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. Early life and career Morgan was born Harry Bratsberg in Detroit, Michigan of Norwegian 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. 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. Harry Morgan can be seen as a very young man in the 1941 movie "Sun Valley Serenade". He is seen pushing his way to the front of the crowd in the ballroom to hear Glenn Miller's band play "At Last". 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), 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. 1950s TV roles 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. 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. 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. M*A*S*H (1975–1983) 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.
Movie | Greenboy: Prescription for Death | Bill Gannon (archive footage) | 2013-04-20 |
Movie | M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion | Himself | 2002-05-17 |
Movie | Family Plan | Sol Rubins | 1997-01-01 |
Movie | Incident in a Small Town | Judge Bell | 1994-01-23 |
Movie | Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore | Judge Stoddard Bell | 1992-01-19 |
Movie | Memories of M*A*S*H | Self / Sherman Potter | 1991-11-25 |
Movie | The Incident | Judge Bell | 1990-03-04 |
Movie | 14 Going on 30 | Uncle Herb | 1988-03-06 |
Movie | Dragnet | Captain Gannon | 1987-06-23 |
Series | Blacke's Magic | Leonard Blacke | 1986-01-05 |
Series | AfterMASH | Sherman T. Potter | 1983-09-26 |
Movie | Sparkling Cyanide | Captain Kemp | 1983-11-05 |
Movie | The Flight of Dragons | Carolinus (voice) | 1982-08-17 |
Movie | Rivkin: Bounty Hunter | Father Everett Kolodny | 1981-05-20 |
Movie | Scout's Honor | Mr. Briggs | 1980-09-30 |
Movie | More Wild Wild West | Robert T. 'Skinny' Malone | 1980-10-07 |
Series | Backstairs at the White House | Pres. Harry S. Truman | 1979-01-29 |
Movie | Better Late Than Never | Mr. Scott | 1979-10-17 |
Series | Roots: The Next Generations | Bob Campbell | 1979-02-18 |
Movie | The Wild Wild West Revisited | Robert T. Malone | 1979-05-09 |
Movie | The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again | T.P. Gaskill | 1979-06-27 |
Movie | You Can't Take it With You | Mr. DePinna | 1979-05-16 |
Movie | Maneaters Are Loose! | Toby Waites | 1978-05-03 |
Movie | Murder at the Mardi Gras | Jim Bob Jackson | 1978-05-10 |
Movie | The Cat from Outer Space | General Stilton | 1978-06-09 |
Movie | The Bastard | Capt. Caleb | 1978-05-22 |
Movie | Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid | Hugo Peavey | 1978-05-26 |
Movie | Exo-Man | Arthur Travis | 1977-06-18 |
Movie | The Shootist | Marshall Thibido | 1976-07-21 |
Movie | The Last Day | Narrator | 1975-02-15 |
Movie | The Apple Dumpling Gang | Homer McCoy | 1975-07-01 |
Movie | Sidekicks | Sheriff Jenkins | 1974-03-21 |
Movie | Charley and the Angel | Angel | 1973-03-23 |
Series | M*A*S*H | Sherman Potter | 1972-09-17 |
Series | Hec Ramsey | Doc Amos Coogan | 1972-09-13 |
Movie | The Century Turns | Doc Amos B. Coogan | 1972-10-08 |
Movie | Snowball Express | Jesse McCord | 1972-12-22 |
Movie | The Barefoot Executive | E.J. Crampton | 1971-03-17 |
Movie | The Feminist and the Fuzz | Horace Bowers | 1971-01-26 |
Movie | Support Your Local Gunfighter | Taylor | 1971-05-26 |
Movie | Scandalous John | Sheriff Pippin | 1971-06-22 |
Series | The D.A. | H.M. 'Staff' Stafford | 1971-09-17 |
Movie | But I Don't Want to Get Married! | Mr. Good | 1970-10-06 |
