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[On MASH 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."
- Harry Morgan
In the episode "The Days Dwindle Down" (episode # 3.21) of "Murder, She Wrote" (1984), Harry Morgan played an LAPD Detective Webb. In 1967, he starred as a member of the LAPD in "Dragnet 1967" (1967) which was created by and co-starred Jack Webb.
Harry Morgan
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Harry Bratsburg
10 April 1915, Detroit, Michigan
Harry Morgan (born April 10, 1915) is an American actor. Morgan is perhaps best known as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H (1975-83), Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys (1960-62) and December Bride (1954-1959), Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967-70), and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey (1972-74). He has appeared in more than 100 films.
Morgan was born Harry Bratsberg in Detroit, Michigan of Norwegian and Swedish heritage. He was raised in Muskegon, Michigan, and graduated from Muskegon High School in 1933, where he achieved distinction as a statewide debating champion. He originally aspired to a law degree, but began acting while a junior at the University of Chicago in 1935.
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.
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. Morgan appeared in the 1941 movie "Sun Valley Serenade" as a young man pushing his way to the front of a ballroom crowd to hear Glenn Miller's band play.
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), The Glenn Miller Story (1953), Thunder Bay (film) (1953), The Far Country (1955) and Strategic Air Command (1955); in his later film career he starred 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). Besides all of the Anthony Mann films, Morgan was in a number of movies with James Stewart, including The Mountain Road (1960), How the West Was Won, The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Shootist (1976), also with John Wayne, with whom he also shared scenes in How the West Was Won.
Morgan hosted the NBC radio series Mystery in the Air starring Peter Lorre in 1947. On CBS, he played Pete Porter in Pete and Gladys (1960–62), with Cara Williams as wife Gladys. Pete and Gladys was a spinoff of December Bride (1954-1959), starring Spring Byington, Dean Miller, Frances Rafferty, and Verna Felton. When Miller and Rafferty died within three months of each other in 2004, Morgan became the last surviving member of the December Bride cast.
In the 1964–1965 season, Morgan co-starred as Seldom Jackson in the 26-week NBC comedy/drama Kentucky Jones, starring Dennis Weaver.
Morgan is even more widely recognized as Officer Bill Gannon, Joe Friday's partner in the revived version of Dragnet (1967–70). 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 1972–74 western Hec Ramsey. Morgan also appeared in at least one episode of Gunsmoke.
Morgan's first appearance on M*A*S*H was in the show's third season (1974-75), 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 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 reprised the Potter role in a short-lived spinoff series, AfterMASH.
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 2006, Morgan was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
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 in July 1996 after a beating left her with injuries to her eye, foot, and arm. Prosecutors dropped the charges after Morgan completed a six-month domestic violence counseling program.
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. Eileen was the name of the wife of Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet.
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Father of producer Christopher Morgan.
Once belonged to the Group Theater in New York.
Of Norwegian descent, his grandparents were immigrants from Scandinavia.
Is the former father-in-law of Julie Cobb. In 1988, Cobb married James Cromwell, who had made a guest appearance on "M*A*S*H" (1972).
Once said that he enjoyed playing Colonel Potter on "M*A*S*H" (1972) so much that he felt that he could have "gone on forever" playing that character.
In several episodes of "M*A*S*H" (1972), Col. Potter was seen painting portraits, mainly of the other characters. These portraits were actually painted by Morgan.
Reprised his "Dragnet 1967" (1967), Dragnet 1966 (1969) (TV) and Dragnet (1987) character (Officer Bill Gannon) in "The Simpsons" (1989) episode "Mother Simpson".
Appeared with Lee J. Cobb, the father of his future daughter-in-law Julie Cobb in How the West Was Won (1962).
Grandfather of Rosemary Morgan and Jeremy Morgan.
Prior to joining the cast of "M*A*S*H" (1972) in the fourth season as the stern but decent Colonel Potter, he appeared in the third season episode "The General Flipped At Dawn" as a crazed general who wanted to move the 4077 unit closer to the front line.
Had four sons by his first wife: Charles and Paul are both attorneys, Christopher Morgan, a TV producer, and Daniel, who died in 1989.
Second wife, Barbara Bushman, is the granddaughter of silent screen star Francis X. Bushman and the daughter of Ralph Bushman.
Graduated from Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Michigan.
In 1942, Morgan had a small part in Orchestra Wives (1942) featuring Glenn Miller. In 1953, co-starred in The Glenn Miller Story (1954).
He was an active opponent of the anti-communist witch hunts in Hollywood.
Grandfather of Spencer Morgan (son of Charles and Charlotte Morgan) of Los Angeles, California.
Started using "Harry" rather than "Henry" when comedian Henry Morgan became popular on radio and TV in the early 1960s.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 6325 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
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