Robert Morse, two-time Tony winner, died at age 90

Actor Robert Morse, who won a Tony Award as a hilariously reckless business climber in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and another a generation later as the brilliant and troubled Truman Capote in “Tru,” has died. He was 90 years old.

Morse died at home on Wednesday after a brief illness, said David Shaul of BRS/Gage Talent Agency.

A youthfully handsome Morse first became famous on Broadway in the 1950s and landed some roles in Hollywood comedies in the 1960s. “I consider myself an actor, timidly,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1964. “I love acting. It's a great use of body and mind... In all humility, you expect to be doing something worthwhile.”

Most recently, he played the autocratic and eccentric leader of an advertising agency in “Mad Men”, the hit AMC drama that debuted in 2007. The role earned him an Emmy nomination in 2008 as best guest actor in a drama series.

“It radiated perverse joy; it was impossible to see it without instantly sharing its dizzying delight,” wrote playwright Paul Rudnick.

Morse was already well established on Broadway, with two Tony nominations under his belt, when he became nationally famous at age 30 as the star of Abe Burrows and Frank Loesser's 1961 Broadway satire of corporate life, “How to Succeed...”. The show won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Prize for Best Musical and was on the air for more than three years.

Morse's bright-eyed J. Pierrepont Finch was a master of corporate backstabbing, with a grin full of teeth, as he went from being a Manhattan window cleaner to being a titan in the World Wide Wicket company with the help of a small paperback book on office policies.

The song titles of the musical suggest the pre-feminist and buttoned business world: “The Company Way”, a theme song for yes-men; “A Secretary Is Not a Toy”, a song that nods to office flirtation; “Coffee Break”, a tribute to caffeine; and the anthem Finch sings to himself: “I Believe in You”. Finch flatters the elderly boss, played by 1920s singer Rudy Vallee, by joining the old man's college wrestling song, “Grand Old Ivy”.

“Imagine a collaboration between Horatio Alger and Machiavelli and you have Finch, the fearless hero of this foray into the cannons of commerce,” wrote The New York Times. “Played with unwavering bravery and ingenuity by Robert Morse, it is a wrinkled and dimpled angel with a Lucifer vein.”

The 1967 film version of “How To Succeed” dropped some songs, but otherwise remained close to the original stage. Morse was back, as was Vallee.

But Morse's film career failed to take off to a large extent.

He returned to Broadway in 1972, and earned another Tony nomination, for “Sugar”, producer David Merrick's musical version of “Some Like It Hot”. Morse played Jerry, the role played by Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's comedy about two musicians who dress up as women to escape murderous gangsters.

“Tru”, a one-man show based on Capote's writings, revived Morse's theatrical career in 1989.

In 1993, the televised version of “Tru” (PBS) won Morse an Emmy for best actor in a miniseries or special. (Meanwhile, a 1995 Broadway revival of “How to Succeed...” brought another Tony for his Finch, Matthew Broderick.)

“Mad Men” from television returned Morse to the setting of “How to Succeed” of Manhattan office politics, in the style of the sixties.

When Morse landed in Hollywood after his triumph in “How to Succeed,” columnist Hedda Hopper predicted in 1963: “If Robert Morse appears on screen like he does on stage, he will have teenagers screaming and mothers wanting to adopt him. It has an innate sense of comedy and a funny face that goes with it.”

Among his films is “The Loved One”, a 1965 black comedy about an Englishman's encounter with Hollywood and the funeral industry, based on the satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh.

“I don't think in terms of whether a film will help or hinder my career,” Morse told the Los Angeles Times when the film was in production. “I think about who I'm working with.” Among his “Loved One” co-stars were Jonathan Winters, John Gielgud and Tab Hunter.

Morse was born on May 18, 1931 in Newton, Massachusetts, and made his Broadway debut in 1955 in “The Matchmaker”.

He received consecutive Tony nominations for his next two roles: in 1959 as best outstanding actor in a play for “Say, Darling” and in 1960 as best actor in a musical for “Take Me Along”, which also starred Jackie Gleason.

Reviewing his career, Morse told The New York Times in 1989: “Things change. I never had the opportunity to be in a play or in a movie where I played a father, or had a family, or where I could feel or show something. The wild child in me never had a chance to grow up.”

He said he had successfully fought alcohol and drug abuse, but added: “I don't think drinking got in the way of my work. It was the other 22 hours that I had a problem with.”

Still, he said of his career: “I didn't think it was going to end or not end. I just went on. One day you hear 'We love you, Bobby'. The next day you're doing dubbing.”

He is survived by five children, a son Charlie and four daughters, Robin, Andrea, Hilary and Allyn.

(with information from AP)

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