Educated at Brandeis University. Larner was given the job of adapting Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner to the screen by Paul Newman, but the mainstream gay characters and explicit homosexual love scenes made his (and subsequent adaptors') efforts unsuccessful. He only has two screen credits. His first was the novel Drive, He Said that provided the basis for the screenplay of the 1971 film. The other is the original screenplay for THE CANDIDATE.  Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published) 1972: THE CANDIDATE 1 nomination, 1 Award