George Morfogen

Prolific New York stage actor George Morfogen was also a dependable character actor in film and on television, most notably in several features by his friend Peter Bogdanovich, and in a recurring role as a sage convict on "Oz" (HBO, 1997-2003). Born to Greek parents on March 30, 1933 in New York City, New York, he studied at Brown University and the Yale School of Drama before making his Off-Broadway debut in a 1957 production of "The Trial of D. Karamazov." More stage work followed, including his first work on Broadway as stage manager for "The Fun Couple," starring Jane Fonda, in 1962. The following year, he was directed by Peter Bogdanovich in a revival of Moss Hart's "Once in a Lifetime," which marked the beginning of a long and varied series of collaborations between the two talents. Theater remained a constant throughout Morfogen's career, and included stints with Shakespeare in the Park, the Public Theater and 17 seasons as resident actor at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, but he began film and television appearances in the early 1970s as a regular player for Bogdanovich. After a slight hitch in their first collaboration - Morfogen was initially cast as the movie director played by Bogandovich in his feature film debut, "Targets" (1968), but it would be another four years before actor and director would officially team for "What's Up, Doc?" (1972), which also marked Morfogen's first film appearance. He would go on to appear in several of the pictures Bogdanovich made in the wake of his initial success with "The Last Picture Show" (1972), including the ill-fated "Daisy Miller" (1974) and "They All Laughed" (1980), and also served as associate producer for the latter film and the more successful "Mask" in 1985. Between these appearances was Morfogen's Broadway debut in "Kingdoms" (1981) and episodic television roles on "Kojak" (CBS, 1973-78) and "St. Elsewhere" (NBC, 1982-88), as well as a featured turn as the ill-fated Stanley Bernstein in the blockbuster miniseries "V" (NBC, 1983). But his most notable small screen role was as Bob Rebadow on "Oz"; an elderly inmate in the HBO series' prison setting, Rebadow survived death in the electric chair due to a blackout, and became a sort of wise advisor to the general population. When "Oz" ran its course in 2003, Morfogen continued to work steadily as a guest performer on television, but the stage also remained a constant: he co-starred with Frank Langella and Alan Bates in "Fortune's Fool" (2002) and again with Langella in a 2008 revival of "A Man for All Seasons." In 2014, Morfogen made his final appearance in a Bogdanovich film with a minor role in the comedy "She's Funny That Way," which was followed by his last television appearance on an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ) in 2016 and his final stage role, in an Off-Broadway production of "The Traveling Lady" the following year. Morfogen died at the age of 85 on March 8, 2019 in his home in New York City.