Harry
Bratsberg, known professionally
as: Harry Morgan (born April 10, 1915) is a popular Emmy Award-winning American character and movie actor and director. In a career that has spanned
seven decades, Morgan is well-known for his co-starring roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H
(1975–1983), opposite Alan Alda and best
friend Loretta Swit, Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys (1960–1962), opposite Cara Williams and December Bride (1954–1959), opposite Spring Byington, Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967–1970), opposite his best
friend Jack Webb and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey (1972–1974), opposite Robert Conrad. He has appeared in more than
100 films, and has appeared in 10 TV shows.
Biography
Early life and career
Morgan was the oldest of
one child born as: Harry Bratsberg[1] in Detroit, Michigan, in 1915, to Henry Bratsberg, a
mechanic, and Anna Olsen, a housewife. He's also of Norwegian and Swedish heritage.[1] Shortly after his birth, he moved
with his family to Muskegon,
just 42 miles north of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, where he'd been raised, where the city was also famous for
the plays, esp. "The League of Youth," also this city was also famous
for making Benny Oosterbaum. As a little boy of the late 1910s/early 1920s, he
began watching television. In his younger years, he never had stage freight. He
began acting in plays while attending Muskegon High
School, where his first play was "Front Page," which
followed by "Petrified Forest." In his junior year, his class
traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan
to the University of
Michigans's Hill Auditorium
where he won the award in front of a large audience. He graduated from Muskegon
in 1933, where he achieved distinction as a statewide debating champion.[2]
Morgan originally aspired to a law degree, but began acting while a junior at
the University of
Chicago in 1935, but a lack of funding forced him to drop out,
hence, he took on a job as a salesman for an insurance company. He also worked
at a furniture store, before he became an actor.
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. He also had diner with the
majority of his best friends, as well. After "Golden Boy," he
traveled to London, with another best friend John Garfield, for approximately 10 weeks,
afterwards, the theater was replaced by another company where Harry went back
on the road from Chicago to Detroit (his hometown), where "Golden
Boy," was a blockbuster.
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.[3][4]
He moved to Hollywood,
California in 1942, after he was newly married, where he was also
doing more stage acting and summer stock. He was bleak, but did a play in Santa Barbara where David Zelnik ran a
summer stock company with a bunch of unfamiliar stars. He also did "Hello,
There!," in an one-act play.
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 then-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, 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.
Commanding, yet lovable character actor
For more than 45 years,
Morgan would also become an well-regarded character actor making his debut in 1951,
on an episode of The Amazing Mr.
Malone. This one-part led to other roles such as: The Doctor, The Lone Wolf, Cavalcade of
America, Alfred
Hitchcock Presents, Ensign O'Toole, The Untouchables, The Virginian,
Have Gun-Will
Travel, a recurring role on Dr. Kildare as Francis X. Healy, Love, American
Style, The Partridge
Family, Going My Way,
Night Gallery, 4 episodes of Gunsmoke, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Renegade,
among many others.
1950s: TV roles and December Bride
Morgan hosted the NBC
radio series Mystery in the Air starring Peter Lorre in 1947.
In 1954, after years of
starring in stage and in big-screen movies, Morgan finally hit the jackpot with
a new CBS
sitcom, December Bride,
where he became the show's scene-stealer. He played henpecked neighbor, Pete
Porter, an man who always joked around, whose wife (Gladys) was rarely seen.
His co-stars on the show were Spring Byington, Dean Miller,
Frances Rafferty, and Verna Felton. The show was taken from a
radio show, which he didn't listen to not a single episode. The show was a
light, fluffy comedy, which became extremely popular, all thanks to Morgan's
contribution to the series. According to Morgan, he said in 2004, "She was
very delightful, she was like the character she played." In both character
and in friendship, he also had a wonderful on- and off-screen chemistry with
Byington, of the stage, he didn't get along with her. Though he never got to
see his character off-screen, he would usually see her, once, when Gladys was
in a costume. The reason for this was the audience didn't know.[citation
needed] When Miller and Rafferty died within three months
of each other in 2004, Morgan became the last surviving member of the December
Bride cast.
