Harry Morgan

Infobox actor


imagesize = 160px
caption =
birthname = Harry Bratsburg
birthdate = birth date and age|1915|04|10
location = Detroit, Michigan, USA
occupation = Actor, director, writer
yearsactive = 1942-2002
spouse = Eileen Detchon (1940-1985)
Barbara Bushman (1986-present)
homepage =
notable role = Colonel Sherman T. Potter on "M*A*S*H"
Officer Bill Gannon on "Dragnet"
emmyawards = Best Supporting Actor - Comedy Series
1980 "M*A*S*H"

Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsburg on April 10, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan) is an Emmy-winning American television actor of Norwegian extraction. Morgan, who was raised in Muskegon, Michigan graduated from Muskegon High School, in 1933, where he achieved distinction as a statewide debating champion. [ [http://www.muskegon.k12.mi.us/mhs/DistinguishedGrads/DistinguishedGrads.html Muskegon High School Distinguished Graduates] ] He originally aspired to a law degree, but began acting while a junior at the University of Chicago in 1935.

Morgan is perhaps best known as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on "M*A*S*H", "Pete" on "Pete and Gladys" and "December Bride", and Detective Bill Gannon on "Dragnet".

Biography

Morgan began his acting career on the stage under his birth name Harry Bratsburg, joining the Group Theater 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 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 then-popular comedian of the same name on radio and TV.Morgan continued to play a number of significant roles on the big screen in such films as "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943), "Dragonwyck" (1946), "High Noon" (1952), "The Glenn Miller Story" (1953), "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); "The Shootist" (1976), and "The Wild Wild West Revisted" (1979). He also made aguest appearance on "The Love Boat." Besides "The Glenn Miller Story" and "How the West Was Won", Morgan was in a number of films with Jimmy Stewart including "Bend of the River" (1952), "Thunder Bay" (1953), "The Far Country" (1955), "Strategic Air Command" (1955), "The Mountain Road" (1960) and "The Shootist" (1976), and also with John Wayne with whom he shared his scenes in "How the West Was Won".

Morgan hosted the NBC radio series "Mystery in the Air" starring Peter Lorre in 1947. On television, he played Pete in "Pete and Gladys" (1960-1962), a spin-off of his character in "December Bride" starring Spring Byington. He is even more widely recognized as Officer Bill Gannon, Joe Friday's partner in the revived version of "Dragnet" (1967-1970). 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.

"M*A*S*H", later years

Then came "M*A*S*H". Morgan's first appearance on "M*A*S*H" was in the show's third season—he played spaced out Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in "The General Flipped at Dawn" (9/10/74). Steele is convinced that the 4077th needs to move closer to the front line, to be near the action.

Morgan's memorable performance as Steele impressed the producers of the show. The following season, Morgan joined the cast of "M*A*S*H" as the beloved Colonel Sherman T. Potter. Morgan replaced McLean Stevenson, who had left the show at the end of the previous season. Colonel 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 Colonel Potter's wife, on the right side of his desk, is actually Mrs. Harry Morgan. He asked if he could use the picture of his wife and the producers had no objections.

In 1980, Morgan won an Emmy award for his performance on "M*A*S*H". After the end of the series Morgan then reprised the Potter role in a shortlived spin-off series, "AfterMASH". In 1986 he co-starred 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 Martin Vanderhof on the show "You Can't Take It With You". The show takes place in Staten Island, New York at the turn-of-the century. Martin lives in a Victorian home with his daughter Penny, her husband Paul and Essie and Alice, their daughters. Mr. Pinner is a neighbor.

In 1987, Morgan reprised his Bill Gannon character 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. On the TV show, Morgan had usually played Gannon fairly light and comedic, in keeping with his general acting style in those days, and contrasting well with Jack Webb's no-nonsense portrayal of Joe Friday. Curiously, or perhaps purposely, in the film version, he played Gannon as a brusque, authoritarian captain of police, quite different from his Detective Gannon in the 1967 TV show, and rather closer to his characterization of Colonel Potter.

In the 1990s, Morgan played the role of "Judge Stoddard Bell" on the series of "The Incident" TV movies. He was also on an episode of "The Simpsons" as Officer Bill Gannon from "Dragnet" in the 7th season ("Mother Simpson"), and made an appearance on "3rd Rock from the Sun" as a university professor (Professor Suter). Morgan also directed episodes for several TV series, including 2 episodes of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" and 8 episodes of "M*A*S*H". Harry Morgan also had a guest role on "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" as Raymond. He also had 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

Morgan has been married twice, first to Eileen Detchon from 1940 until her death in 1985, and then to Barbara Bushman Quine (granddaughter of silent film star Francis X. Bushman) from December 17, 1986 to the present. He had four sons with his first wife, Christopher, Charles, Paul and Daniel (who died in 1989). His grandson Spencer Morgan is a columnist at the "New York Observer". [http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/sopranos-spoiler-alert-uncle-june-kicks-my-dad-nuts]

