Actor Sidney Noel Rideau, better known to generations of New Orleanians as Dr. Morgus the Magnificent, a well-meaning mad scientist who presides over television horror films, died Thursday morning of natural causes in Christwood Retirement Community in Covington, according to his daughter Natalie Rideau. He was 90 years old.
Sidney Rideau was born on Christmas 1929, hence his stage name, Noel. He graduated from Alcee Fortier High School and attended Loyola University, where he studied communication and led a charity for charity that performed in hospitals and nursing homes. During the Korean War, Rideau served eight years in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Rideau first reached a wide audience when he hosted this morning’s Dawnbusters “program on WWL radio in the mid – 1950s. In an interview in 2019, he said he gained a reputation for comedy with stunts, such as acting like a phone call on Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev’s airwaves.
The bent and dismissed Morgus character Rideau first made his debut on WWL-TV in 1959. Over time, the self-confident scientist plays with everything from teleportation to lycanthropy to cloning. In one episode, Morgus used a smoking contraption to siphon the musical talent off the bald head of jazz superstar Pete Fountain.
Rideau said he was inspired to become a mad scientist simply because the first episode of the Morgus show included the movie “Frankenstein”. He decorated the set with second-hand medical equipment from Charity Hospital and other scientific equipment.
The chaotic wig of Morgus would symbolize Einstein’s genius, and his endless search on behalf of man was a nod to Don Quixote. His menacing, capless assistant Chopsley was his silent and servile foil.
Added television producer Albert Fisher was a 16-year-old science enthusiast when Rideau interviewed him in his morning WWL radio show. In the planning stages of the Morgus show, Rideau Fisher asked to be the consulting writer.
The magic of Morgus, Fisher said, was that “people related to this lovely person who wanted to do good but were always at the end.”
He and Rideau tried to tie current hooks to the otherwise nonsensical performances, Fisher said. During a broadcast of the movie “Dracula”, he recalled, Morgus debuted his concept of the ever-present New Orleans mosquitoes to collect blood for the Red Cross.
Enthusiastic spectators sent the station mosquitoes into matchboxes, Fisher said.
“That was when we knew we had something very hot,” he said.
By 1962, the Morgus character was so popular that Rideau was invited to star in a full-length feature film, “The Wacky World of Dr. Morgus”, a Cold War-themed thriller with a tongue-in-cheek.
In the 1980s, Morgus’ sidekick Eric was portrayed by an Apple II computer.
About this time, Rideau met his future wife, Aldona Nalecz-Tyminska, on a blind date in New York City, where she worked for the United Nations as a translator. They were together for 52 years, until their deaths in 2015.
Natalie Rideau said her father insisted that his family would not be subjected to the “public exposure” that sometimes attracted his fame. In fact, she said when she and her brother were little children, she was told that Morgus was a friend of her father, not his alter ego.
Rideau moved the Morgus show to Detroit in 1964, then returned to New Orleans for a few more episodes before the show aired nearly 20 years ago. But in 1987, a revival of the show returned with 52 new episodes.
The last time Rideau appeared as Morgus was in the early 2000s at a Hornets basketball game, in which he jumped balls from the unfortunate Chopsley’s chest.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Cox Communications used Morgus’ face in billboards promising, “Our city will be beautiful again.” In a 2019 interview, Rideau said it was one of his fondest memories.
Rideau’s last performance was a live autobiographical show at the Orpheum Theater in October, where he appeared as himself, not as his iconic character.
In later life, Rideau’s interest in educating children led him to invent a storytelling booth, with telephone receivers where children could listen to fables. He also developed an online reading program called “Fables to Grow Up.”
Morgus has remained an icon of Crescent City for nearly six decades. Natalie Rideau said she recently discovered a meme from social media announcing that Morgus had discovered the cure for the coronavirus: pure long-acting seed. Meanwhile, a street artist named Jedi produced a mural portrait of the beautiful doctor on a wall near St. Claude Avenue.
Rideau is survived by daughter and his son Robin Douglas Rideau. His family later planned a private funeral service.
A mural portrait of Morgus at St. Jedi Street Artist Claude Avenue Demonstrates the Lasting Power of Sid Noel Rideau’s Iconic Character
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