S6E204 Larry Wilcox, from the Marines to Hollywood Artwork

Tall Tales with Taco Bell

This is a Military themed podcast by a retired Marine Corps Officer dealing with everyone from former Military, actors, U-2, SR-71 pilots, a ton of F-14 Top Gun stories, grunts and their time in the service. You name it, you might find it here. Each Tuesday, I interview old friends or others who I just find interesting. There is a YouTube channel by the same name and all of these shows are on there. They also include photos and other visual aides that you won’t get from the audio so please join me there and subscribe if you enjoy the content. Semper Fi, Taco

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Tall Tales with Taco Bell

S6E204 Larry Wilcox, from the Marines to Hollywood

May 18, 2026 • Taco Bell • Season 6 • Episode 204

0:00 | 1:47:38

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For those Gen Xer’s who remember the TV show CHiPs on Sat nights, it was the buddy cop motorcycle duo and one of my favorite shows in the late 70’s. In honor of the Marine Corps 250th anniversary I am sitting down with Larry Wilcox who played Officer Jon Baker. Crazy question, did you know that he was an Artillery Marine in Vietnam during Tet in ’68 and was honorably discharged in 1973 as a Staff Sergeant? Probably not.

There are lots of podcasts with Larry talking about that one show, but what I really want to do is dig into his time in the Corps, how it shaped him, his experiences in VN, how those years made him into the man he is today. This is a real honor to have him on and I hope you enjoy this Marine Corps Birthday Special!

Semper Fi Taco

PS, for all my aviator folks out there, he is also a pilot…

Mitch “Taco” Bell

Host