When December Bride
was canceled in 1959, after 5 seasons, and 156 episodes, Morgan's character was
on hiatus for almost a year. When Perk Levy, who served as creator of December
Bride, approached Morgan into doing a new sitcom that would eventually
spun-off, he was more than happy to reprise his role; which the show became Pete and Gladys in 1960, also for CBS,
a sitcom that went on the air, where Morgan's character finally got to see his
on-screen wife (played by an unfamiliar actor Cara Williams). Morgan met Williams in a
1948 movie, The Saxon Charm,
the two did not hit it off immediately, despite being the beautiful redheaded
actress. They both had their issues settling, until they finally got along real
well. Pete & Gladys was canceled in 1962, after 72 episodes. Unlike
its parent series, Morgan said it wasn't his favorite show to date.
1960s: Dragnet and other roles
In the 1964–1965 season,
Morgan co-starred as Seldom Jackson in the 26-week NBC comedy/drama Kentucky Jones, starring Dennis Weaver.
In 1966, Morgan began
his longterm association with Universal Studios, where his second most
best-known role to date was that of Off. Bill Gannon, on Dragnet, which also starred popular
producer Jack Webb. He replaced Ben Alexander, who was already under
contract with both ABC
and 20th Century Fox
to star in Felony Squad,
just 4 months before production was about to shoot. Morgan had known Webb since
the late 1940s, when the two were co-starring on a couple of movies; and became
best friends until Webb's death, late in 1982. According to the co-star, he
said his best friend had a pretty good memory, who also read lines from the
teleprompter, who didn't do much flubbing. There was also a wonderful on- and
off-screen chemistry between Webb and Morgan, whose friendship mirrored into
their own personal lives; and even spent a lot of weekends together; when not
filming.
Despite the 3 day work
shift, with longer house, it was possible for Morgan to appear in all the
shows. When it debuted as a midseason
replacement, for the 1966-67 season, it became an immediate hit, for
a second time in Morgan's career, just as it happened with December Bride,
a little more than a decade before this one. On the premiere episode of Dragnet, he
could hardly remember the LSD storyline, in which Webb's own
character takes drugs and in another episode, God had
written that speech. It got a lot of mail, while Webb (himself) had wrote the
majority of episodes at the requesting of his speech. In two episodes of the
revived series in 1967 and 1968, Randy Stuart played officer Gannon's wife,
Eileen Gannon. He also made his directorial debut on the show.
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.
Despite high ratings
that included 4 1/2 seasons and 98 Dragnet episodes, it was canceled
publicly much due to the fact that Webb was planning on leaving the show to
continue producing more TV series, among them were: Adam-12 starring Martin Milner and Kent McCord, and Emergency! starring Robert Fuller,
Webb's ex-wife and best friend Julie London and former Dragnet
player Bobby Troup. Jack had never even heard of
the instigation of the cancelation of the series, all the while he was very
busy producing Adam-12, because his current show, along with Dragnet,
couldn't be abandoned with Adam-12, respectively; which had nothing to
do with 2 separate shows. Dragnet was more than a groundbreaking show,
but it was also a message, a legacy that it was later used for other TV cop
shows that stood the test of time. Both Webb and Morgan would become even
greater friends for 13 1/2 years, and despite the fact Morgan wanted to work
with Webb, again, he stayed with Universal and NBC, for the next 3 years.
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.
1970s: 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.
After ending his
longtime contract with both NBC & Universal, he switched to both CBS
& 20th Century Fox
to having an older male lead role on M*A*S*H, which he returned to
comedy for the first time in thirteen years. According to Morgan, he said that
he was in fact a huge fan of the show, watchig every episode of it that
featured Alan Alda, amongst the rest of his cast. He
also stated how he got the role was because he'd been friends with producer Gene Reynolds, for years, long before,
hence, he had absolutely no way out.
