Norman Fell

Norman Fell
Fell in 1970
Born	Norman Noah Feld (1924-03-24)March 24, 1924 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	December 14, 1998(1998-12-14) (aged 74) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Temple University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–1998
Television	Three's Company
Spouse(s)	Dolores Pikoos ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1954)​ Diane Weiss ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1973)​ Karen Weingard ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1995)​

Norman Fell (born Norman Noah Feld; March 24, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers, and his film roles in Ocean's 11 (1960), The Graduate (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Early in his career, he was billed as Norman Feld.

Early life

Fell was born on March 24, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Samuel and Edna Feld. His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant, and his maternal grandparents were Russian Jews. He attended Central High School of Philadelphia. He studied drama at Temple University after serving as a tail gunner on a B-25 Mitchell in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He later honed his craft at The Actors Studio and the Black Hills Players.

Career

Aside from Fell's best-known television work, he also played minor character roles in several films, including the original Ocean's 11, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, PT 109, The Graduate, Bullitt and Catch-22 (as Sergeant Towser). He appeared alongside Ronald Reagan in Reagan's last film, The Killers. In 1992, he starred as a hotel owner in a comedy movie titled Hexed.

On TV, Fell portrayed Mike in Joe and Mabel (1955–1956), Howie Fletcher in The Tom Ewell Show (1960–1961), Meyer Meyer in 87th Precinct (1961–1962), Charles Wilentz in Dan August (1970–1971), Nathan Davidson in Needles and Pins (1973), Bernie Solkin in Executive Suite (1976–1977), Richie's father in Richie Brockelman, Private Eye (1978), and Ben Cooper in Teachers Only (1982–1983).

From 1977 to 1979, Fell portrayed the main characters' landlord Stanley Roper on the hit sitcom Three's Company (a role with some similarities to Mr. McCleery in The Graduate). He continued the role as the co-lead with Audra Lindley playing his wife, Helen, on The Ropers, a spin-off which lasted two seasons, airing from 1979 to 1980.

Fell won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actor in a Supporting Role in 1979 for Three's Company. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his dramatic performance as the boxing trainer of Tom Jordache (Nick Nolte) in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. His final television appearance was a cameo as Mr. Roper on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in 1997.

Personal life

On May 21, 1950, Fell married Dolores Pikoos in Philadelphia. They divorced in 1954 and Fell married and divorced two subsequent times. He had two daughters, Tracy and Mara, with his second wife and adopted a son with his third wife, Karen Weingard.

Death

On November 26 (Thanksgiving Day) of 1998, Fell had become too weak to get out of bed at his Marina del Rey home. He was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. He died at the Motion Picture and Television's retirement home in Woodland Hills, California on December 14, 1998, at the age of 74.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	The Violators	Ray
1959	Pork Chop Hill	Sgt. Coleman
1960	Inherit the Wind	WGN Radio Technician
	The Rat Race	Telephone Repairman
	Ocean's 11	Peter Rheimer
1963	PT 109	Machinist Edmund Drewitch
	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Detective at Grogan's Crash Site
1964	The Killers	Mickey Farmer
	Quick, Before it Melts	George Snell
	The Young Warriors	Sgt. Wadley
1967	Fitzwilly	Oberblatz
	The Graduate	Mr. McCleery
1968	Sergeant Ryker	Sgt. Max Winkler	Archive footage
	The Secret War of Harry Frigg	Capt. Stanley
	The Young Runaways	Mr. Donford
	Bullitt	Captain Baker
1969	If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium	Harve Blakely
1970	Catch-22	First Sgt. Towser
	The Boatniks	Max
1973	The Stone Killer	Lt. Les Daniels
	Charley Varrick	Mr. Garfinkle
1974	Airport 1975	Bill
1975	Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold	Stanley Nagel
1976	Guardian of the Wilderness
1978	Rabbit Test	Segoynia's Father
	The End	Dr. Samuel Krugman
1981	Crunch
	On the Right Track	The Mayor
	Heartbreak High	Jack McGuire
	Paternity	Larry
1985	Transylvania 6-5000	Mac Turner
1987	Stripped to Kill	Ray
1989	C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.	Tyler
1990	You're Driving Me Crazy	Doctor 'F'
1991	With Friends Like These...	Narrator	Direct-to-video
	The Boneyard	Shepard
	For the Boys	Sam Schiff
1992	The Naked Truth	The Dentist
1993	Hexed	Herschel Levine
1996	The Destiny of Marty Fine	Daryl
	Beach House	The Landlord

