Barney Martin

For the baseball player, see Barney Martin (baseball).

Barney Martin
Martin in the Tony Randall Show (1977)
Born	(1923-03-03)March 3, 1923 New York City, U.S.
Died	March 21, 2005(2005-03-21) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956–2000

Barney Martin (March 3, 1923 – March 21, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing Morty Seinfeld, father of Jerry, on the sitcom Seinfeld (1991–1998). He also played supporting roles in Mel Brooks's The Producers (1967), and the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur (1981). He originated the role of Amos Hart (Mr. Cellophane) in the 1976 Broadway production of Chicago.

Early life

Barney Martin was born in New York City on March 3, 1923. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a navigator during the Second World War and worked as a NYPD officer for twenty years, working his way up to detective. He got his start as a comedian while still a police officer, providing deputy commissioners with humorous presentations.

Martin once commented that many Jewish Seinfeld fans told him how much his character reminded them of their fathers. Martin himself was from an Irish Catholic family.

Career

Entering show business as a stand-in for Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners in 1955–56 and as a part-time writer for Steve Allen in the 1950s, he was discovered by Mel Brooks, who cast him in The Producers. The next year, he played the role of Hank in Charly. He went on to act in dozens of films, including the role of Liza Minnelli's unemployed father in the hit 1981 film Arthur and its 1988 sequel, Arthur 2: On the Rocks.

Martin with Tony Randall and Rachel Roberts in the Tony Randall Show in 1976

On television, he appeared in two episodes of The Odd Couple, once in a very early episode as an irate fellow juror infuriated with Felix Unger's pesty personality and four years later as a fellow subway train passenger. Shortly after, Martin co-starred with Tony Randall for two seasons in The Tony Randall Show as court reporter Jack Terwilliger. Throughout the run of this show, he had second billing only to Randall himself. In 1979, he was cast as the title character in Norman Lear's final TV series concept, McGurk: A Dog's Life. Martin was cast to play a character similar to Lear's earlier creation, Archie Bunker, but played as a dog. Only the pilot was completed. In 1990, he co-starred with Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry in the CBS sitcom Sydney. In 1987, he appeared in the pilot episode of 21 Jump Street as Johnny Depp's partner. In 1993, Martin played the recurring role of "Pete Peters" on the Don Rickles sitcom Daddy Dearest.

In 1975, Martin originated the role of Amos Hart in the Broadway musical Chicago, in which he introduced the song "Mr. Cellophane". He appeared in many more musicals during his career, most notably South Pacific, The Fantasticks, and How Now, Dow Jones. Much of Martin's work has been in television, where he had a long career as a character actor. He played a gangster called the "Cheese Man" in a Golden Girls episode. He played a love interest for Thelma Harper in the Hawaii episode of Mama's Family, and he played the father of Frank Fontana on Murphy Brown. He appeared in an episode of Full House as Ranger Roy, the host of a popular kids' TV show. In 1981, he portrayed Ralph Marolla, father of Liza Minnelli's character in the film Arthur and the following year appeared on Barney Miller in the episode "Obituary".

In 1991, Martin was cast as the fictional father of Jerry Seinfeld, Morty Seinfeld in the sitcom Seinfeld. His first appearance was in Season 2's "The Pony Remark". Martin replaced Phil Bruns, who first portrayed the character in Season 1's "The Stake Out". Although he was the second actor to portray Jerry's dad in the show, he is the one most associated with the role, as Bruns only appeared in one episode. Martin took on the role upon showrunners Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld deciding they wanted the character of Morty Seinfeld to be harsher, as they thought Bruns was too laid-back for the character. He retained this role until the series ended in 1998.

Death

Martin died of bladder cancer on March 21, 2005, in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, at age 82. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to his family.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	The Wrong Man	Juror	Uncredited
1959	Odds Against Tomorrow	Car Accident Driver	Uncredited
1961	The Young Doctors	Bus Driver	Uncredited
1963	Love with the Proper Stranger	Sidney	Uncredited
1967	The Producers	Göring
1968	Charly	Hank
1970	Lola	Doorman, Efficient but Fat
1978	Movie Movie	Motorcycle Cop	(segment "Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
1979	Hot Stuff	Kiley
1981	Arthur	Ralph Marolla
1988	Arthur 2: On the Rocks	Ralph Marolla
1989	Deadly Weapon	Mayor Bigelow
1992	Hero	Court Official	Uncredited

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	The Phil Silvers Show	Police Officer	Episode: "The Boxer"
1957	To Tell the Truth	Imposter Portraying Jack Bothwell (Freckles from "Our Gang")	Episode: Aired Nov 26, 1957
1958	I've Got A Secret	Himself, a contestant in a laughing competition	Episode: Aired April 2, 1958
1961	Naked City	Bartender	Episode: "Landscape with Dead Figures"
1963	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Rupert Harney	Season 2 Episode 5: "Blood Bargain"
1963	Car 54, Where Are You?	Friar Charlie Donovan	Episode: "See you at the Bar Mitzvah"
1970–74	The Odd Couple	Man #3 / Mr. Moss	2 episodes
1976–78	The Tony Randall Show	Jack Terwillinger	38 episodes
1978	Happy Days	G.W. Burch	Episode: "Fonzie for the Defense"
1982	Benson	Frank Cooper	2 episodes
1983–86	Trapper John, M.D.	Fella / Herbert Mitchell	2 episodes
1983	Hill Street Blues	Ben Seltzer	2 episodes
1984	Night Court	Bum	Episode: "The Former Harry Stone"
1984	St. Elsewhere	Mr. Duffy	2 episodes
1985	The Twilight Zone	Marty	Episode: "Dealer's Choice"
1985	Diff'rent Strokes	Bill Perkins	Episode: "Blue Collar Drummond"
1986	Highway To Heaven	Barney	Episode: "A Night to Remember"
1986	Punky Brewster	Dr. Evans	2 episodes
1987	21 Jump Street	Edison Coulter / Charlie Donegan	2 episodes
1987–89	Murder, She Wrote	Lieutenant Timothy Hanratty	2 episodes
1988	Mama's Family	Billy Field	2 episodes "Mama Goes Hawaiian Parts 1 & 2"
1989	Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog	Rudy Phillips	Television movie
1991	Full House	Ranger Roy	Episode: "The Legend of Ranger Joe"
1991	Golden Girls	Karl "Cheeseman" Moran	Episode: "Witness"
1991–92	Life Goes On	Stan Baker	5 episodes
1991–98	Seinfeld	Morty Seinfeld	20 episodes
1993	Daddy Dearest	Pete Peters	13 episodes
1993	The Wonder Years	Old Kevin	1 episode
2000–01	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Ambassador Major	Voice; 2 Episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	All American	Various roles	Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway
1967	How Now, Dow Jones	Bradbury	Lunt-Fontanne Theater, Broadway
1974	All Over Town	Detective Peterson	Booth Theatre, Broadway
1975	Chicago	Amos Hart	46th Street Theatre, Broadway
1980	The Roast	Sid Ball	Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway

References

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0536385/

External links

• Barney Martin at IMDb
• Barney Martin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Barney Martin at the Internet Off-Broadway Database