After joining the cast,
the show was still a hit with fans, despite his co-stars Linville &
Burghoff, leaving the show, within a couple of years of each other. Compared to
December Bride and Dragnet, before this one, he said he also
loved this role so much that he would play it for another decade, if it weren't
cancelled.
Already starring on M*A*S*H
were several familiar actors next to Alda, who played the male lead role as
chief surgeon: Dr. Benjamin
Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, along with Loretta Swit as: Margaret
"Hot Lips" Houlihan, who would become best
friends/neighbors for life, William Christopher
as: Father Mulcahy, Jamie Farr as: Maxwell Q. Klinger,
along with the late Larry Linville
as: Major Frank Burns and Gary Burghoff as: Corporal Radar O'Reilly. And also starring on M*A*S*H,
were 2 unfamiliar actors; a former Marine, Screen Gems and Universal contract player, Mike Farrell, in the role of young talented
surgeon, Captain B. J. Hunnicutt
(who joined the cast in 1975 with Morgan; after Wayne Rogers left the show because he was
grown too tired of his Trapper John
character and being a sidekick to Alda's Hawkeye character) and former stage
actor and theater game instructor, David Ogden Stiers
as: Major
Charles Emerson Winchester III (who joined the cast in 1977; after
Linville left, because he was afraid of early typecasting, when it was eventually too
late). Despite a few actors that departed in the early era-style of the show,
the on- and off-screen chemistry of Morgan, Stiers, Swit, and Farrell, were all
an instant success story of 1970s/80s television, who in Mike’s later years
would bring along his family to have dinner with his mentor's real-life family.
The role of Colonel
Potter renewed such great success for Morgan, being comfortable in his 60s, he
was nominated for Emmyes 9 times in a row. In 1980, Morgan
won an Emmy award for his performance on M*A*S*H.
He also rode the horse
on the show for most of the time. Before he was offered the role of Colonel
Potter, he didn't study any military terms, but had studied some medical terms
in part of the doctor who was needed everyday on the set in a way of
operations, like technical advisors.
Compared to Dragnet,
there were absolutely no teleprompters for the set of M*A*S*H, therefore
all actors had to memorized lines each week for themselves to act. At the
producers' request, he also directed several episodes of the show. In spite of
a good sitcom, there were a lot of fight scenes, happening with guests stars
and regulars on the set.
Despite good ratings for
the 11th season of M*A*S*H, CBS decided to reduce the episodes from 24 to 16; due to high rising costs (the
decade before Knots Landing
was faced), so by season's ending, the series' finale, Goodbye,
Farewell and Amen which was written and directed by Alan Alda, drew high ratings, long before
any other series' finale like Cheers, Knots Landing and Friends.
It was canceled and Morgan had appeared in each and every show for his 8 of the
11 seasons, he stayed on the air, with the ex. of 1 ("Hawkeye").
After the end of the
series, Morgan reprised the Potter role in a short-lived spinoff series, AfterMASH.
Long before he
co-starred in "Providence,"
who also had a recurring role on "Desperate
Housewives," who in-turn became a political activist, who
then became the 2nd husband to actress Shelley Fabares, Mike Farrell, who played the role of Col.
Potter's talented surgeon, Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt, from 1975-83 (when he joined
the series), who also appeared in all the episodes with the ex. of 1, said in a 2011 interview with Gary
Richard Collins II [by e-mail], about the times he had with Harry Morgan,
"Harry is a wonderful man and a terrific actor. It was a pleasure for all
of us to work with him." Farrell also responded to me for his last 8
seasons, along with Morgan, who in turn had taught him along with the rest of
the cast to simply, "remain calm," despite being the overprotective
father figure on- the set of "M*A*S*H", "Harry didn't 'teach'
anything. He behaved as though we were all professionals and on equal footing.
