George Morfogen

George Morfogen
Born	(1933-03-30)March 30, 1933 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	March 8, 2019(2019-03-08) (aged 85) Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–2016
Spouse	Gene Laughorne ​ (m. 1968)​ [1]

George Morfogen (March 30, 1933 – March 8, 2019) was an American stage, film and TV actor. He is known for playing Bob Rebadow in the HBO show Oz, and for his role as Stanley Bernstein in the original V miniseries.

He was of Greek descent.^[1]

Biography

He appeared at the Chelsea Theater Center of Brooklyn and at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre in Heinrich von Kleist's play, The Prince of Homburg.^[2] The play was videotaped for the PBS series, Great Performances, and later released as a DVD. A chapter in Davi Napoleon's book, Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater describes the rehearsal process and the production.

Morfogen was lifelong friends with director Peter Bogdanovich, and was best man for Bogdanovich at his 1962 wedding to Polly Platt.^[3] Morfogen acted in five films directed by Bogdanovich: What's Up, Doc? (1972), Daisy Miller (1974), They All Laughed (1981; also producer), Illegally Yours (1988; also co-producer), and She's Funny That Way (2014). He worked off-screen on several other Bogdanovich movies; Morfogen was dialogue coach on At Long Last Love (1975), and associate producer on Saint Jack (1979) and Mask (1985).^[4]

In 2001 he reprised his role as Bob in the Off-Broadway premiere of Uncle Bob, by Austin Pendleton, who wrote the role with Morfogen in mind. Gale Harold, followed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, played the character of Josh, Bob's nephew. The production, which was directed by Courtney Moorehead and produced by Steven Sendor, had 114 performances at The SoHo Playhouse. He was a teacher at HB Studio.^[5] He died on March 8, 2019, 22 days before his 86th birthday. He was survived by his husband Gene Laughorne. They were partners for 51 years.^[1][6]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	What's Up, Doc?	Headwaiter
1973	The Thief Who Came to Dinner	Rivera
1974	Daisy Miller	Eugenio
1980	Those Lips, Those Eyes	Sherman Sprat
1980	Times Square	Don Dowd
1981	They All Laughed	Leon Leondopolous
1983	Special Bulletin	Dr. Morse Mansfield
1983	V	Stanley Bernstein	2 episodes
1984	V: The Final Battle		1 episodes
1984	Heartbreakers	Max
1988	Illegally Yours	Judge Norman Meckel
1990	One Life to Live	Judge Anthony Powers	10 episodes
1993	Twenty Bucks	Jack Holiday
1996	The Substance of Fire	Otto the printer
1997–2003	Oz	Bob Rebadow	56 episodes
1998	Charlie Hoboken	Father
2006	Waltzing Anna	Henry
2008	The Marconi Bros.	Grandpa Marconi
2014	She's Funny That Way	Harold Fleet

References

1. "George Morfogen, 'Oz' Actor and Theater Veteran, Dies at 86". The Hollywood Reporter. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021.
2. ​The Prince of Homburg (1976)​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
3. Abramowitz, Rachel (2002). Is that a Gun in Your Pocket?. Random House. p. 24. ISBN 0375758690.
4. "George Morfogen". IMDb. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
5. George Morfogen profile, HB Studio
6. "George Morfogen Obituary". Legacy.com.

External links

• George Morfogen at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• George Morfogen at the Internet Broadway Database
• George Morfogen at IMDb
• Interview with Off-Center, the Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project