Robert Xavier Morse was an American actor, voice actor, and singer who was credited with voicing the governor of Yi in one episode of The Legend of Korra.
The Legend of Korra credits
Governor
- Character information: Governor
- 401. "After All These Years"
Selected other credits
Television work
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- City of Angels
- Here Come the Munsters (TV movie)
- I Did Not Know That (TV movie)
- Jack Frost (TV movie)
- Love, American Style
- Mad Men
- Masquerade (TV movie)
- Play of the Week
- Pound Puppies
- That's Life
- Wild Palms
Filmography
- It's All About You (2002)
- Why I Live at the P.O. (1998)
- The Emperor's New Clothes (1987)
- The Boatniks (1970)
- Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)
- A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
- Honeymoon Motel (1964)
- The Matchmaker (1958)
Other credits
- Jack Frost (soundtrack performer)
- Mad Men (soundtrack performer)
- That's Life (soundtrack performer)
- The Emperor's New Clothes (soundtrack performer)
Biographical information
Personal life
Morse was born on May 18, 1931, in Newton, Massachusetts, at St. Mary's General Hospital. He was the second of Joseph Xavier and Edna Morse's eight children and mostly raised in Boston, Massachusetts, his family having moved there when he was one. When he was ten, his father died in a car accident and his mother, who suffered a nervous breakdown afterward, was committed to a mental institution in Florida. Young Morse and his siblings were subsequently sent to live with their maternal grandparents, John and Nancy Porter, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Around this time, unable to escape the stresses in his life, Morse would regularly make trips to the movie theater, seeing the new movies of the day and quickly developing idols in actors and directors.
Morse was married twice and had five children.
Career
Beginning at age thirteen, Morse began appearing in school productions such as Romeo and Juliet, When Christopher Columbus Discovered America, and The Dark Alleys of New York. He graduated from high school in 1949 and spent the next year working multiple small jobs before joining the United States Navy and being sent to fight in Korea in 1950. After serving in the U.S. Navy for four years, Morse moved to Manhattan to study acting.
Morse was well known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway, as well as roles in movies and television shows. He was perhaps best known for his role as young 1960s New York City businessman J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1961 Broadway production and 1967 film version of the Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Morse gained new prominence in the late 2000s for his recurring role of elder New York City businessman Bertram Cooper on the AMC television show Mad Men.
Morse had appeared in numerous TV shows, beginning in 1955 with the soap opera The Secret Storm. He appeared as Boss Hogg's devious nephew, Dewey Hogg, in The Dukes of Hazzard sixth-season episode "How to Succeed in Hazzard", and he also had featured roles in the 1993 miniseries Wild Palms and the 2000 medical drama City of Angels.
In 1999, Morse was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame for his long career as a stage actor.[1]
Death
Morse died at his home in Los Angeles on April 20, 2022, at the age of 90.[2]
Awards
- 2014: Won an OFTA Television Award for Mad Men (Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series)
- 2010: Won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Mad Men (Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series)
- 1993: Won a Primetime Emmy Award for American Playhouse (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special)
References
- ↑ Robert Morse on Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved on April 21, 2022.
- ↑ Award-winning actor Robert Morse dies at 90 after 'short illness': 'A beautiful spirit'. USAtoday.com (April 21, 2022). Retrieved on April 21, 2022.