Emmy-winning character actor Harry Morgan, whose portrayal of the fatherly Col. Potter on television's "M-A-S-H" highlighted a show business career that included nine other TV series, 50 films and the Broadway stage, died Wednesday. He was 96.
His daughter-in-law, Beth Morgan, told The Associated Press the actor died at his home in Brentwood after having pneumonia.
"He was side-splittingly funny, a very gent and loving father-in-law," Beth Morgan said. "He was very humble about having such a successful career."
Morgan appeared in mostly supporting roles on the big screen, playing opposite such stars as Henry Fonda, John Wayne, James Garner, Elvis Presley and Dan Aykroyd.
On television, he was more the comedic co-star, including roles on "December Bride," its spin-off "Pete and Gladys," as Sgt. Joe Friday's loyal partner in later "Dragnet" episodes and on CBS-TV's long-running "M-A-S-H" series, for which he earned an Emmy award in 1980.
Yet acting wasn't Morgan's first career choice.
Born in Detroit in 1915, Morgan was studying pre-law at the University of Chicago when public speaking classes sparked his interest in the stage. Before long, he was working with a little-theater group in Washington, D.C., followed by a two-year stint on Broadway in the original production of "Golden Boy," with Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.
Morgan made his way to Hollywood in 1942 "without any assurance that I would find work," he said in a 1976 interview with The Associated Press.
"I didn't have enough money to go back East, so I stayed around finding jobs mainly out of friendships."
He signed a contract with 20th Century Fox after a talent scout spotted him in the one-act play, "Hello, Out There."
One of his earliest films was "The Ox Bow Incident" in 1943 with Fonda. Other films included: "High Noon," ''What Price Glory," ''Support Your Local Sheriff," ''The Apple Dumplin g Gang" and "The Shootist."
Morgan began his television career in 1954 when the medium was in its infancy.
"Television allowed me to kick the Hollywood habit of typing an actor in certain roles," Morgan said, referring to his typical sidekick or sheriff portrayals on the big screen
In "December Bride," his first TV series, Morgan played Pete Porter, a perpetually henpecked neighbor. The CBS series lasted from 1954-1959, when he went on to star in his own series, "Pete and Gladys," a spinoff of "December Bride."
Demonstrating his diversity as a character actor and comedian, Morgan also starred in "The Richard Boone Show," ''Kentucky Jones" and "Dragnet."
But it was his role as Col. Sherman Porter on "M-A-S-H" for which Morgan became best known.
"M-A-S-H was so damned good," Morgan told the AP. "I didn't think they could keep the level so high."
His acting career didn't stop after the popular series left the air in 1983 after 11 years - - one of television's most successful prime-time runs. Morgan went on to appear in several made-for-TV movies and other television series, such as "AfterMASH" and "Blacke's Magic."
When he was not on the set, Morgan enjoyed reading books about the legal profession and poetry. He also liked horses, which he once raised on his Northern California ranch.
Morgan is survived by three sons, Charles, Paul and Christopher; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
December 07, 2011
November 25, 2011
Gable/Young's daughter Judy Lewis dead at 76
For decades, the identity of Judy Lewis' parents was one of the best-kept secrets in Hollywood.
Not until Lewis acknowledged her story in the 1994 autobiography "Uncommon Knowledge" did the general public know the truth: Lewis was not the adopted daughter of Hollywood starlet Loretta Young but had been conceived out of wedlock by Young and Clark Gable while the two filmed "Call of the Wild" in the 1930s.
Lewis died of cancer Nov. 25 in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, said Rodger McKinney, owner of the Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home. Services will be held Saturday. She was 76.
Lewis, of Palm Springs, Calif., was raised in Los Angeles by Young as her adopted daughter. She was an adult when she learned that Young, a devout Roman Catholic, conceived her during an affair with Gable in the 1930s.
"At the time, what Loretta Young did was completely successful," said Leonard Maltin, a film critic and Hollywood historian. "The general public never had any inkling that she had done this. It protected her stardom and her image as a wholesome young woman."
Lewis was born Nov. 6, 1935, in Venice, Calif., and went on to perform on Broadway and television in her own career. She also produced the soap opera "Texas," a spinoff of "Another World." In the 1980s, she earned psychology degrees, advocating for children's rights and counseling teenagers. She later became a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, something she pursued until she was diagnosed with cancer.
In 1994, she wrote "Uncommon Knowledge," acknowledging her parentage publicly for the first time. Her mother was a single Catholic and Gable was married at the time of her birth, and the news would have led to scandal, so she created the story that Lewis was adopted.
