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Harry Morgan

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Carboncopy (talk | contribs) at 20:15, 7 December 2011 (Moving statement on death from "Later Years," which is about his acting, to more appropriate section, "Personal Life and Death"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people of the same name, see Harry Morgan (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Henry Morgan (comedian).
Harry Morgan
Born
Harry Bratsberg

(1915-04-10)April 10, 1915
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedDecember 7, 2011(2011-12-07) (aged 96)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
EducationMuskegon High School
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Occupation(s)Actor, director, writer
Years active1942–2002
Spouse(s)Eileen Detchon (m.1940-1985; her death)
Barbara Bushman
(m.1986-2011; his death)

Harry Morgan (April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011)[1] was an American actor. He was widely known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter in M*A*S*H (1975–1983), Pete Porter in both Pete and Gladys (1960–1962) and December Bride (1954–1959), Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967–1970), and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey (1972–1974). He appeared in more than 100 films.

Biography

Early life and career

Morgan was born Harry Bratsberg[2] in Detroit, Michigan, of Norwegian and Swedish heritage.[2] He was raised in Muskegon, Michigan, and graduated from Muskegon High School in 1933, where he achieved distinction as a statewide debating champion.[3] He originally aspired to a law degree, but began acting while a junior at the University of Chicago in 1935.

Morgan began acting on stage under his birth name, joining the Group Theatre in New York City in 1937, and appearing in the original production of the Clifford Odets play Golden Boy, followed by a host of successful Broadway roles alongside such other Group members as Lee J. Cobb, Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner, and Karl Malden.

Morgan did summer stock at the Pine Brook Country Club located in the countryside of Nichols, Connecticut, with the Group Theatre (New York) formed by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg in the 1930s and early 1940s.[4][5]

Screen debut

Morgan made his screen debut (originally using the name "Henry Morgan") in the 1942 movie To the Shores of Tripoli. His screen name later would become "Henry 'Harry' Morgan" and eventually Harry Morgan, to avoid confusion with the popular humorist of the same name.

In the same year, Morgan appeared in the movie "Orchestra Wives" as a young man pushing his way to the front of a ballroom crowd with his date to hear Glenn Miller's band play. Ironically, a few years later, still credited as Henry Morgan, he was cast in the role of pianist Chummy MacGregor in the 1954 biopic The Glenn Miller Story.

Screen career

Morgan continued to play a number of significant roles on the big screen in such films as The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Wing and a Prayer (1944), Dragonwyck (1946), The Big Clock (1948), High Noon (1952), and several films in the 1950s for director Anthony Mann, including Bend of the River (1952), Thunder Bay (1953), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Far Country (1955) and Strategic Air Command (1955); in his later film career he appeared in Inherit the Wind (1960), How the West Was Won (1962), John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965), Frankie and Johnny (1966), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), Support Your Local Gunfighter! (1971), Snowball Express (1972), The Shootist (1976), The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979), and a cameo in the film version of Dragnet (1987) with Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks. Besides all of the Anthony Mann films, Morgan was in a number of movies with James Stewart, including Strategic Air Command (film) (1955), The Mountain Road (1960), How the West Was Won (1962), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Shootist (1976), also with John Wayne, with whom Morgan also shared scenes in How the West Was Won, featuring Morgan portraying Ulysses S. Grant to Wayne's William Tecumseh Sherman in the John Ford-directed segment of the Cinerama film.

1950s TV roles

Morgan hosted the NBC radio series Mystery in the Air starring Peter Lorre in 1947. On CBS, he played Pete Porter in Pete and Gladys (1960–1962), with Cara Williams as wife Gladys. Pete and Gladys was a spinoff of December Bride (1954–1959), starring Spring Byington, Dean Miller, Frances Rafferty, and Verna Felton. When Miller and Rafferty died within three months of each other in 2004, Morgan became the last surviving member of the December Bride cast.

1960s: Dragnet and other roles

Morgan with Jack Webb in Dragnet.

In the 1964–1965 season, Morgan co-starred as Seldom Jackson in the 26-week NBC comedy/drama Kentucky Jones, starring Dennis Weaver.

Morgan is even more widely recognized as Officer Bill Gannon, Joe Friday's partner in the revived version of Dragnet (1967–1970). In two episodes of the revived series in 1967 and 1968, Randy Stuart played officer Gannon's wife, Eileen Gannon. Morgan was asked to reprise the role of Officer Bill Gannon in the ill-conceived comedy AfterDragnet. It was cancelled before airing any episodes.

Morgan had also appeared with Dragnet star Jack Webb in two film noir movies, Dark City (1950) and Appointment with Danger (1951), and was an early regular member of Jack Webb's stock company of actors on the original Dragnet radio show. Morgan later worked on two other shows for Webb, 1971's The D.A. and the 1972–1974 western Hec Ramsey. Morgan also appeared in at least one episode of Gunsmoke.

