Alan Oppenheimer
| Alan Oppenheimer | |
|---|---|
 Oppenheimer in 2015 | |
| Born |
Alan Louis Oppenheimer April 23, 1930 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor |
| Years active | 1956–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Marianna Elliot (1958-19??; divorced) Marilyn Greenwood (m. 1984; div. 1990) Marianna Elliot (m. 1992; d. 2003) |
| Children | 3 |
Alan Louis Oppenheimer (born April 23, 1930) is an American actor and voice actor. He has performed numerous roles on live-action television since the 1960s, and has had an active career doing voice work in cartoons since the 1970s.
Early life
Alan Louis Oppenheimer was born April 23, 1930 in New York City, New York on April 23, 1930, the son of Irene (née Rothschild) and Louis E. Oppenheimer, who was a stockbroker. He is the third cousin of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Career
Character roles
As a character actor, Oppenheimer has had diverse roles in popular American television programming, from playing a Nazi in Hogan's Heroes, to playing an Israeli secret agent as well as a double-agent KAOS scientist on Get Smart, to being the second actor to play Dr. Rudy Wells in The Six Million Dollar Man (Martin Balsam played the role in the pilot telemovie). Oppenheimer took over as Rudy starting with the second film, "Wine, Women and War" and kept playing up until the introduction of the bionic woman in 1975, whereupon Martin E. Brooks took over as Wells until cancellation). He was the original Mickey Malph (Ralph Malph's dad) on Happy Days. He played a recurring role during the first two seasons of St. Elsewhere as Helen Rosenthal's husband, Ira. He had a recurring role as Mayor Alvin B. Tutwiller on Mama's Family.
Alan showed himself well suited to the science fiction genre in the 1973 cult classic Westworld, where he played the head IT technician. He has also appeared in three Star Trek series, always playing a different character. He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Rightful Heir" as a Klingon cleric, Koroth, a primary instigator of the cloning of Kahless, on Deep Space Nine as a Starfleet Captain Declan Keogh in command of the USS Odyssey, and as an alien ambassador in Voyager.
Alan Oppenheimer appeared as film director Cecil B. DeMille in the 1994 Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd.[1]
Voice roles
Oppenheimer is recognized as the voice of many characters, often for Filmation in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Mighty Mouse, Ming the Merciless on Flash Gordon, the Overlord on BlackStar, Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man from Filmation's 1980's cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and the voice of Prime Evil in the 1986 TV series, Filmation's Ghostbusters. Other notable voice roles include Thundarr the Barbarian, Vanity on The Smurfs, Rhinokey and Crock from The Wuzzles and Falkor, Gmork, Rockbiter, and the Narrator from 1984's The NeverEnding Story. In the early 1990s, Oppenheimer was the voice of Merlin in The Legend of Prince Valiant. He also provided the voice of Barkerville in the Pound Puppies TV special. He also voiced Fraidy Cat on Fraidy Cat in 1975.
Oppenheimer worked on The Transformers, most notably as two contrasting characters, the pacifist Beachcomber and the bellicose Warpath. His rendition of Seaspray was remarkably similar to Mer-Man, including the gurgling effects. He took over the voice of Roger Smith's butler Norman Burg in the second season of The Big O. He was the voice of the unseen Alistair Crane on the soap opera Passions up until 2004, when the character was made fully visible and played by David Bailey. More recently, he provided the voice of the Scientist for the 2009 film 9 and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
Oppenheimer's repertoire also includes video games, voicing Dr. Piotr Ivanovich in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Prometheus in God of War II and Jandor the Airship Captain in Nox. In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, he spoke the part of Harold, an ancient mutated survivor of nuclear holocaust who has appeared in four of the Fallout series games, and played the roles of The Chariot Master and Dyntos, God of the Forge, in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Oppenheimer also voiced the parts of a non-player character Soldier and the Wasteland Trader, and the NPC 'enemies' Cult Ghoul Thug and Kamikaze in Fallout: BoS. Also, in the English TG-16 port of Ys Book I and II, Oppenheimer voiced the roles of the Narrator, and the game's lead antagonist, Darm.
Personal life
Oppenheimer was married to costume designer Marianna Elliott, with whom he had three children. The couple divorced but then remarried many years later in 1992, until her death in 2003. He was married to professional tennis player Marilyn Greenwood between marriages. That union ended in divorce.