"The situation in which they found themselves in 1935 would not have posed such a problem in the Hollywood of today," Lewis wrote in the book.
Lewis wrote that Young kept her sequestered with a nurse for months after her birth and that she was then turned over to an orphanage. When she was 2, Young brought her home as her adopted daughter.
Before her memoir was published, the identity of her parents had long been rumored. Maltin said the truth was never truly public, however, until the memoir, in which Lewis describes her mother telling her the truth in 1966, years after Gable had died.
In the book, Lewis said Young told her then: "'Well, he was your father. ... He was darling. Sweet and very gentle. ... He was married, so when I discovered I was pregnant with you, I was frantic and terrified. It would have ruined both our careers, a scandal like that.'"
Lewis wrote in her book that Young wanted her to keep the secret. She described a heated argument with Young on Mother's Day in 1986, in which Young threatened to sue Lewis if a book came out that revealed the truth about Lewis' parentage.
"'Leave this house. I never want to see you in my house again,'" Young said, Lewis recounted.
"I refused to be dismissed that easily," Lewis wrote. "It all came pouring out — all the years of hurt and abandonment, all the feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider in my own family, years of repressed emotions that couldn't be contained any longer. The floodgates were opened and the words flowed unchecked."
Lewis said she asked Young if she would "ever acknowledge to the world that I am your child, and that Clark Gable is my father?'
"'No. I will never acknowledge what I consider a mortal sin — my mortal sin,'" Young replied, according to Lewis.
Lewis' survivors include her daughter, three half brothers and her partner, Steve Rowland. Another memorial service is being planned for later this month in Los Angeles, McKinney said.
Not until Lewis acknowledged her story in the 1994 autobiography "Uncommon Knowledge" did the general public know the truth: Lewis was not the adopted daughter of Hollywood starlet Loretta Young but had been conceived out of wedlock by Young and Clark Gable while the two filmed "Call of the Wild" in the 1930s.
Lewis died of cancer Nov. 25 in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, said Rodger McKinney, owner of the Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home. Services will be held Saturday. She was 76.
Lewis, of Palm Springs, Calif., was raised in Los Angeles by Young as her adopted daughter. She was an adult when she learned that Young, a devout Roman Catholic, conceived her during an affair with Gable in the 1930s.
"At the time, what Loretta Young did was completely successful," said Leonard Maltin, a film critic and Hollywood historian. "The general public never had any inkling that she had done this. It protected her stardom and her image as a wholesome young woman."
Lewis was born Nov. 6, 1935, in Venice, Calif., and went on to perform on Broadway and television in her own career. She also produced the soap opera "Texas," a spinoff of "Another World." In the 1980s, she earned psychology degrees, advocating for children's rights and counseling teenagers. She later became a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, something she pursued until she was diagnosed with cancer.
In 1994, she wrote "Uncommon Knowledge," acknowledging her parentage publicly for the first time. Her mother was a single Catholic and Gable was married at the time of her birth, and the news would have led to scandal, so she created the story that Lewis was adopted.
"The situation in which they found themselves in 1935 would not have posed such a problem in the Hollywood of today," Lewis wrote in the book.
Lewis wrote that Young kept her sequestered with a nurse for months after her birth and that she was then turned over to an orphanage. When she was 2, Young brought her home as her adopted daughter.
Before her memoir was published, the identity of her parents had long been rumored. Maltin said the truth was never truly public, however, until the memoir, in which Lewis describes her mother telling her the truth in 1966, years after Gable had died.
In the book, Lewis said Young told her then: "'Well, he was your father. ... He was darling. Sweet and very gentle. ... He was married, so when I discovered I was pregnant with you, I was frantic and terrified. It would have ruined both our careers, a scandal like that.'"
Lewis wrote in her book that Young wanted her to keep the secret. She described a heated argument with Young on Mother's Day in 1986, in which Young threatened to sue Lewis if a book came out that revealed the truth about Lewis' parentage.
"'Leave this house. I never want to see you in my house again,'" Young said, Lewis recounted.
"I refused to be dismissed that easily," Lewis wrote. "It all came pouring out — all the years of hurt and abandonment, all the feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider in my own family, years of repressed emotions that couldn't be contained any longer. The floodgates were opened and the words flowed unchecked."
Lewis said she asked Young if she would "ever acknowledge to the world that I am your child, and that Clark Gable is my father?'
"'No. I will never acknowledge what I consider a mortal sin — my mortal sin,'" Young replied, according to Lewis.
Lewis' survivors include her daughter, three half brothers and her partner, Steve Rowland. Another memorial service is being planned for later this month in Los Angeles, McKinney said.
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