(CNN) — Robert Morse, Broadway star known to viewers as the boss of “Mad Men,” Bertram Cooper has died at the age of 90.
His friend, screenwriter Larry Karaszewski, and Morse’s son, Charlie, confirmed his death. and Twitter and CNN affiliate KABC, respectively.
Morse was a beloved stage actor, with two Tony Awards and a handful of Emmy nominations (as well as an award) and a career that spanned more than 60 years.
Morse’s Broadway career began in the mid-1950s. He played the role of entrepreneur J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1961 play “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” winning a Tony Award for his role. He reprized the role in the 1967 film adaptation.
In “How to Suceed in Business Without Really Trying”, Morse played an employee who gets promoted.
Crédito: Ray Fisher/The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images
Morse guest starred and voiced on dozens of series, from “Fantasy Island” to “American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson.” But his most prominent television role came with the famous series “Mad Men”. Morse played the role of the eccentric but cunning ad executive Bertram “Bert” Cooper and was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards.
In the series’ final season, Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, hallucinated Morse performing the 1920s tune “The Best Things in Life Are Free” after Cooper’s death on the series, a scene that circulated again upon learning of Morse’s death.
Morse, who described himself as a “musical comedian”, relished the opportunity to perform a musical number in the series, with dancers dressed as office staff of the time.
“As simple as it was, it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life,” she told Time in 2015.
Still, performing on stage held a special meaning for Morse, who last appeared on Broadway in a remake of “The Front Page” in 2016.
“I love getting to the theater early, going out on stage with that one light on,” he told The New York Times in 1989, as his Tony Award-winning portrayal of Truman Capote was about to premiere. “I find the center of the stage, I find the center of me, and I feel that I belong to it. It is my happiest moment.”
