- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMartin Ingerman
- Martin Ingerman was born on March 6, 1936 in New York City. He had an older brother named Arthur. He had a rough childhood and was often picked on. After he finished school, he went into the army. Later, he appeared in a couple of game shows and won. He wanted to be an actor so he went to California. He lived with another guy and actually ended up dating and eventually marrying his roommate's girlfriend.
Marty made a couple of movies, but made it big when he starred with John Astin in I'm Dickens, He's Fenster (1962). Soon after the show went off the air, he and his wife divorced.
He met and married Shirley Jones and became stepfather to Shaun, Ryan, and Patrick Cassidy, sons of Jones from her marriage to Jack Cassidy. He worked some, but Shirley was primarily the breadwinner. Eventually he started putting some money away and in a couple of years was able to accumulate over a million dollars. In 1999, he and Shirley separated for six months, but then got back together. They live in Encino, California, with three dogs.- IMDb Mini Biography By: CR
- SpousesShirley Jones(November 13, 1977 - October 21, 2015) (his death)Jean Marie Frassinelli(January 18, 1964 - March 1966) (divorced)Phyllis Senzer(1962 - 1963) (divorced)
- Children
- Has arranged for several well known celebrities to appear in TV commercials, including Orson Welles's appearances and voiceovers in commercials for Paul Masson Wines.
- In the 1970s he founded Ingels Inc., a Hollywood agency that matched celebrities with advertisers.
- At one point prior to his show-business career he was a bartender at the world-famous Stork Club in New York City.
- Although many people believe he began his career as a stand-up comic, he in fact never did a stand-up act in his life.
- After graduating from Forest Hills High School in Queens, NYC, he briefly attended Queens College before leaving to pursue a string of jobs (his parents wanted him to be a dentist).
- [on Buddy Hackett] . . . a prick. A real prick! But he was funny. He did his dirty stuff, he wasn't a good actor and he was a prick. He wasn't nice to the people who helped him in the old days and wasn't easy to get along with.
- [on Sandy Baron] I never understood Sandy Baron. I know he had psycho bouts of depression that were very bad. He would go into a clinic or else people would have to physically come to his house and feed him. He had some very bad things going on.
- [on Don Adams] Ah, he was such a putz, Don Adams. He was such a cold hearted guy. A real cold hearted guy.
- [on Dean Martin] One thing I admired about Dean Martin--[Frank Sinatra] would say, "Suit up. We have to show up for this thing." "What thing?" "The Mob is doing this thing." Dean used to say to Sinatra, "You owe them. I don't." They all had money in Cal-Neva. The Mob had a part, Sinatra had a part and Dean Martin had a part. Dean thought he was just in it with Sinatra. When he found out he was in it with the Mob he brought a lawyer and said, "I'm out." I admired him for that.
- [on Red Buttons] Red Buttons was a nice guy, but don't ever get him onstage when you're supposed to be equals. He'll cut both your legs off and jump on you.
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