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Norman Fell

American actor (1924–1998) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norman Fell
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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.[1]

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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.[2] He attended Central High School of Philadelphia.[3] 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.[4] He later honed his craft at The Actors Studio[5] and the Black Hills Players.[6]

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Career

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Aside from Fell's best-known television work, he also played minor character roles in several films, including the original Ocean's 11 with the Rat Pack; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; PT 109 with Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy; Mike Nichols' The Graduate; Don Siegel's Charley Varrick; Bullitt with Steve McQueen; and Catch-22 (as Sergeant Towser). He appeared alongside Ronald Reagan in Reagan's last film, The Killers with Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, in which Reagan portrays a villain who slaps Angie Dickinson. In 1992, he starred as a hotel owner in a comedy film titled Hexed.

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Cast of NBC series Needles and Pins, 1973. Bottom, from left: Deirdre Lenihan, Fell. Top, from left: Bernie Kopell, Sandra Deel, and Louis Nye.

On TV, Fell portrayed Mike in Joe and Mabel (1955–1956),[7]: 536  Howie Fletcher in The Tom Ewell Show (1960–1961), Meyer Meyer in 87th Precinct (1961–1962),[7]: 302  Charles Wilentz in Dan August (1970–1971),[7] Nathan Davidson in Needles and Pins (1973),[7]: 748  Bernie Solkin in Executive Suite (1976–1977),[7]: 316  Richie's father in Richie Brockelman, Private Eye (1978),[7]: 893  and Ben Cooper in Teachers Only (1982–1983).[7]: 1056 

From 1977 to 1979, Fell portrayed the main characters' landlord Stanley Roper on the hit sitcom Three's Company[7]: 1080–1081  (a role with some similarities to hard-edged, suspicious landlord Mr. McCleery in The Graduate, who was on the lookout for reasons to evict Benjamin Braddock, like Mr. Roper was with Jack Tripper). He continued the role as the co-lead with Audra Lindley playing his wife, Helen, on The Ropers,[7]: 910  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.[8] 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.[9] His final television appearance was a cameo as Mr. Roper on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in 1997.

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Personal life

On May 21, 1950, Fell married Dolores Pikoos in Philadelphia.[10] 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.[4]

Illness and death

On November 26, 1998 (Thanksgiving Day), Fell was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with multiple myeloma (plasma cell cancer) after becoming too weak to get out of bed at his Marina del Rey home.[4] He died at the Motion Picture and Television's retirement home in Woodland Hills, California on December 14, 1998, at the age of 74.[11][12][13]

Filmography

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Television

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References

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