Jack Larson, best known for his role as reporter Jimmy Olsen on 50s television series Adventures of Superman, has passed away at the age of 87.

According to The New York Times, Olsen died at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood.

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His passing was confirmed by his longtime friend, Alan Howard.

Mr Larson was just 23 when he scored the role on the hit show, which ran for six years.

Jimmy Olsen was a comic character and his mishaps often got himself and colleague Lois Lane into sticky situations.

After the show ended in 1958, Mr Larson gave up acting to pursue a career as a playwright.

Mr Larson received mixed reviews for his work, which ranged from a libretto for a Virgil Thomson opera to a retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

His last television appearance was in 2010 on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which he played a good-natured grandfather looking to right the wrongs of his sex offender grandson.

No immediate family members survive Mr Larson.

Below is a skit featuring Mr Larson in character as Jimmy Olsen alongside Clark Kent aka Superman, played by George Reeves.