I suspect in behaving in that way he taught all of us a lot." Mike also
said in a 2007 interview on his own website – MikeFarrell.org, was also of his on- and off-screen chemistry with Morgan, amongst
all the other castmates were, "It's harder for me to separate Harry and
Col. Potter because I adore them both so much. Col. Potter was the father
figure we all loved and admired. A straight-arrow, regular army, by the book
type who, just beneath the surface, was a marshmallow. Harry Morgan is a
wonderful guy and a good friend. He's full of stories, jokes, wry humor and is
a delight to be around. He is and ought to be a motion picture and television
legend." The last thing Farrell
said more recently was how David Ogden Stiers, his co-star, had been reduced by
Harry, in a jokingly way on the "M*A*S*H" set was, "David
was like a rock, when he was concentrating, when he was being Charles Emerson
Winchester III, you just couldn't get him, except for Harry Morgan. Harry could
look at David and reduced him to a puddle of tears, without turning an eye.
David said, 'When he looks at me and flare those nostrils; and he would be
gone,' it would be such a wonderful thing to see this great big guy just
reduced to a giggling idiot by Harry, but unfortunately, all I could tell you,
we had great fun doing the show; and much of it was laughing at some silly gag
that one of us had pulled on the others." After cancelation, the two along with Alan Alda, Loretta
Swit, Jamie Farr, amongst the rest of the surviving castmates continued to kept
in touch for more of a quarter of a century, while his best buddy, Alda, has
had a successful career in directing, while guest-starring in various shows. He
and his second wife, Shelley Fabares, along with Harry's wife, Barbara Bushman,
would frequently have dinner with the rest of the cast, while attending 2
"M*A*S*H" reunions, between 1991 and 2002. In addition, Eileen's
(Harry's real-life wife) death in 1985 and Daniel's (Harry's real-life son) 4
years later in 1989, drew the relationship between Morgan & Farrell as
Farrell was delivering his condolences, twice, to such a wonderful star.
Farrell also paid tribute to beloved TV star, of six decades experience, at the
M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Special, while at the same time, he hosted this
special event.
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 Martin Vanderhof on a TV series version of Kaufman and Hart's Pulitzer prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You.
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.
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 1991, he along with
the rest of the M*A*S*H cast were
reunited to participated in 2 MASH reunion shows: Memories of M*A*S*H,
this was followed 11 years later with M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Special,
which was hosted by co-star Mike Farrell.
In 2006, Morgan was
inducted into the Hall of
Great Western Performers at the National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
At 96, Morgan is one of
the oldest living Hollywood male actors.
Robert Conrad who once
worked with Harry on The D.A., said of a legendary actor who was the
star of 3 successful series who worked non-stop, "Well, God Bless Harry!
He was a character actor, I know of his work. He was a character actor and he
was lucky to get much of his work. We don't get that as much of the
actors."[5]
Hobbies
He has/had 10 hobbies:
golfing, traveling, dining, fishing, spending time with his family, reading,
raising quarter-horses, horseback riding, painting and poetry.
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.
In July 1997, Morgan was
charged with abusing his wife a year earlier, after a beating left her with
injuries to her eye, foot, and arm. Prosecutors dropped the charges after the
82-year-old actor completed a six-month domestic violence counseling program.[6]
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.
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. 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.
On September 9, 2008,
Harry's & Barbara's dog, Sterling, had passed away after suffering from a
prolonged illness, but in actuality, he died of the affects of global warming.
It was also said that Sterling was also in a coma. Morgan said of his dog's,
Sterling's death was, "He was a very special dog." Sterling's ashes
were cremated and were interred at Harry's & Barbara's garden in Los Angeles,
California. With the encouragement of ex-M*A*S*H co-star and
decades-long friend, Loretta Swit,
both Harry and Barbara had found another rescue dog, who named him: Teddy 2, in
honor of the poodle Barbara had owned earlier. Teddy 2 had been diagnosed with
a Prisoner Systemic Stress Trauma.[7]
Personal Quotes:
Harry: "I didn't
have enough money to go back east, so I stayed around, finding jobs mainly out
of friendships. I played a lot of sheriffs in those years." (Source: The
Windsor Star.com).
