The soon-to-be-released Battle of the Sexes centers on Billie Jean King and her 1973 win over Bobby Riggs. But in order for her to change the world, her husband, Larry King, had to support her by staying out of her way.

Played by Austin Stowell, Larry King doesn’t have a huge role in the just over 2-hour-and-20 minute movie, but that’s actually the point.

“We take a very narrow window, and during that time Larry wasn't around,” co-director Jonathan Dayton told Baseline. “No one outside a very inner circle knew what was happening in Billie Jean's life during that time. So that was interesting to use. Here she is the most famous woman athlete in the country and she has this secret life.”

Meet the strong yet
silent male lead in
Battle of the Sexes

Meet the strong yet silent male lead in Battle of the Sexes

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(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

The storyline weaves the fight for equality, a love story and a tennis match into an intricate web, leaving viewers with a renewed desire to make an impact on the world with their own lives. Stowell, like many, is in awe of Billie Jean King.

“I was so excited to meet this woman and God did I fall in love with her. You can see so easily why she and Larry were married for so long,” Stowell told Baseline. “I want to be married to Billie Jean. She's fun to be around, she makes you feel better about your life—very few people can do that on a consistent basis. She does that all the time.”

In the movie, Billie Jean King storms ahead with the rest of the Original Nine to create the very beginnings of the WTA tour. She travels full-time on the fledgling circuit, leaving Larry King behind and falling in love with a female hairdresser, Marilyn. All the while, her husband supports her, even when he figures out what’s truly going on.

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Meet the strong yet
silent male lead in
Battle of the Sexes

Meet the strong yet silent male lead in Battle of the Sexes

(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

In a film that fights so hard for equality and women’s rights, a strong male character, Larry King, had to play a supporting role, even though he did more than just stand idly by when the WTA was forming. He brought in the business savvy and entrepreneurship experience to the growing women's tennis empire—a dream they shared together.

“I shouldn't speak for him—only from his actions can I say that he was happy to live out of the spotlight,” Stowell said. “He was more than happy to let Billie Jean be the star and knew that it was not only about tennis. It was about getting people to wake up about sexual equality, about sexual orientation. He was dealing with a lot of huge issues and doing it in an incredibly chivalrous way, as a gentleman.”

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In the film, it’s obvious that Larry King knows his place in the Billie Jean King saga. In one memorable scene, he explains to Marilyn that tennis is No. 1 to Billie Jean, and her husband—or girlfriend—falls to second place, and lower.

“I saw Larry as a really complex character in an incredibly complex time. He was also such a forward thinker. Just very at peace with who he was and who Billie Jean was and is,” Stowell said. “He lived a life of service, service to Billie Jean, service to tennis, service to global, social change. To be able to take on a character like that is something that I'm humbled to do.”