Ned Wertimer (October 27, 1923 - January 2, 2013 ) was an American actor who appeared as the Immigration Bureau Clerk who Mork almost reveals his true status to in Season 2's Mork and the Immigrant.
Biography[]
Ned Wertimer was born on October 27, 1923 in Buffalo, New York, USA as Edward Wertimer.
He served as a pilot in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then later graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania, While at the school, he became a member of its Mask and Wig Club, an all-male comedy and musical troupe.
He was married to Skyne Uku (his death). He died on January 2, 2013 in Valley Village, Los Angeles, California, USA. (complications following a fall)
Wertimer loved traveling around the world, from riding a camel in Egypt to riding an elephant in Thailand to swimming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. He was a longtime member of the performers' trade unions—Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which merged in 2012. In addition to his performers' union work, Wertimer was also a voting member for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy Awards. Soon after moving to California in the mid-1960s, he met and married Dr. Skyne Uku, professor emeritus at California State University, Long Beach (24 June 1978 - 2 January 2013)
Wertimer died on January 2, 2013, at the Sherman Village Health Care Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 89, having never recovered from a fall at his Burbank, California, home in November 2012. [1] [2]
Career[]
After graduating college, Wertimer went to New York City to perform Broadway theatre in such shows as Texas Li'l Darlin', a 1949 musical by Robert E. Dolan and Johnny Mercer; 1950's The Live Wire by Garson Kanin; 1950's The Disenchanted, by Budd Schulberg, with Jason Robards; and 1963's All in Good Time by Bill Naughton. He also began performing in small roles in television, a new medium at the time, getting his first onscreen credit in The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951)
In 1961, Wertimer replaced Paul Lynde in the Tony Award-winning production of Bye Bye Birdie. He also worked in numerous national touring and stock productions of plays and musicals, including Brigadoon, Hatful of Rain, Witness for the Prosecution, A Man for All Seasons, Cyrano de Bergerac, Annie Get Your Gun, Bells Are Ringing, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and, much later, The Best of The Jeffersons, a re-creation of three episodes from the TV series starring its original cast. [3]
In the mid-1960s, Wertimer moved to Los Angeles to continue his burgeoning television career, racking up over 100 guest-star credits in shows like Car 54 Where are you?; The Defenders; Get Smart; That Girl; Hogan's Heroes'; Gunsmoke; I Dream of Jeannie; Ironside; The New Dick Van Dyke Show; Love, American Style; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; McMillan & Wife; Sanford & Son; Happy Days; Starsky & Hutch; How the West Was Won; Welcome back Kotter; WKRP in Cincinatti.
In 1975 Wertimer appeared as doorman Ralph Hart in a 1975 All in the Family episode titled "The Jeffersons Move on Up", which was the pilot for the spin-off series The Jeffersons. The Hart character carried over and Wertimer appeared as Ralph in 57 of the series' 253 episodes.
He also made several big screen appearances in movies like s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Mame, The Impossible Years, Pinocchio, The Strongest Man in the World, The Pack and towards the end of his career, in his final film role, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Mork & Mindy[]
Ned Wertimer in the middle of his Jefferson's run, appeared as the Immigration Bureau Clerk at the Department of Immigration and Naturalization in the Boulder County Justice Center, who ends up dealing with Mork when the Orkan goes there with his Russian émigré friend Sergei Krushnev, in the mistaken belief that Sergei is a 'real' alien like himself, and like Sergei he needs to register. Discovering that Mork has no identification he is about to have him taken away for questioning when Mindy turns up and cleverly manages to convince him that Mork is crazy, simply by having the Orkan be truthful with him. Instructing her to get him out of there, he is left to deal with a Mork influenced Sergei, but fatefully does not dispose of Mork's paperwork. Something that will comeback to haunt Mork the following year.