Harry: "I could
never afford to go back to New York and the theater, what with a big family. I
didn't really start out to be an actor. I just sort of fell into it. I've had a
good career, a lot of laughs. I don't know if that's enough, but it beats coal
mining." (Source: Lakeland Ledger.com).
Harry on replacing McLean Stevenson for the last 8 seasons of M*A*S*H,
after his predecessor created the character]: "And he wouldn't leave that
behind, so I had to start from scratch." (Source: Deseret News.com)
Harry on M*A*S*H
co-star Larry Linville:
"We were all fond of Larry, but when we moved onto the set, no one was
fond of Frank Burns. He was nothing like Larry in the flesh. He was brilliant
in that part." (Source: USIMDB.com)
Harry who said in 1975:
"For some reason, I'm confused with Henry Morgan. Perhaps the M*A*S*H series will change that
situation." (Source: Deseret News.com)
Harry who said in 1976:
"A lot of people live much more simply than in the old days. That doesn't
bother me. Keeping busy is the problem. Television guest shot fees are going
down. You can do a dozen guest shots a year, but you're not making that much
money." (Source: Lakeland Ledger.com)
Harry who went from one
successful series to another, before he got M*A*S*H: "Television allowed me to
kick the Hollywood habit of typing an actor in certain roles. M*A*S*H was so
damned good, I didn't think they could keep the level so high, but they have. I
think this season's shows have been outstanding." (Source: The
Leader-Post.com).
Harry who felt that if
his fears proved true that M*A*S*H had
started to suffer in later months: "No one connected with it will be able
to stand its being less than it was. I'm sure they'd rather leave than hang
around and watch quality go down." (Source: St. Petersburg Times.com).
Harry: "It's
amazing how attached we've become." (Source: St. Petersburg Times.com).
Harry on his popularity
while playing the sixty-something Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H: "Two guys just waved to
me and said, 'Hi, Colonel,' as I was coming to the hotel lobby." (Source:
the Waycross Journal-Herald.com).
Harry who said in 1977:
"It might be good for a holiday show, but I don't imagine it will be a
real ratings-getter." (Source: Star News.com).
Harry on making
reservations to replace McLean Stevenson
on M*A*S*H: After all, I was replacing a
great comic, McLean Stevenson, and entering a company that had been close-knit
for three seasons.
Harry who was a little
worried about replacing McLean Stevenson
as to how he would fit the rest of the M*A*S*H cast: "Our relationships
just get deeper and deeper the longer I'm with the show." (Source: Harlan
Daily Enterprise.com).
Harry who said in 1979:
"I think I'm a lot looser now, less military. There's much more of a flow
between me and the other characters now. It's good. We have so much fun sitting
around off-camera that it really doesn't change when we get on-camera. There's
a lot of affection flowing around there." (Source: Harlan Daily
Enterprise.com)
Harry: "Loretta
Swit called me from London, I think she's probably my best friend. She didn't
even call collect." (Source: The Calgary Herald.com)
Harry on the death of Jack Webb: "Jack had a lot of
affection in him. He'd always throw his arms around me. My God, off-screen he
was the most garrulous person you ever met - full of life and laughs. We had a
ball ... I loved him very much." (Source: Anchorage Daily News.com).
Harry who said in 1985
at the time he told 40th President Ronald Reagan a few things he didn't know
or might have forgotten]: "I once lived in the White House for four days
in the Presidential quarters. Well, before I get arrested, I had better tell
you that NBC did sort of a maxi-series called 'Backstairs at the White House,'
and I played President Truman. We didn't have a Rose Garden. But then, they
never promised us a rose garden." (Source: New York Times.com)
Harry who said in 1986:
"The only ones in town who were moving office equipment in the teeth of
the Depression were the people selling filing cabinets to the Social Security
Administration." (Source: The Calgary Herald.com)
Harry: "An actor's
most important responsibility is to know lines well." (Source: Schenectady
Gazette.com)
Harry of his M*A*S*H character: "He was firm.
