- Born
- Birth nameAlan Louis Oppenheimer
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Alan Oppenheimer is an American actor from New York City, who started his career in the 1950s. By the 1970s, Oppenheimer started performing voice acting roles. He eventually emerged as one of the most prolific voice actors in the United States, with roles in numerous series and films. His better known roles include the evil emperor Ming the Merciless in "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon" (1979-1982), the tyrant Overlord and his mind-controlling Vizier in "Blackstar" (1981), the arrogant narcissist Vanity Smurf in "The Smurfs" (1981-1989), the evil sorcerer Skeletor, the shape-shifting animal Cringer, the heroic Man-at-Arms, and the aquatic villain Mer-Man in "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" (1983-1985), the pacifistic naturalist Beachcomber, the sailor Seaspray, and the gun-enthusiast and munitions expert Warpath in "The Transformers" (1984-1987), the android wizard Prime Evil in "Ghostbusters" (1986), and the cryptic advisor Merlin in "The Legend of Prince Valiant" (1991-1993).
In 1930, Oppenheimer was born in New York City. His father was the stockbroker Louis Oppenheimer. In 1958, Oppenheimer married costume designer Marianna Elliott. They had three children. He received a divorce at some point prior to the mid-1980s. In 1984, Oppenheimer married the professional tennis player Marilyn Greenwood. Their marriage lasted less than a decade, and ended in a divorce. In 1992, Oppenheimer re-married his first wife Marianna Elliott. Their marriage lasted until her death in 2003. He has remained single since her death.
In 1993, Oppenheimer had a guest star role in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". He played the Klingon cleric Koroth. His character cloned the long-dead messianic warrior Kahless, in hope of restoring his peoples' faith in their religion.In 1994, Oppenheimer played the ill-fated star-ship captain Keogh in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". After successfully completing a rescue mission, Keogh fell victim to a suicide attack (along with most of his crew). In 1997, Oppenheimer played an unnamed ambassador of the Nezu in "Star Trek: Voyager". His character attempted to enlist the USS Voyager to rescue his planet from destruction. This was Oppenheimer's last role in a "Star Trek" television series. Oppenheimer has mostly avoided live-action roles since 1998.
In 2022, Oppenheimer voiced Skeletor again for an appearance in the film "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers". By 2022, Oppenheimer was 92-years-old. He has never fully retired, though he has played less prominent roles in recent productions. He remains popular to animation fans for his iconic roles in several classic series.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dimos I
- SpousesMarianna Elliott(August 29, 1992 - June 21, 2003) (her death)Marilyn Greenwood(March 22, 1984 - 1990) (divorced)Marianna Elliott(September 12, 1958 - ?) (divorced, 3 children)
- ParentsLouis E. OppenheimerIrene
- RelativesJ. Robert Oppenheimer(Cousin)
- Third cousin of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
- A regular on 1960s TV sitcoms as eggheaded foils to Lucille Ball and many others, playing official types.
- On The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) was the second of three actors to play Dr. Rudy Wells. Martin Balsam played the character in the pilot TV-movie and, after playing Rudy for seven appearances, Alan left and was replaced by Martin E. Brooks as the third Dr. Rudy Wells for the remaining 45 appearances. Oppenheimer and Brooks later appeared together in "The Execution" (1985).
- On the short-lived sitcom He & She (1967), Oppenheimer played an accountant by the unlikely name of Murray Mouse. This was most likely an inside joke in light of his most famous role--as the voice of Mighty Mouse. He also did a guest appearance on Happy Days (1974) as Mickey Malph, which sounds like Mickey Mouse.
- Oppenheimer and and frequent future collaborator Lou Scheimer were both in the Carnegie Tech Class of 1952, but never met each other in school since Scheimer was in art and Oppenheimer in drama. They found out years later while working at Filmation when Alan noticed Lou was wearing a Carnegie Tech ring.
- [on the casting of Frank Langella as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe (1987)] Although Frank and I are great friends, he's all about silence tempered with strength... and that's *not* Skeletor. Frank's better suited to playing the likes of Eric, the Phantom of the Opera.
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