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.
Martin once commented that many JewishSeinfeld fans told him how much his character reminded them of their fathers. Martin himself was from an Irish Catholic family.[3]
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.[1] 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.[1] 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".[4]
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.[5] He retained this role until the series ended in 1998.