In July 1997, spousal abuse charges against Morgan were dropped after he completed a six-month domestic violence counseling program. Morgan was charged with abusing his wife in July 1996 after an argument that left his wife with injuries to her eye, foot and arm. ["Los Angeles Times", Metro Section, p. 4, 26 June 1997]

During Morgan's tenure on "M*A*S*H", a photograph of Eileen Detchon regularly appeared on the desk of his character, Sherman T. Potter, to represent Potter's wife Mildred. Also, a drawing of a horse, seen on the wall behind Potter's desk, was drawn by Morgan's grandson Jeremy Morgan.

Filmography

*"To the Shores of Tripoli" (1942)
*"The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe" (1942)
*"Orchestra Wives" (1942)
*"The Omaha Trail" (1942)
*"A Scrap of Paper" (1943)
*"Crash Dive" (1943)
*"The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943)
*"Happy Land" (1943)
*"The Eve of St. Mark" (1944)
*"Roger Touhy, Gangster" (1944)
*"Wing and a Prayer" (1944)
*"Gentle Annie" (1944)
*"A Bell for Adano" (1945)
*"State Fair" (1945)
*"From This Day Forward" (1946)
*"Johnny Comes Flying Home" (1946)
*"Dragonwyck" (1946)
*"Somewhere in the Night" (1946)
*"It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog" (1946)
*"Crime Doctor's Man Hunt" (1946)
*"The Gangster" (1947)
*"All My Sons" (1948)
*"The Big Clock" (1948)
*"Race Street" (1948)
*"The Saxon Charm" (1948)
*"Moonrise" (1948)
*"Yellow Sky" (1948)
*"Hello Out There" (1949)
*"Down to the Sea in Ships" (1949)
*"The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" (1949)
*"Madame Bovary" (1949)
*"Strange Bargain" (1949)
*"Red Light" (1949)
*"Holiday Affair" (1949)
*"Outside the Wall" (1950)
*"The Showdown" (1950)
*"Dark City" (1950)
*"Belle Le Grand" (1951)
*"When I Grow Up" (1951)
*"Appointment with Danger" (1951)
*"The Highwayman" (1951)
*"The Well" (1951)
*"The Blue Veil" (1951)
*"Boots Malone" (1952)
*"Scandal Sheet" (1952)
*"Bend of the River" (1952)
*"My Six Convicts" (1952)
*"High Noon" (1952)
*"What Price Glory?" (1952)
*"Big Jim McLain" (1952)
*"Apache War Smoke" (1952)
*"Toughest Man in Arizona" (1952)
*"Stop, You're Killing Me" (1952)
*"Thunder Bay" (1953)
*"Arena" (1953)
*"Champ for a Day" (1953)
*"Torch Song" (1953)
*"The Glenn Miller Story" (1953)
*"Prisoner of War" (1954)
*"The Forty-Niners" (1954)
*"About Mrs. Leslie" (1954)
*"The Far Country" (1955)
*"Strategic Air Command" (1955)
*"Not as a Stranger" (1955)
*"Pete Kelly's Blues" (1955)
*"The Bottom of the Bottle" (1956)
*"Backlash" (1956)
*"Operation Teahouse" (1956)
*"Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers" (1956)
*"Star in the Dust" (1956)
*"The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956)
*"Under Fire" (1957)
*"It Started with a Kiss" (1959)
*"The Mountain Road" (1960)
*"Inherit the Wind" (1960)
*"Cimarron" (1960)
*"How the West Was Won" (1962)
*"John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" (1965)
*"Frankie and Johnny" (1966)
*"What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" (1966)
*"The Flim-Flam Man" (1967)
*"Star Spangled Salesman" (1968)
*"Support Your Local Sheriff!" (1969)
*"Viva Max!" (1969)
*"The Barefoot Executive" (1971)
*"Support Your Local Gunfighter!" (1971)
*"Scandalous John" (1971)
*"Snowball Express" (1972)
*"Charley and the Angel" (1973)
*"The Apple Dumpling Gang" (1975)
*"The Shootist" (1976)
*"The Cat from Outer Space" (1978)
*"The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" (1979)
*"The Wild Wild West Revisted" (1979)
*"More Wild Wild West" (1980)
*"The Flight of Dragons" (1982)
*"Dragnet" (1987)
*"The Incident" (1990)
*"Against Her Will: Something Amiss in Baltimore " (1992)
*"Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick" (1996)
*"Family Plan" (1998)
*"Crosswalk" (1999)

Notes

External links

*
*
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4445230494793389310 Harry Morgan Interview with Archive of American Television]

Persondata
NAME= Morgan, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Bratsburg, Harry
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1915-04-10
PLACE OF BIRTH= Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=