Barney Martin, "Seinfeld's dad," dead at 82

Posted:
Mar 24, 2005

Former New York City police detective Barney Martin, whose roles in show business included playing comedian Jerry Seinfeld's father Morty on Seinfeld, died Monday at 82.

He died of cancer Monday at his home in Studio City, California, publicist Jennifer Glassman said.

Martin voiced the role of Ambassador Ursona Major (from Gargantia) in Inside Job and At Large on a Small Planet, two fall 2000 episodes of the Pixar-Disney series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which aired on UPN.

Although Martin was the third actor to portray Seinfeld's father, he became the one most associated with the part of the Florida retiree.

"Playing Jerry's dad was like having whipped cream on top of a mountain of ice cream," he said at the show's wrap party in 1998.

Martin was born on March 3, 1923 in the New York City borough of Queens. During the Second World War, he was an Air Force navigator.

He then embarked on a 20-year career as a detective, displaying the ability to make deputy police commissioners laugh during presentations when he added jokes to speeches.

As a sideline, he started writing for such TV series as Name That Tune and The Steve Allen Show in the 1950s.

His first appearance behind the cameras was in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Wrong Man (as a jury member). Other movies in which he made uncredited appearances included Butterfield 8, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Love With the Proper Stranger.

Martin first received screen credit when Mel Brooks cast him as Goring in the 1968 movie The Producers.

That film appearance led him to Broadway theater. Martin appeared in such musicals as South Pacific, The Fantasticks, All American and How Now Dow Jones.

However, his best-known Broadway role was as Roxy's unappreciated husband, Amos Hart, in the musical Chicago. He was credited with creating the role, in which he sang "Mr. Cellophane."

Once serving a stand-in for the just-as-heavy Jackie Gleason, Martin portrayed Liza Minnelli's father in the movie Arthur.

Besides his work in Seinfeld, Martin appeared in several other live-action TV series, including The Tony Randall Show (Jack Terwilliger), Number 96 (as Horace Batterson), Sydney (Ray), Zorro and Son (Napa/Sonoma) and Daddy Dearest (Pete Peters).

A daughter died of cancer in 2002. Barney Martin is survived by his wife and son.