Harry Morgan

Biography

Harry Morgan, born Harry Bratsberg in Detroit on April 10, 1915, and died in Los Angeles on December 7, 2011, was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned nearly six decades. He is best remembered for his work on television, although he also appeared in more than a hundred films, usually in supporting roles.

Raised in Muskegon, Michigan, he first planned to become a lawyer but turned to acting while studying at the University of Chicago. In New York he joined the Group Theatre, founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg, and worked on Broadway alongside members such as Lee J. Cobb, Elia Kazan and John Garfield. He made his screen debut in 1942 with To the Shores of Tripoli, credited as Henry Morgan; the name Harry Morgan was adopted later to avoid confusion with a humorist of the same name.

In films he became a much sought-after supporting player. He worked in several westerns directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, and played the pianist Chummy MacGregor in The Glenn Miller Story. On television he gained wide popularity as Pete Porter in December Bride and as the detective Bill Gannon in Dragnet, opposite Jack Webb. His best-known role was Colonel Sherman T. Potter in MASH, which he played across 180 episodes and which earned him an Emmy Award in 1980. After the series ended he starred in the short-lived AfterMASH, then continued with guest roles and returned as Gannon in the 1987 film version of Dragnet*.

His legacy rests on a figure of firm but warm authority, one audiences associated with decency. In 2006 he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in Oklahoma City. He died in 2011, and his television work remained widely remembered.

Key films

• Patton (1970)
• High Noon (1952)
• How the West Was Won (1962)
• Inherit the Wind (1960)
• The Shootist (1976)