Morty Gunty

Morty Gunty (February 1, 1929 – July 15, 1984) was an American actor and comedian born and raised in the Parkville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He attended Midwood High School and Brooklyn College before establishing himself as a prominent nightclub comic on the New York City circuit during the 1960s and 1970s.

Gunty's professional ambitions surfaced early. In 1948, at the age of nineteen, he performed a Danny Kaye-style one-man sketch on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, an appearance that came fewer than three months before his twentieth birthday. The performance resulted in an on-air invitation to join an upcoming travelling show. His television presence continued to grow over the following decade and a half, culminating in a notable appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 23, 1964, where he performed in the slot directly preceding the Beatles' third and final appearance on the program.

Beyond stand-up and nightclub work, Gunty built a varied career across television and film. He originated the role of Buddy Sorrell in Head of the Family, the original pilot for The Dick Van Dyke Show, which starred the series' writer and creator Carl Reiner in the lead role with a cast distinct from the version that eventually aired. He also appeared in multiple episodes of That Girl, playing Ann Marie's agent, a character written as a former comedian. In the Woody Allen film Broadway Danny Rose, Gunty appeared as himself. During the mid-1960s, he hosted The Funny Company, a 90-minute weekday afternoon children's television series broadcast on WOR-TV in New York.

Gunty's stage work brought him to Broadway in 1967, when he appeared in Love in E Flat. He died of cancer on July 15, 1984, in Brooklyn, at the age of 55. He was survived by his wife, Marilyn; two daughters; a brother; and his parents, Belle and Abraham Gunty.