Vic Morrow

Vic Morrow
Born	Victor Harry[citation needed] Morrow (1929-02-14)February 14, 1929 New York City, New York, USA
Died	July 23, 1982(1982-07-23) (aged 53) Indian Dunes, Ventura County, California
Cause of death	Accidental decapitation
Resting place	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California
Other names	Victor Morrow
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1955–1982
Spouse(s)	Barbara Turner (1957–1964; divorced; 2 children) Gale A. Lester (1975–1979; divorced)
Children	Jennifer Carrie

Victor Harry "Vic" Morrow (February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s television series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television. He and two children died when a stunt helicopter crashed on them during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Early life and family

Morrow was born in the Bronx, (New York) to a middle class Jewish family, the son of Jean (née Kress) and Harry Morrow, an electrical engineer. When he was 17, Morrow dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Navy. He married actress and screenwriter Barbara Turner, with whom he had two daughters: actress Jennifer Jason Leigh and Carrie Ann Morrow. Morrow's marriage to Barbara lasted seven years and ended in divorce in 1964. He did not remarry until 1975, over a decade later, when he courted Gale Lester (currently Gale Morrow Butler). They were married for five years and were separated just prior to Morrow's death.

Morrow had a falling out with his daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh following his divorce from her mother; Leigh changed her last name as a teenager to avoid being publicly associated with Morrow. They remained estranged at the time of his death.

Career

Morrow's first movie role was in Blackboard Jungle (1955), after which he went into television. Later, he guest starred on John Payne's NBC western series, The Restless Gun. On April 16, 1959, he appeared in the premiere of NBC's 1920s crime drama The Lawless Years in the episode "The Nick Joseph Story". Morrow then appeared from 1960–1961 as Joe Cannon in three episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. On October 6, 1961, he appeared in an episode of the ABC drama series Target: The Corruptors! with Stephen McNally and Robert Harland.He appeared in several episodes of both 'The Untouchables' and 'Bonanza' (memorably cast in the early Bonanza episode; 'The Avenger' as a mysterious figure known only as 'Lassiter'- named after his origin town - who arrives in Virginia City, and helps save Ben & Adam Cartwright from an unjust hanging, while eventually gunning down one sought after man revealing himself as a hunter of a lynch mob who killed his father, having so far got about half the mob....he rides off into the night, an episode that resembles the later Clint Eastwood film 'High Plains Drifter'), Morrow later appeared in the third season Bonanza episode; 'The Tin Badge'

Morrow also appeared in 'Hawaii Five-O', 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'McCloud',and 'Sarge' among many other TV guest roles.

He was cast in the lead role in ABC's Combat!, a World War II drama, which aired from 1962–1967. He also worked as a television director. Together with Leonard Nimoy, he produced a 1966 version of Deathwatch, an English language film version of Genet's play Haute Surveillance, adapted by Morrow and Barbara Turner, directed by Morrow, and starring Nimoy. After Combat! ended, he worked in several films. Morrow appeared in two episodes of Australian-produced anthology series The Evil Touch (1973), one of which he also directed. He memorably played the wily local sheriff in director John Hough's road classic Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, as well as the homicidal sheriff, alongside Martin Sheen, in the 1974 TV film The California Kid, and had a key role in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He also played Injun Joe in 1973 telefilm Tom Sawyer, which was filmed in Upper Canada Village. A musical version was released in theaters that same year.

Morrow wrote and directed a 1971 Spaghetti Western, produced by Dino DeLaurentiis, titled A Man Called Sledge starring James Garner. It was Morrow's first and only big screen outing behind the camera. "Sledge" was filmed in Europe with desert-like settings that were highly evocative of the U.S. southwest.

Death

In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two children, My-Ca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in an accident while filming on location for the Twilight Zone: The Movie in Ventura County, California, between Santa Clarita and Piru. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a racist who is taken back in time and placed in various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a Jewish Holocaust victim, a black man about to be lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers. Morrow, Le, and Chen were filming a scene for the Vietnam sequence in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing U.S. Army helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 25 feet above them when pyrotechnic explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly.

Morrow is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Director John Landis and other defendants, including producer Steven Spielberg and pilot Dorsey Wingo, were ultimately acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. The parents of Le and Chen sued and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Morrow's children also sued and settled for an undisclosed amount.

