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Vale: Robert Morse

Veteran US star, best known for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Mad Men, has died.

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Veteran US star of stage and screen Robert Morse, best known for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Mad Men, has died, aged 90.

“My good pal Bobby Morse has passed away at age 90,” Larry Karaszewski, vice president on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wrote on social media. “A huge talent and a beautiful spirit. Sending love to his son Charlie & daughter Allyn. Had so much fun hanging with Bobby over the years – filming People v OJ & hosting so many screenings (How To Succeed, Loved One, That’s Life).”

In a career spanning nearly 60 years, Morse appeared in about 100 theatre, TV and film productions, first making his name in 1961 in a stage adaptation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, winning the Tony award for best actor in a musical.

He played Bert Cooper, the head of the Mad Men’s advertising agency, who gave his surname to the company Sterling Cooper. His role yielded five Emmy nominations, and a Screen Actor’s Guild award win, as part of the ensemble cast. His final episode saw him drawing on his Broadway skills for a big musical number following his death, as he performed a song-and-dance routine to The Best Things in Life Are Free, having peacefully died during Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing.

His other TV credits included American Crime Story, Animals, Teen Titans Go!, The Legend of Korra, City of Angels, Suddenly Susan, Superman, Rugrats, Here Come the Munsters, Wild Palms, The Wild West, Trapper John, M.D., The Twilight Zone, Murder She Wrote, Tales of the Unexpected, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, One Day at a Time, All My Children, Fantasy Island, Alias Smith and Jones, Love American Style, That’s Life, Naked City.

Film credits included The Loved One, A Guide for the Married Man, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? and the big screen adaptation of How to Succeed.

Stage credits included The Matchmaker, Sugar, So Long 174th Street, Show Boat, Wicked, and as Truman Capote in Tru, winning the Tony for best featured actor in a play.

Source: Guardian

4 Responses

  2. Loved him as Coop when I binged on Mad Men a couple of years ago, and what a way to send him off too. I don’t believe I’ve seen him in anything else, but I ought to trawl through the classics one of these days. RIP.

  3. Loved How to succeed in business without really trying – A movie I revisit every few years – Clever movie – Great musical numbers. Morse a very talented Actor/Singer/Dancer – 90! – a good innings

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