He was a good officer and he had a good sense of humor. I think it's the best
part I ever had. I loved playing Colonel Potter." (Source: Emmy TV
Legends.com)
Harry: "I've never been
more comfortable in a part than with Colonel Potter." (Source: People.com)
Harry: "I don't care about
the money. I'm just interested in the perks. I'll do a series if I am picked up
by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii." (Source:
Schenectady Gazette.com)
Harry who said in 1983 about
his real-life wife Eileen Dutchon and his AfterMASH
co-star, Barbara Townsend: "Eileen looks a lot like Town-send, and
the two women get along pretty well, but I sit between them so as not to take
any chances." (Source: People.com)
Harry on the other chemistries
he had with other male leading actors: "They weren't fearful of
competition, and they handed you some of the juiciest things in the show."
(Source: Montreal Gazette.com)
Harry on the cancellation of M*A*S*H:
"I think it broke all the listening, the tuning in records of 'You doing
it,' it was a wonderful show. At the end of the show, we all said farewell to
one another. I rode off of my horse, and they all stood up and saluted me which
was very unusual, it didn't have that kind of visible respect for the colonel,
through the colonel, although it was there, but it wasn't demonstrated
formally. It was touching, and it was more than just a film, this was it. So, I
mean, what you were doing was really happening, going to happen, because, it
was a very profound moment episode. I think we all felt that because it was
hard to say goodbye to M*A*S*H. I could've done it for another 10
years, but I think most of the people felt the same way, maybe not Alan. He had
other fish to fry. Most of us have gone on to anything after M*A*S*H,
with a former tip, I don't think Alan has his. All he's done is nature shows,
that's natural." (Source: EmmyTVLegends.org)
Harry who said of Jack Webb, who worked with him on Dragnet very first episode, which Webb's character did psychedelic drugs: "He's been taking them, the pills, all day. He kept saying he wants to get even farther out." (Source: St. Petersburg Times.com)
Harry who said in 1978 of his M*A*S*H
co-star, Gary Burghoff, who was thinking about leaving the show:
"I'm sure he means it, even though CBS doesn't. And I think it'll be
harder to replace him than it was to replace McLean Stevenson, Wayne Rogers or
Larry Linville. Gary's character is special. And, also, he's the only true
original among us, since he's the only one from M*A*S*H picture. He'll
sorely be missed." (Source: St. Petersburg Times.com)
Harry: "I was particularly
fond of Dick Boone. I started to direct with him." (Source: Montreal
Gazette.com)
Harry who said of Ron Howard:
"He's never hired me. I guess I didn't treat him well. He's very good
incidentally." (Source: EmmyTVLegends.org)
Harry who said of Alan Alda:
"Alan came back to the set like a real basket case. Though he always
doesn't fly home to his family in New Jersey on weekends anymore, doesn't go
when he's writing. I'd think he'd be exhausted. He must be, I guess."
(Source: St. Petersburg Times.com)
Harry who said in 1980 about
joining the cast of M*A*S*H, at the beginning of the show's
fourth season: "I've always been with a show from the beginning, but this
was easier than starting some of those shows from the beginning." (Source:
The Daily News.com)
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)
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 (1954)
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)
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)
Frankie and Johnny (1966)
The Flim-Flam
Man (1967)
Star Spangled Salesman (1968)
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
Viva Max! (1969)
The Barefoot Executive (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 Wild Wild West Revisted (1979)
More Wild Wild West (1980)
The Flight of Dragons (1982)
Dragnet (1987)
The Incident (1990)
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996)
Family Plan (1998)
Crosswalk (1999)
References
^ 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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPncDB3PH_c
^ "Pinewood Lake website retrieved on
2010-09-10". Pinewoodlake.org. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
^ Images of America, Trumbull Historical
Society, 1997, p. 123
^ Los Angeles Times, Metro
Section, pg. 4, June 26, 1997
