Robert Morse

Robert Morse, who starred in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as a young actor and, decades later, returned to the corporate world with TV's ...

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Robert Morse won his first Tony in 1962 for the musical comedy “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” also won an Emmy in 1993 for a one-man ...

Morse did not return to Broadway until he appeared in “Tru” in 1989-90, and he did not appear on the Rialto again after that. In 1976, he appeared in the musical “So Long, 174th Street,” whose source material was a book by Carl Reiner. He also studied with Lee Strasberg. He made his stage debut in 1949 production of “Our Town” in New Hampshire. In 2010, he shared the SAG Award that “Mad Men” won for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. He earned his first Emmy nomination for his work on the series. The enormous hit ran for more than 1,400 performances and was adapted for the big screen in a 1967 film in which Morse reprised his starring role of J. Pierpont Finch.

The Emmy and Tony winner was particularly known for his performances in AMC's prestige drama and 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.'

Morse was born on May 18, 1931 in Newton, MA. He always wanted to be an actor. But it was onstage that he made his biggest impressions. As an actor, Morse was a bundle of energy, a bravura song and dance man and deft at comedy.

The actor is best known for playing Bert Cooper in the hit drama, and twice won Tony awards for stage roles.

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. 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).” Robert Morse, who starred in the hit US drama Mad Men, has died at the age of 90.

FILE - Robert Morse appears at the live read and series finale of "Mad Men" held in Los Angeles on May 17, 2015. Morse, who won a Tony Award as a ...

“I don’t think in terms of whether a picture will help or hinder my career,” Morse told the Los Angeles Times when the film was in production. Still, he said of his career, “I didn’t think it was going to end or not end. “Say, Darling” was a comedy about a young writer’s experience as his novel is turned into a Broadway show. “But there’s a desperate side of Capote, too, and Morse rises to the pain.” It was the other 22 hours I had a problem with.” I never got a chance to be in a play or picture where I played a father, or had a family, or where I could feel or show something. He has an innate sense of comedy and a funny face to go with it.” “As played with unfaltering bravura and wit by Robert Morse, he is a rumpled, dimpled angel with a streak of Lucifer.” (Meanwhile, a 1995 Broadway revival of “How to Succeed...” brought another Tony for its Finch, Matthew Broderick.) More recently, he played the autocratic and eccentric leader of an advertising agency in “Mad Men,” AMC’s hit drama that debuted in 2007. “I consider myself an actor — shyly,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1964. The boyishly handsome Morse first made his name on Broadway in the 1950s, and landed some roles in Hollywood comedies in the 1960s.

Robert Morse, who translated Broadway stardom into a film career and later starred in 'Mad Men,' has died. He was 90.

Morse did not return to Broadway until he appeared in “Tru” in 1989-90, and he did not appear on the Rialto again after that. The pixie-like Morse is excellent, with both voice and facial expressions right on target all the time.” Morse not only sang but danced in the musical; later, in reviewing the actor’s performance in “Tru,” Frank Rich of the New York Times said, “Mr. Morse kicks a loose-limbed leg as high and friskily as he did when joining Bob Fosse’s hoedown for the ‘Brotherhood of Man’ finale in ‘How to Succeed.’ “ He also studied with Lee Strasberg. He made his stage debut in 1949 production of “Our Town” in New Hampshire. In 1976, he appeared in the musical “So Long, 174th Street,” whose source material was a book by Carl Reiner. He earned his first Emmy nomination for his work on the series. Makeup man Kevin Haney, whose credits include the movies “Altered States” and “Wolfen,” turned Morse into the bloated mass that Capote became before he died in 1984. The enormous hit ran for more than 1,400 performances and was adapted for the big screen in a 1967 film in which Morse reprised his starring role of J. Pierpont Finch. In 2010, he shared the SAG Award that “Mad Men” won for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. “The opportunity to shine in the spotlight that Matt Weiner gave me — it was an absolute love letter. The eccentric Bert Cooper was known for his bow ties and his collection of Japanese art and architecture; while at times he seemed indifferent to the business affairs at Sterling Cooper, he could be crafty and manipulative when necessary. “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).”

He launched his career in musical comedies but was later celebrated for played Truman Capote on Broadway and an eccentric adman on “Mad Men.”

Mr. Morse had few credits to his name, aside from an uncredited role as a wounded sailor in “The Proud and the Profane,” a recently completed war movie. His marriage to Carole D’Andrea, a “West Side Story” actress, ended in divorce. (The play also served as the basis for the musical “Hello, Dolly!”) Walking through the aisles, he sang “A Secretary Is Not a Toy,” one of the musical’s best-known songs. By then he was increasingly working in television, with credits that ranged from Grandpa in the TV movie “Here Come the Munsters” (1995) to journalist Dominick Dunne in “The People v. Written and directed by Jay Presson Allen, the play opened in 1989, ran for 297 performances and earned Mr. Morse his second Tony. He received an Emmy Award after the production was filmed for “American Playhouse.” Mr. Morse had another late-career triumph with “Mad Men,” playing the dapper co-founder of Sterling Cooper, a fictional ad agency in the 1960s. “They want to know, ‘What are your secrets?’ I say, ‘Hey, just like yours. His character was given a gentle send-off midway through the seventh season, but returned to adman Don Draper (Jon Hamm) later that episode as a hallucination, performing a song-and-dance routine to the tune of “The Best Things in Life Are Free.” Mr. Morse later said he battled depression and alcoholism while trying to branch into dramatic roles, frustrated at being typecast as a prankish star of musical comedies. “The first day I went on the set, I thought I’d walked into the road company production of ‘How to Succeed,’ ” he told Rolling Stone in 2014. The film was well received, but Mr. Morse struggled to translate his theatrical success to the screen, appearing in light comedies and bedroom farces that were largely ignored by viewers.