Partial filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Blackboard Jungle	Artie West
1956	The Millionaire	Joey Diamond	TV, 1 episode
	Tribute to a Bad Man	Lars Peterson
	Climax!	Ted	TV, 1 episode
1957	Men in War	Corporal James Zwickley
	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Benny Mungo	TV, 1 episode
1958	King Creole	Shark
	Richard Diamond, Private Detective	Joe Rovi	"The Ed Church Case" (CBS-TV)
	God's Little Acre	Shaw Walden
	The Rifleman	Johnny Cotton	ABC-TV, 1 episode, "The Angry Gun"
1959	Naked City	David Greco	ABC-TV, 1 episode
	The Rifleman	Brett Stocker	TV, 1 episode, "The Letter of the Law"
	Johnny Ringo	Bill Stoner	CBS-TV, 1 episode, "Kid With a Gun"
1960	Bonanza	Lassiter	TV, 1 episode, "The Avenger" (3/1960, episode 26)
	The Barbara Stanwyck Show	Leroy Benson	NBC-TV, 1 episode
	Cimarron	Wes Jennings
	The Brothers Brannagan	Locke	Syndicated TV, series premiere, "Tune in for Murder"
1961	Portrait of a Mobster	Dutch Schultz
	The Tall Man	Skip Farrell	NBC-TV, 1 episode, "Time of Foreshadowing"
	The Law and Mr. Jones	Dr. Bigelow	ABC-TV, 1 episode, "A Very Special Citizen"
1962	The New Breed	Belman	ABC-TV, 1 episode
1962–1967	Combat!	Sergeant Chip Saunders	ABC-TV, 152 episodes
1969	Target: Harry	Harry Black	Alternative titles: What's In it For Harry?, How to Make It
1970	The Immortal	Sheriff Dan W. Wheeler	TV, 1 episode
	Dan August	Steve Harrison	ABC-TV, 1 episode
1971	Hawaii Five-O	Edward Heron	CBS-TV, 1 episode, "Two Doves and Mr. Heron"
	Mannix	Eric Latimer	CBS-TV, 1 episode
	Sarge	Lt. Ross Edmonds	TV, 1 episode
1972	McCloud	Richard	NBC-TV, 1 episode
	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law	Andy Capaso	ABC-TV, 1 episode
	Mission: Impossible	Joseph Collins	CBS-TV, 1 episode
1973–1974	Police Story	Sergeant Joe LaFrieda	NBC-TV, 3 episodes
	The Evil Touch	Purvis Greene	TV, 2 episodes
	The Streets of San Francisco	Vic Tolliman	ABC-TV, 1 episode
1974	Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry	Cpt. Franklin
1974	The California Kid	Roy Childress
1975	The Night That Panicked America	Hank Muldoon	Television movie
1976	Captains and the Kings	Tom Hennessey	Miniseries
	The Bad News Bears	Coach Roy Turner
	Treasure of Matecumbe	Spangler	Disney movie
1977	Roots	Ames	ABC-TV miniseries
1978	Wild and Wooly	Warden Willis	Television movie
	Message from Space (Ucyuu karano messeiji)	General Garuda	Japanese (Toei) movie
1978–1980	Charlie's Angels	Lt. Harry Stearns	ABC-TV, 2 episodes
1979	Greatest Heroes of the Bible	Arioch	TV, 1 episode
	The Evictors	Jake Rudd
1980	Humanoids from the Deep	Hank Slattery	Alternative titles: Humanoids of the Deep, Monster
	B.A.D. Cats	Capt. Eugene Nathan	TV, 9 episodes
	Great White	Ron Hamer	Alternative titles: The Last Shark
1981	Magnum, P.I.	Police Sergeant Jordan	CBS-TV, 1 episode
1982	Fantasy Island	Douglas Picard	ABC-TV, 1 episode
	1990: The Bronx Warriors	Hammer	Penultimate movie
1983	Twilight Zone: The Movie	Bill Connor	Died in an on-set accident during filming; death scene deleted from film

Award nominations

Year	Result	Award	Category	Film or series
1963	Nominated	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead)	Combat!

External links

• Vic Morrow at the Internet Movie Database
• Filmography
• Article on Twilight Zone tragedy, written by friend and COMBAT! co-star Dick 'Little John' Peabody
• Sculptural Tribute to Actor Vic Morrow
• Vic Morrow at Find a Grave