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	The Elgin Hour	Morton	Episode: "Hearts and Hollywood"
	Westinghouse Studio One	Juror #1	Episode: "Twelve Angry Men"
	The Philco Television Playhouse		Episode: "Miss Look-Alike"
	Goodyear Television Playhouse		Episode: "The Huntress"
1955	Joe and Mabel	Mike, Harry	Series regular
1956	The Alcoa Hour	Marvie	Episode: "Finkle's Comet"
	Star Tonight	Sharp	Episode: "Faith and Patience"
	Playwrights '56	Nick Zervas	Episode: "Nick and Letty"
	The United States Steel Hour	Detective	Episode: "Hunted"
1959	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Wint Selby	Episode: "Ah, Wilderness!"
1960	Johnny Staccato	Bill Lentz	Episode: "The Man in the Pit"
	Perry Mason	Caspar Pedley	Episode: "The Case of the Mythical Monkeys"
	The Untouchables	Reiner	Episode: "The Rusty Heller Story"
	The Tom Ewell Show	Howie Fletcher	5 episodes
1961	The Law and Mr. Jones	Fred Cook	Episode: "Lethal Weapons"
	The Tab Hunter Show	Emory Farnsworth	Episode: "Me and My Shadow"
	Peter Gunn	Danny Carmichael	Episode: "A Kill and a Half"
	The Aquanauts	Oliver Pappas	Episode: "The Rainbow Adventure"
	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Cole	Episode: "Be It Ever So Humble"
	Checkmate	Shep Stryker	Episode: "Hot Wind in a Cold Town"
	Cain's Hundred	Driscoll	Episode: "Cain's Final Judgement"
1962	Sam Benedict	Alex McConnell	Episode: "Where There's a Will"
1961–1962	87th Precinct	Det. Meyer Meyer	Regular cast, 30 episodes
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Lionel	Episode: "Five Moments Out of Time"
	The Lloyd Bridges Show		Episodes: "Gym in January", "Sheridan Square"
	The Dick Powell Show	Dr. Joseph Greer	Episode: "The Last of the Big Spenders"
	The Lieutenant	Jerry Belman	Episode: "Cool of the Evening"
	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Sgt. Max Winkler	Episodes: "The Case Against Paul Ryker (1)", "The Case Against Paul Ryker (2)"
	East Side/West Side	Eddie Best	Episode: "Not Bad for Openers"
	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Al Norman	Episode: "The Dividing Wall"
1964	The Defenders	George Capp	Episode: "Moment of Truth"
	The Hanged Man	Gaylord Grebb	TV-Movie
1965	Mr. Novak	Barney Sanders	Episode: "And Then I Wrote..."
	The Trials of O'Brien	Mickey the Miser	Episode: "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?"
	Dr. Kildare	Dr. Keith Myers Arnold Vitnack
	The Fugitive	Lt. Germak Lt. Green	Episodes: "May God Have Mercy", "Stranger in the Mirror"
1964–1965	Ben Casey	Arnold Halbert Manny Berger	Episodes: "I'll Get on My Ice Floe and Wave Goodbye", "Where Does the Boomerang Go?"
1966	The Wild Wild West	Jeremiah Ratch	Episode: "The Night of the Whirring Death"
	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Mark Slate	Episode: "The Moonglow Affair"
	A Man Called Shenandoah	Capt. Arnold Dudley	Episode: "Muted Fifes, Muffled Drums"
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Eddie Carr	Episode: "Dear Deductible"
	Bewitched	Dr. Freud	Episode: "I'd Rather Twitch Than Fight"
1964–1966	Twelve O'Clock High	Major Praeger	Episodes: "An Act of War", "The All-American"
1967	The Invaders	Neal Taft	Episode: "The Betrayed"
	Ghostbreakers	Lt. P.J. Hartunain	TV Pilot
	I Spy	Karin	Episode: "The Medarra Block"
	Mannix	Daniel Brewer	Episode: "Coffin for a Clown"
1968	That Girl	Bernie Perperni	Episode: "Sixty-Five on the Aisle"
	Judd, for the Defense	Harry Green	Episode: "The Sound of the Plastic Axe"
1969	The Name of the Game	Winston Polk	Episode: "A Hard Case of the Blues"
	Three's a Crowd	Norman, the Elevator Operator	TV-Movie
1965–1969	The F.B.I.	Ted Cullinan Ken Haney Victor Green	Episodes: "All the Streets Are Silent", "The Mercenary", "The Catalyst"
1967–1969	Ironside	Capt. Lauren Lt. Haines	Episode: "An Inside Job", "Seeing Is Believing"
