visiting filmmaker at San Francisco State University (1984) and University of California, Santa Cruz (1984, 1986), and held an artist-in-residence position at the Utah Media Arts Center.[2][1]
Roberts collaborated with fellow Extra producer Diane Orr on documentaries such as SL-1 (which aired on WNET) and The Plan (1979).[5] In 1987,[6] the duo were awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for a documentary on Everett Ruess.[5] Terry Orme said that the Orr-Roberts duo "epitomize[d] the regional, independent filmmaker";[5] however, Calvin Ahlgren said that "it was Roberts' solo work that earned him a reputation as a filmmaker with not only a flair for craftsmanship but also a characteristic enthusiasm and imagination, laced with a quirky sense of humor that lights his films from within".[3]
Roberts died on June 26, 1988, in Salt Lake City from AIDS.[1] The Everett Ruess project subsequently went on hiatus, but was later revived, and Lost Forever: Everett Ruess was screened in 2001.[7] His films are archived at the J. Willard Marriott Library.[4]
