Harry Morgan
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| Harry Morgan | |
| Birth name | Henry Bratsburg |
| Born | April 10, 1915 (age 91) Detroit, Michigan |
Harry Morgan (born Henry Bratsburg on April 10, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American television actor of Norwegian extraction. He graduated from Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Michigan [1].
He 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.
[edit] Family
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 1988 to the present. He had four sons with his first wife, Christopher, Charles, Paul and Daniel (who died in 1982).
[edit] Career
Morgan made his 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), The Glenn Miller Story (1953), Inherit the Wind (1960), How The West Was Won (1962), Frankie and Johnny (1966), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969); Support Your Local Gunfighter! (1971); The Shootist (1976), and The Wild Wild West Revisted (1979).
Morgan hosted the NBC radio series Mystery in the Air 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.
Then came M*A*S*H. Morgan played crazed Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in the third season opener "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 the nutso 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 caring. He was a father figure to the people under his command.
In 1980, Morgan won an Emmy award for his performance on M*A*S*H. Morgan reprised the Potter role in a shortlived spin-off series, AfterMASH.
In 1987, Morgan also reprised his Bill Gannon character for a supporting role in the film version of Dragnet, a comedy starring and written by 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. 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.
In 2006, Harry Morgan was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