M*A*S*H (1975–1983)

Morgan's first appearance on M*A*S*H was in the show's third season (1974–1975), when he played spaced-out Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele ("That's three e's, not all in a row!") in "The General Flipped at Dawn", which originally aired on September 10, 1974. Steele is convinced that the 4077th needs to move closer to the front line, to be near the action.

Morgan's memorable Emmy-nominated performance impressed the producers of the show. The following season, Morgan joined the cast of M*A*S*H as Colonel Sherman T. Potter. Morgan replaced McLean Stevenson, who had left the show at the end of the previous season. Col. Potter was a career army officer who was tough, yet good-humored and caring—a father figure to the people under his command. The picture of Col. Potter's wife, on the right side of his desk, is actually that of Eileen Detchon, Morgan's real-life wife at the time. He asked if he could use the picture of his wife, and the producers had no objections.

As Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H with Alan Alda and Mike Farrell

In 1980, Morgan won an Emmy award for his performance on M*A*S*H. After the end of the series, Morgan reprised the Potter role in a short-lived spinoff series, AfterMASH.

Later years

In 1986, he costarred with Hal Linden in Blacke's Magic, a show about a magician who doubled as a detective solving unusual crimes. The series lasted only one season.

In 1987, Morgan played Mr. DePinna on a TV version of Kaufman and Hart's Pulitzer prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You. He also played the lead role of Martin Vanderhodff in a short lived series based on the same play

In 1987, Morgan reprised his Bill Gannon character, now a captain, for a supporting role in another film version of Dragnet, a parody of the original series written by and starring Dan Aykroyd and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Plummer.

In the 1990s, Morgan played the role of Judge Stoddard Bell in a series of The Incident; Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (TV 1992) and Incident in a Small Town (1994 TV) TV movies starring Walter Matthau. He was on an episode of The Simpsons as Officer Bill Gannon from Dragnet in the 7th season ("Mother Simpson") and had a recurring role on 3rd Rock from the Sun as Professor Suter. Morgan directed episodes for several TV series, including two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and eight episodes of M*A*S*H. Morgan had a guest role on The Jeff Foxworthy Show as Raymond and a guest role on Grace Under Fire as Jean's pot-smoking boyfriend.

In 2006, Morgan was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Personal life and death

Morgan was married twice — first to Eileen Detchon, from 1940 until her death in 1985. During Morgan's tenure on M*A*S*H, a photograph of Detchon regularly appeared on the desk of his character, Sherman T. Potter, to represent Potter's wife, Mildred. Mildred was also the name of Morgan's character's wife in High Noon, as well as the name of his wife in the movie The Apple Dumpling Gang (and was also the original name of Colonel Henry Blake's wife in early episodes of M*A*S*H before being changed to Lorraine without explanation). A drawing of a horse, seen on the wall behind Potter's desk, was drawn by Morgan's grandson, Jeremy Morgan. In addition, Eileen was the name of the wife of Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet. He had four sons with his first wife: Christopher, Charles, Paul, and Daniel (who died in 1989).

He was married to Barbara Bushman Quine (granddaughter of silent film star Francis X. Bushman) from December 17, 1986 until his death. In July 1997, Morgan was charged with abusing his wife the previous year, after a beating left her with injuries to her eye, foot, and arm.[6] Prosecutors dropped the charges after the 82-year-old actor completed a six-month domestic violence counseling program.[7]

Morgan died on December 7, 2011.[8] His son Charles confirmed his death, saying Mr. Morgan had been treated for pneumonia recently. At 96, Morgan was one of the oldest living Hollywood male actors at the time.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/arts/television/harry-morgan-mash-and-dragnet-actor-dies-at-96.html?_r=1
  2. ^ a b Statement by Morgan in interview, Archive of American Television, 20 March 2008. A minute and 28 second into this interview, Morgan states that his mother was born in Sweden and that his father was born in Norway. Morgan gives the Bratsberg rather than Bratsburg spelling of his name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPncDB3PH_c
  3. ^ Muskegon High School Distinguished Graduates[dead link]
  4. ^ "Pinewood Lake website retrieved on 2010-09-10". Pinewoodlake.org. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
  5. ^ Images of America, Trumbull Historical Society, 1997, p. 123
  6. ^ Errico, Marcus (July 11, 1996). Actor Harry Morgan Arrested. E!
  7. ^ Staff report (June 26, 1997). 'MASH' Star's Abuse Case Is Dismissed. Los Angeles Times
  8. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/arts/television/harry-morgan-mash-and-dragnet-actor-dies-at-96.html?_r=1

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