1970	Double Jeopardy	Sgt. Charles Wilentz	TV-Movie
1971	The Partridge Family	Mr. Bruner	Episode: "The Undergraduate"
1970–1971	Dan August	Sgt. Charles Wilentz
1972	O'Hara, U.S. Treasury	Leo Walsh	Episode: "Operation – Smokescreen"
	The Heist	Pat Dillon	TV-Movie
	McCloud	Lt. Ed Feldman	Episode: "The Park Avenue Rustlers"
1969–1972	Love, American Style		Segments: "Love and the Good Deal", "Love and the Clinic"
1973	Marcus Welby, M.D.		Episode: "Catch a Ring That Isn't There"
	Going Places	Mr. Shaw	TV-Movie
	Needles and Pins	Nathan Davidson	Regular cast, 14 episodes
	Griff		Episode: "Hammerlock"
1974	Medical Center	Frank	Episode: "The World's Balloon"
	Thursday's Game	Melvin Leonard	TV-Movie
1975	Death Stalk	Frank Cody	TV-Movie
	McMillan & Wife	Allan Kovacs	Episode: "Love, Honor and Swindle"
	Lucas Tanner	Abe Lydecker	Episode: "The Noise of a Quiet Weekend"
	Rhoda	Dr. Henry Gerber	Episodes: "Chest Pains", "Ida's Doctor"
	Cannon	Police Lieutenant	Episode: "The Games Children Play"
	Starsky & Hutch	Sammy Grovner	Episode: "Shootout"
1976	Rich Man, Poor Man	Smitty	Mini-Series Emmy Award (nominated)
	Ellery Queen	Errol Keyes	Episode: "The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley"
	Risko	Max	Unsold TV-Pilot
	The Bionic Woman	Milt Bigelow	Episode: "In This Corner, Jaime Sommers"
	The Streets of San Francisco	Juror	Episodes: "The Thrill Killers (1)", "The Thrill Killers (2)"
	Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours	Mr. Brockelman	TV-Movie
	Switch		Episode: "Gaffing the Skim"
	Executive Suite	Bernie	Episode: "Re-The Sounds of Silence"
1977	The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams		Episode: "The Redemption of Ben"
	Charlie's Angels	Sammy	Episode: "Angels in Paradise"
1974–1977	Police Story	Sgt. Dell Lieutenant Alfred Thornwood	Episodes: "Wolf", "One of Our Cops is Crazy"
1978	The Love Boat	Mr. McCoy, Julie's Father	Episode: "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky"
1979	Roots: The Next Generations	Bernie Raymond	Mini-Series
1980	Getting There	Jim	TV-Movie
	This Year's Blonde	Pat Toledo	TV-Movie
	For the Love of It	Hall	TV-Movie
1976–1981	Three's Company	Stanley Roper	Golden Globe Award (won)
1979–1980	The Ropers	Stanley Roper
1982	Teachers Only	Ben Cooper
	Matt Houston	Herman	Episode: "Joey's Here"
1983	Uncommon Valor	Garvin	TV-Movie
1984	The Jesse Owens Story	Marty Forkins	TV-Movie
1985	Simon & Simon	Leo Nyquist	Episode: "Facets"
1986	Webster	Charlie	Episode: "Almost Home"
	The Twilight Zone	Eddie O'Hara	Episode: "The Convict's Piano"
1985–1986	Crazy Like a Fox		Episodes: "Some Day My Prints Will Come", "A Fox at the Races"
1987	Magnum, P.I.	David Albertson	Episode: "Solo Flight"
	Matlock	Dr. Norman Radburn	Episode: "The Doctors"
	Out of This World	Dr. Hauser	Episode: "The Nightmare"
	Sledge Hammer!		Episode: "They Call Me Mr. Trunk"
1985–1988	Murder, She Wrote	Vince Shackman Lt. Rupp	Episodes: "Dead Heat", "Just Another Fish Story"
1989	The Boys	Dave
	Hooperman	Pete Cosgrove, Ventriloquist	Episode: "Dog Day Afternoon, Morning and Night"
	The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!	Fred Van Winkle Ted Bull	Episodes: "Fred Van Winkle", "Texas Tea"
1990	Good Grief	Slezar	Episode: "The Good, the Bad and the Mariachis"
1993	Flying Blind	Employer #2	Episode: "Panic in Neil's Park"
1994	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	The Landlord	Episode: "What's Will Got to Do With It?"
1995	Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare	Grandpa Joe Dooley	TV-Movie
1996	The Naked Truth	Himself	Episode: "Bully for Dave"
1997	Ellen	Mr. Roper	Episode: "Roommates"

External links

• Norman Fell at IMDb
• Norman Fell at the Internet Broadway Database (as Norman Feld)
• Norman Fell at the TCM Movie Database
• Norman Fell at Find a Grave