The American actor Robert Morse, who was best known in the Netherlands for his role as advertising executive Bertram Cooper in the television series Mad Men, passed away at the age of 90. He had a short illnessreport American media.
Morse began his long career in the 1950s in theater, where he quickly made a name for himself on Broadway, earning his first nominations for the prestigious Tony Awards at a young age. He achieved national fame and a Tony in 1961 with the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Tryingwhich was later made into a movie.
Also with his one-man show Tru, about the famous writer Truman Capote, he garnered much praise. A televised recording of the piece earned him an Emmy in 1993.
Singing goodbye to Mad Men
Although Morse preferred to describe himself as a theater actor, his youngest audience discovered him in 2007 with the hit series Mad Men† In it he played the eccentric Bert Cooper for seven seasons, who together with Roger Sterling ran the New York advertising agency Sterling Cooper and had a great love for Japanese art. The role earned him five Emmy nominations.
His great theatrical talent was also shown in Mad Men recalled when the series emotionally parted ways with his character in 2014. At the end of Bert Cooper’s last episode, protagonist Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, imagined that the ad boss – singing and dancing to the beat of The Best Things in Life Are Free – closes the door of his office for the last time:
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