FLIP MARK

December 22, 1948

Flip Mark was born Philip Mark Goldberg on December 22, 1948 in New York City. 

“This agent was on the phone with a photographer offering some modeling for a red-haired, freckle-faced boy. I filled the bill exactly. The agent covered the phone receiver and asked my mother, ‘what’s his name’? Phillip Goldberg my mom said. That won’t work, the agent said. Does he have a nickname? Flip, she answered. That’s good, the agent said. Does he have a middle name? Mark, she answered. The agent uncovered the receiver and said, His name is Flip Mark. That’s literally how I got the name. It was that fast.”

He made his screen debut at age nine on a December 1957 episode of “The Phil Silvers Show” aka “Sergeant Bilko”.  Lucille Ball did a cameo on the series in March 1959. 

Mark’s first feature film role was as Flip Rhinelander in the 1959 film The Journey, starring Yul Brynner. 

In the 1959-60 television season, Mark appeared five times as Flip Rogers on the CBS series, “Lassie.”  Location footage for the series was shot at Desilu. In December 1959 Lassie was featured on “The Desilu Revue” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. 

In 1960 Mark was cast as Brook Hooten on the Desilu series “Guestward Ho!.” 

Vivian Vance starred in the pilot episode but when CBS passed on the show, fearing Vance was too associated with Ethel Mertz. Desi Arnaz re-cast with Joann Dru as Brook’s mother and the series was picked up by ABC. It lasted only one season; 38 episodes. 

In January 1962, Mark played the leader of a secret gang joined by Opie on an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show,” shot on the Desilu backlot. 

In the 1962-63 season, he had a regular role as Larry Walker on Desilu’s series “Fair Exchange.” 

Mark guest starred on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the Missing Stamp” (TLS S3;E14) on December 21, 1964.  His character was named Junior White.

Two years later he returned to the series to play a kid selling maps to the stars home in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20) on February 7, 1966. 

In 1966 and 1968 Mark did episodes of “My Three Sons,” shot on the Desilu lot. 

In February 1969, Desi Arnaz hired Mark for an episode of his sitcom “The Mothers-in-Law”. Mark played Felix, a grocery store clerk and delivery boy, opposite Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard. 

Mark’s final screen role was as a college student on a December 1972 episode of “The Streets of San Francisco.” The series creator Quinn Martin was married to Madelyn Pugh, one of Lucille Ball’s regular writers. 

After leaving Hollywood, Mark developed an interest in flying and became a flight attendant. He flew for 5 years, before becoming part of the company that trained flight attendants. After his wife’s death from cancer, he got a job as a 911 operator in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked for more than 15 years.