Alan Oppenheimer

Alan Louis Oppenheimer (born April 23, 1930) is an American voice, film, stage and television actor. He has performed numerous roles on live action television since the 1960s, and he has had an active career doing voice work since the 1970s.

This article is about the actor. For the software developer, see Alan B. Oppenheimer.
Alan Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer at the 2015 Phoenix Comicon
Born
Alan Louis Oppenheimer

April 23, 1930
(age 90)
OccupationActor
Years active1956–present
Spouse(s)Marianna Elliot (m. 1958; div. 19??; m. 1992; died 2003)
Marilyn Greenwood
​
​
(m. 1984; div. 1990)​
ChildrenJane Oppenheimer
(daughter)
Jennifer Oppenheimer
(daughter)
Michael Oppenheimer
(son)
Parent(s)Irene Oppenheimer
(mother)
Louis E. Oppenheimer
(father)

Early life

Oppenheimer is the son of Irene Oppenheimer (née Rothschild) (1904–1991) and Louis E. Oppenheimer (1901–1984), who was a stockbroker. He is of Jewish background.

Career

Character roles

As a character actor, Oppenheimer has had diverse roles in popular American television programming, from playing a Nazi in Hogan's Heroes, to playing an Israeli secret agent as well as a double-agent KAOS scientist on Get Smart, to being the second actor to play Dr. Rudy Wells in The Six Million Dollar Man (Martin Balsam played the role in the pilot telemovie). Oppenheimer took over as Rudy starting with the second film, "Wine, Women and War" up until the introduction of the bionic woman in 1975, whereupon Martin E. Brooks took over as Wells until cancellation). He was the original Mickey Malph (Ralph Malph's dad) on Happy Days. He played a recurring role during the first two seasons of St. Elsewhere as Helen Rosenthal's husband, Ira. He had a recurring role as Mayor Alvin B. Tutwiller on Mama's Family.

He then continued in science fiction genre in the 1973 cult classic Westworld, where he played the head IT technician. He has also appeared in three Star Trek series, always playing a different character. He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Rightful Heir" as a Klingon cleric, Koroth, a primary instigator of the cloning of Kahless; on Deep Space Nine as a Starfleet Captain Declan Keogh in command of the USS Odyssey; and as an alien ambassador in Voyager.

Oppenheimer also appeared as film director Cecil B. DeMille in the 1994 Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd.[1]

Voice roles
Oppenheimer (left) with Jim Cummings (middle) and Loren Lester (right) in 2015

Oppenheimer has voiced many characters, often for Filmation in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Oil Can Harry, Swifty and the narrator on The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, Ming the Merciless on Flash Gordon, the Overlord on BlackStar, Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man from Filmation's 1980's cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and the voice of Prime Evil in the 1986 TV series, Filmation's Ghostbusters.[2] Other notable voice roles include Thundarr the Barbarian, Vanity on The Smurfs, Rhinokey and Crock from The Wuzzles and Falkor, Gmork, Rockbiter, and the Narrator from 1984's The NeverEnding Story. In the early 1990s, Oppenheimer was the voice of Merlin in The Legend of Prince Valiant. He also provided the voice of Barkerville in the Pound Puppies TV special. He also voiced Fraidy Cat on Fraidy Cat in 1975 and provided additional voices on Battle of the Planets in 1978.

Loren Lester and Alan Oppenheimer posing for a 2015 photograph

Oppenheimer worked on The Transformers, most notably as two contrasting characters, the pacifist Beachcomber and the bellicose Warpath. His rendition of Seaspray was remarkably similar to Mer-Man, including the gurgling effects. He took over the voice of Roger Smith's butler Norman Burg in the English dub of the second season of The Big O. He was the voice of the unseen Alistair Crane on the soap opera Passions up until 2004, when the character was made fully visible and played by David Bailey. More recently, he provided the voice of the Scientist for the 2009 film 9 and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

Oppenheimer's repertoire also includes video games, voicing Dr. Piotr Ivanovich in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Prometheus in God of War II and Jandor the Airship Captain in Nox. In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, he spoke the part of Harold, an ancient mutated survivor of nuclear holocaust who has appeared in four of the Fallout series games, and played the roles of The Chariot Master and Dyntos, God of the Forge, in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Oppenheimer also voiced the parts of a non-player character Soldier and the Wasteland Trader, and the NPC 'enemies' Cult Ghoul Thug and Kamikaze in Fallout: BoS. Also, in the English TG-16 port of Ys Book I and II, Oppenheimer voiced the roles of the Narrator, and the game's lead antagonist, Darm.

In 2019 he guest-starred on the animated series Tigtone and in Toy Story 4 as Old Timer.[3]

Personal life

Oppenheimer married costume designer Marianna Elliott in 1958, with whom he had three children.[4] The couple divorced but then remarried years later in 1992, until her death in 2003.[4] Before marrying her again, he married professional tennis player Marilyn Greenwood in 1984 and got a divorce in 1990.

Filmography

Films

Television work

Video games

Awards and nominations

References
  1. Sunset Boulevard entry, broadwaymusicalhome.com; accessed May 9, 2015.
  2. "Obscure Cartoon Spotlight Episode 6: Quackula". Anime Superhero News. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. Peter DeBruge (June 13, 2019). "Film Review: 'Toy Story 4'". Variety. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  4. https://variety.com/2003/scene/people-news/marianna-elliott-1117888470/amp/
  5. Boot Camp - A Best Fiends Animation
  6. InXile Entertainment. The Bard’s Tale. InXile Entertainment. Scene: Ending credits, 2:10:20 in, More Great Talent.
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