TARZANA, CALIFORNIA – October 21, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — Marty Ingels, actor, talent agent, producer and comedian died following a massive stroke. He was 79.
Ingels, who was married to Shirley Jones for 38 years, made his mark as a comic actor in the 1960s in film and television.
In a statement, Shirley Jones said, “He often drove me crazy, but there’s not a day I won’t miss him and love him to my core,” Jones said.
In 1962 Ingels co-starred opposite John Astin in ABC’s sit-com “I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster.” The show was about about two carpenters, one married and one single. The series lasted only one season but boosted Ingle’s career immensely.
Throughout the 1960’s, Ingels was a regular guest on TV shows like; “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and had appearances on “Bewitched,” “The Ann Sothern Show” and “Pete and Gladys.”As recently as 2010, Ingels was cast in an episode of CBS’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
Ingels was seen on the big screen in “Armoured Command” (1961), “The Horizontal Lieutenant” (1962), “Wild and Wonderful” (1964), “The Busy Body” (1967), “A Guide for the Married Man” (1967), “For Singles Only” (1968), “The Picasso Summer” (1969), and “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium” (1969). Most recently Ingels played the role of Murray, a sexually perverted and womanizing grandfather, in the 2015 sex comedy film “Promoted.“
Born Martin Ingerman in Brooklyn in 1936, Ingels served a stint in the Army and then wound up in Los Angeles where he got his break as an actor at the Pasadena Playhouse.
By the 1970s, Ingels turned to working behind the scenes doing voice-over work on hundreds of commercials and cartoon series. He was the voice of AutoCat on “AutoCat and Motormouse” and Beegle Beagle on “The Great Grape Ape Show.”
Ingels launched his own talent rep firm, Ingels Inc., which specialized in booking TV commercials for notable actors such as John Wayne, Cary Grant and Orson Welles.
In 1993, Ingels sued actress June Allyson for his agency commission. Allyson denied wrongdoing and countersued. Ingels pled ‘no contest’ to making annoying phone calls to Allyson.
In 2003, he sued radio personality Tom Leykis and Westwood One, saying that comments made about him constituted age discrimination. In June 2005, Ingels’ lawsuit was dismissed and Ingels was ordered to pay Leykis $25,000 in legal fees
Marty Ingels and Shirley Jones met in 1974 at a party at the home of “Little House on the Prairie” star Michael Landon. They married in 1977. The pair published the autobiography “Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story” in 1990.
Ingels continued to make periodic TV guest appearances on shows ranging from “The Love Boat,” “Baywatch” and “Murder She Wrote” to “ER,” “CSI” and a 2013 episode of “New Girl.”
In his later years, Ingels was relentless in promoting various TV, film and stage projects he sought to get off the ground as a producer.
He will be missed. Blessings to his family and friends.