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GUY MARKS - "IGOR"

In episode 7, season 5 (The Odd Candidate) of the US comedy series "The Odd Couple", Guy Marks plays the fictional horror host "Igor". The episode aired on 24 October 1974. The story for this episode is that the two main characters, Oscar and Felix appear on Igor's television show - Felix has convinced Oscar to run for city council, and thought by appearing on the show would help his chances of election. Igor is a Zacherle like horror host, who acts the same way on or off camera. Igor showed titles such as "The Monster From Planet Debby". The props included a coffin and stuffed animals. GUY MARKS From IMDB: Guy Marks was arguably not a career actor but rather a top-notch entertainer who dabbled in acting. In this case it is the quality, not the quantity, of his work that merits him a place among the great character actors. He was better known as a stand-up comic and world-class impressionist. He was born Mario Scarpa in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 31 October 1923, the youngest of 11 children of concert clarinetist Ermelindo Scarpa, a member of the RCA Recording Orchestra. He grew up on Philadelphia's south side and frequently ran away from home, working odd jobs. As a young man he found his niche in comedy, especially impersonations, and he was a master - he could do animals, birds, inanimate objects, just about anything, and not just the sounds but the actions, the walks and the faces. He toured the nightclub circuit opening for big stars like Eddie Fisher and Sammy Davis Jr. He worked in Las Vegas quite often. He guested on many television variety shows such as "The Ed Sullivan Show" (1948), "The Hollywood Palace" (1964), "The Milton Berle Show" (1966) and "The Dean Martin Show" (1965). This eventually led to a role on a brief but hilarious comedy series with Tim Conway, "Rango" (1967) as sarcastic Indian sidekick Pink Cloud. Marks appeared in the movies: "Peeper" (1975) uncredited as "Man in Alley" (doing his Humphrey Bogart) imitation and "Train Ride to Hollywood" (1975) as Bogie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike, doing his impeccable Bogart voice impression. On television he was a regular on "The Joey Bishop Show" (1961) as Freddie; "The John Forsythe Show" (1965) as Ed Robbins; and "You Again?" (1986) as Harry. He also composed and performed a "one-hit wonder" novelty song called "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" that was quite popular in the 1970s. At the time of his death he had completed a television series pilot with Sid Caesar, which was never picked up. His talents can be seen on the current video release of the "Dean Martin Roasts." He had been married at least four times and was survived by two brothers and five sisters. He died on 28 November 1987, in Brigantine, New Jersey, aged 64. The following is a clip from the episode: "The Odd Couple" - Igor clip from The Professor's Scary Clips on Vimeo.

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "The Odd Candidate"	Wikipedia "Guy Marks"	Internet Movie Data Base "Guy Marks"
Facebook - Horror Host Graveyard "Igor"	E-gors Chamber of TV Horror Hosts "Igor (III)"	Find A Grave "Guy Marks"

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