Career
He is best known for playing Morty Seinfeld, father of Jerry, on the sitcom Seinfeld. Born in Queens, New York, Martin served in the United States. Army Air Force as a navigator during World World War II and then was an New York City Police Department officer for twenty years, working his way up to detective. He got his start as a comedian while still a police officer, giving humorous presentations to the deputy commissioners.
Martin himself was of Irish Catholic extraction.
Entering show business as a stand-in for Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners in 1955-1956 and as a part-time writer for Steve Allen in the 1950s, he was discovered by Mel Brooks in 1968, who cast him in The Producers. That year, he also played the role of Hank in Charly.
He went on to act in dozens of films, including the role of Liza Minnelli"s unemployed father in the hit 1981 film Arthur and its 1988 sequel, Arthur 2: On the Rocks. On television, he appeared in two episodes of The Odd Couple.
Once in a very early episode as an irrate fellow juror infuriated with Felix Unger"s pestiness, and four years later as a fellow subway train passenger.
Shortly after, Martin co starred with Tony Randall for two seasons in the The Tony Randall Show as court reporter Jack Terwilliger. Throughout the run of this show he was second billing only to Randall himself. In 1979 he was cast as the title character in Norman Lear"s final television series concept, McGurk: A Dog"s Life.
Martin was cast to play a character similar to Lear"s earlier creation, Archie Bunker, but played as a dog.
Only the pilot was completed. In 1990, he co-starred with Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry in the Columbia Broadcasting System sitcom Sydney.
In 1993, Barney played the recurring role of "Pete Peters" on the Don Rickles sit-com Daddy Dearest. In 1975, Martin originated the role of Amos Hart in Chicago.
He appeared in many more musicals during his career, most notably South Pacific, The Fantasticks and How Now, Dow Jones.
Much of Martin"s work has been in television, where he has had a long career as a character actor. He played the "Cheese Manitoba" in a "Golden Girls" episode. He played a love interest for Thelma Harper in the Hawaii episode of Mama"s Family, and he played the father of Frank Fontana on Murphy Brown.
He appeared in an episode of Full House as Ranger Roy, the host of a popular kids" television show.
In 1982, he appeared on Barney Miller in the episode: "Obituary". He is best known for playing Morty Seinfeld, father of Jerry, on Seinfeld.
On March 21, 2005, he died of lung cancer in Studio City, Los Angeles, California. He was 82 years old.