Filmography
Films
- unknown – Office of Special Investigation – U.S.A.F. instructor (uncredited)
- 1966 – Gammera the Invincible – Dr. Contrare
- 1967 – Gunn – Whiteside
- 1967 – In the Heat of the Night – Ted Appleton (uncredited)
- 1968 – How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life – Everett Bauer
- 1968 – Star! – Andre Charlot, Producer
- 1968 – Up Tight! – Unctuous Man in Arcade
- 1969 – The Maltese Bippy – Adolph Springer
- 1970 – Little Big Man – Major
- 1972 – The Groundstar Conspiracy – General Hackett
- 1973 – The Thief Who Came to Dinner – Insurance Man
- 1973 – Westworld – Chief Supervisor
- 1975 – Win, Place or Steal – Lt. Mannite
- 1975 – The Lives of Jenny Dolan – Springfield
- 1975 – The Hindenburg – Albert Breslau
- 1976 – Helter Skelter – Aaron Stovitz
- 1976 – Freaky Friday – Mr. Joffert
- 1978 – Record City – Blind Man
- 1979 – A Pleasure Doing Business - Marvin
- 1980 – Private Benjamin – Rabbi
- 1981 – Macbeth – Duncan
- 1984 – The Neverending Story – Falkor/Gmork/Rockbiter (uncredited)
- 1988 – Moving – Mr. Cadell
- 1989 – Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland – Oomp
- 1992 – Love Field – Announcer
- 1993 – Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight – Dr. Knox
- 1994 – Trancers 5: Sudden Deth – Farr
- 1997 – Culture
- 2008 – Juan Frances: Live – Mr. French
- 2009 – 9 – The Scientist
Television work
- 1964 – The Defenders – Dr. Frick
- 1966 – Felony Squad – Ed Clark
- 1966 – The F.B.I. – Ludovic Krols
- 1967 – It's About Time – Pettijohn
- 1966–1967 – I Spy – Benkovsky / Colonel Benkovsky
- 1967 – He & She – Murray Mouse
- 1967 – Judd for the Defense – District Attorney Tom Rogers
- 1967 - Get Smart - Agent 498
- 1968 – The Andy Griffith Show – Mr. Ruskin
- 1968 – The Name of the Game – Harvey
- 1968 – Here Come the Brides – Benet
- 1969 – Lancer – Dan'l Drew
- 1969 – The Queen and I – H.R. Martin
- 1969 – My Friend Tony – Dr. Mink
- 1967–1969 – Hogan's Heroes – Colonel Sitzer / Herman Freitag / Major Byron Buckles / Wilhelm
- 1969 – The Bill Cosby Show – Dwight McDevitt
- 1969 – Ironside – Arnold Cane
- 1969 – The Mod Squad – Phil Norval
- 1970 – I Dream of Jeannie – Congressman Farragut
- 1970 – Hastings Corner – Dr. Byron Dorman
- 1970 – My World and Welcome to It – The Principal
- 1969–1970 – Here Come the Brides – Benet / Victor
- 1970 – Three for Tahiti – Cecil Barrett
- 1970 – The Governor & J.J. – Mr. Federenko
- 1969–1970 – That Girl – Dr. Globe / Morgan Jerome / Mr. Katz / Stewart Hurly
- 1970 – The High Chaparral – Sweets
- 1970 – The Bold Ones: The Lawyers – George Hartnell
- 1971 – The Partridge Family – Wink Burgess
- 1971 – Love, American Style – Captain Blodgett
- 1971 – Inside O.U.T. – Edgar Winston
- 1971 – The Good Life
- 1971 – McCloud – Mervin Simmons
- 1971 – The Jimmy Stewart Show – Prof. Lokacs
- 1971 – Nichols – Averrel
- 1968–1971 – The Mod Squad – Bob Ross / Phil Norval
- 1971–1972 – The Courtship of Eddie's Father – Sy Freeman
- 1972 – Bewitched – Blades Buckholtzer
- 1971–1972 – Bonanza – Darius Dalrymple / Ernesto / Wentworth
- 1971–1972 – Insight – Marty / Sergeant Varron
- 1972 – Here's Lucy – Dr. Parker / Herb Hinkley
- 1971–1972 – The Doris Day Show – Marvin Patterson / The Doctor
- 1973–1974 – The Six Million Dollar Man – Dr. Rudy Wells
- 1977 – Washington: Behind Closed Doors – Simon Cappell
- 1978 - The Ghost of Flight 401 - Barton
- 1978 – Peeping Times – Miles Rathbourne
- 1979 – Blind Ambition – George Simonson
- 1982-1985 - Knight Rider - General Duncton / Joe Lewis
- 1982 – Mama's Family – Mayor Tutweller
- 1986 - Strong Medicine - Dr. Townsend
- 1987 – Bionic Six – Jack Bennet/Bionic-1 - Professor Sharp - Metalhead
- 1994 – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Captain Keogh
- 1988 – The New Yogi Bear Show – Additional voices
- 1997 – Star Trek: Voyager – Nezu Ambassador
Awards and nominations
- 1991 – Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series as Eugene Kinsella in Murphy Brown
References
- ↑ Sunset Boulevard entry, broadwaymusicalhome.com; accessed May 9, 2015.