Who was Miguel Ferrer, How Did He Die? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Miguel Ferrer is one actor many of us will not forget in a hurry for his villainous role as Bob Morton in 1987 science fiction action crime film RoboCop. He was the voice of Shan Yu in 1998 animated movie Mulan and as Big Boss in Rio 2. He also appeared in NCIS: Los Angeles for seven seasons as Owen Granger (NCIS Assistant Director), as Dr. Garret Macy in Crossing Jordan and as V.P Rodriguez in Iron Man 3. The world woke up to the sad and sudden news of the death of the actor which took place in his Los Angeles home at the age of sixty-one.

Learn more about Miguel Ferrer in the paragraphs below including the cause of his death.

Who was Miguel Ferrer?

Miguel José Ferrer is the son of an Academy Award Winning actor Jose Ferrer and a top 1950s singer Rosemary Clooney born on the 7th of February 1955. He is his parents’ oldest child with two brothers ( Gabriel and Rafael) and two sisters (Maria and Monsita). Ferrer had an older sister named Letty (Leticia) from his father’s first marriage

He was born in Santa Monica, California but was raised in Hollywood. Growing up, Miguel Ferrer had an interest in music and as such he started off playing the drums; first, he was on Keith Moon’s first and only solo album Two Sides of the Moon as a drummer.

His friend Bill Mumy cast him in the series Sunshine as a drummer and he would later join Mumy alongside Max Allan Collins and Steve Leialoha as a member of the band Seduction of the Innocent.

Ferrer went fully into acting in 1980 as he began making guest appearances on episodic TV series. In 1981, he played a younger version of his father in the crime drama TV series  Magnum, P.I. which aired on the CBS network till 1988.  Earlier in 1983, he played as a waiter in the 3-D comedy film The Man Who Wasn’t There directed by Bruce Malmuth. The next year, he played minor role as the U.S.S. Excelsior helm officer in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

The year 1987 saw him star as Bob Morton (the aspiring cocaine snorting Corporate Executive) in the cyberpunk action movie RoboCop. In the following years, he appeared in DeepStar Six, Revenge, Iron Man 3, and Valentino Returns. From the 1990s even to the 2000s, Miguel Ferrer began making waves on TV series including Shannon’s Deal,  Broken Badges, Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Crossing Jordan, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Protector, Kings, and lots more. In 2011, he made guest appearances in multiple episodes in the ABC TV series Desperate Housewives.

Ferrer has also thrived as a voice actor; he voiced the character Weather Wizard, in an episode of the Superman: The Animated Series and as Aquaman in another episode of the series. He also voiced the heretic leader in the video game Halo 2 and also took some voice-over roles in the TV series Robot Chicken as well as in  American Dad!

Miguel Ferrer made his New York stage debut in the off-Broadway production of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s play The Exonerated.

How He Died? Here is Everything You Need to Know

The world and the movie industry were thrown off balance when the sad and sudden news of the death of the actor was announced on the 19th of January 2017. Miguel died in his Santa Monica L.A home after battling with throat cancer. He was aged sixty-one.

Wife and Children

From 1991 to 2003, actress Leilani Sarelle was the wife of Ferrer. Sarelle is popular for playing Roxy in Basic Instinct, she also appeared in 2016 movie Black Road. Their union produced two sons (Lukas and Rafi).

Two years after his divorce, he married Lori Weintraub who is an executive in the entertainment industry. Weintraub is one of the two daughters of famous producer and Hollywood head Sy Weintraub. Remember him? The producer of Tarzan who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000.

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What was His Net Worth?

There are conflicting figures as to how much the actor was worth at the time of his death. Some sources say the actor was worth $2 million as at the time of his death while others claim the Robocop actor was worth as much as $4 million at the time he died. Well, what he was worth no longer matters what does is that the actor lived his dreams while he was alive and made some cool cash doing what he loved the most.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.