Robert Morse

Robert Xavier Morse is an American actor, voice actor, and singer who is credited with voicing the Governor of Yi in one episode of The Legend of Korra.

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)

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. He was ten when his father died in a car accident, and his mother, who suffered a nervous breakdown afterwards, was committed to a mental institution in Florida. Therefore, young Morse and his siblings were forced 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 has been married twice and has five children.

Career
Beginning at age thirteen, he 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 is well known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway, as well as roles in movies and television shows. 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 has appeared in numerous TV shows, beginning in 1955 with the soap opera The Secret Storm and including mysteries, comedies, and variety shows. He appeared as Boss Hogg's devious nephew, Dewey Hogg, in The Dukes of Hazzard sixth season episode "How to Succeed in Hazzard". He 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.

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)