Movie | Support Your Local Sheriff! | Olly Perkins | 1969-03-26 |
Movie | Dragnet | Bill Gannon | 1969-01-27 |
Movie | Viva Max! | Chief of Police Sylvester | 1969-12-01 |
Series | Dragnet | Officer Bill Gannon | 1967-01-12 |
Movie | The Flim-Flam Man | Sheriff Slade | 1967-08-22 |
Movie | Frankie and Johnny | Cully | 1966-03-31 |
Movie | What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? | Major Pott | 1966-08-31 |
Movie | John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! | Sarajevo | 1965-03-24 |
Movie | How the West Was Won | Gen. Ulysses S. Grant | 1962-11-02 |
Movie | The Mountain Road | Mike Michaelson | 1960-06-15 |
Movie | Inherit the Wind | Judge Mel | 1960-07-07 |
Series | Pete and Gladys | 1960-09-19 | |
Movie | Cimarron | Jessie Rickey | 1960-12-01 |
Movie | It Started with a Kiss | Charles Meriden | 1959-08-19 |
Movie | The Teahouse of the August Moon | Sergeant Gregovich | 1957-07-01 |
Movie | Backlash | Tony Welker | 1956-03-14 |
Movie | Operation Teahouse | Self | 1956-11-29 |
Movie | Star in the Dust | Lew Hogan | 1956-06-13 |
Movie | Not as a Stranger | Oley | 1955-07-01 |
Movie | Strategic Air Command | Sergeant Bible | 1955-07-12 |
Movie | The Glenn Miller Story | Chummy MacGregor | 1954-01-04 |
Series | December Bride | Pete Porter | 1954-10-04 |
Movie | The Far Country | Ketchum | 1954-02-12 |
Movie | Prisoner of War | Maj. O.D. Hale | 1954-05-04 |
Movie | About Mrs. Leslie | Fred Blue | 1954-08-03 |
Movie | The Forty-Niners | Alf Billings | 1954-07-30 |
Movie | Thunder Bay | Rawlings | 1953-05-21 |
Movie | Torch Song | Joe Denner | 1953-10-01 |
Movie | Arena | Lew Hutchins | 1953-06-24 |
Movie | Bend of the River | Shorty | 1952-01-23 |
Movie | Scandal Sheet | Biddle | 1952-01-16 |
Movie | Boots Malone | Quarter Horse Henry | 1952-01-11 |
Movie | High Noon | Sam Fuller | 1952-06-09 |
Movie | My Six Convicts | Dawson | 1952-03-20 |
Movie | Stop, You're Killing Me | Innocence | 1952-12-10 |
Movie | Toughest Man in Arizona | Verne Kimber | 1952-10-10 |
Movie | Apache War Smoke | Ed Cotten | 1952-09-25 |
Movie | What Price Glory | Sergeant Moran | 1952-08-22 |
Movie | Belle Le Grand | Abel Stone | 1951-01-27 |
Movie | The Highwayman | 1951-08-11 | |
Movie | When I Grow Up | Father Reed (Modern) | 1951-04-19 |
Movie | The Blue Veil | Charles Hall | 1951-10-26 |
Movie | The Well | Claude Packard | 1951-09-24 |
Movie | Outside the Wall | Garth | 1950-02-08 |
Movie | Appointment with Danger | George Soderquist | 1950-03-31 |
Movie | Dark City | Soldier | 1950-10-17 |
Movie | The Showdown | Rod Main | 1950-08-15 |
Movie | Down to the Sea in Ships | Britton | 1949-02-15 |
Movie | Hello Out There | The Young Gambler | 1949-01-01 |
Movie | Madame Bovary | Hyppolite | 1949-08-25 |
Movie | Red Light | Rocky | 1949-09-30 |
Movie | Strange Bargain | Richard Webb | 1949-11-05 |
Movie | Holiday Affair | Police Lieutenant | 1949-12-12 |
Movie | All My Sons | Frank Lubey | 1948-05-01 |
Movie | Race Street | Hal Towers | 1948-09-11 |
Movie | The Big Clock | Bill Womack | 1948-03-18 |
Movie | The Saxon Charm | Hermy | 1948-09-28 |
Movie | Yellow Sky | Half Pint | 1948-12-24 |
Movie | Moonrise | Billy Scripture | 1948-10-01 |
Movie | The Gangster | Shorty | 1947-11-25 |
Movie | From This Day Forward | Hank Beesley | 1946-03-02 |
Movie | Dragonwyck | Klaas Bleecker | 1946-04-19 |
Movie | Crime Doctor's Man Hunt | Jervis | 1946-10-24 |
Movie | Somewhere in the Night | Bath Attendant | 1946-06-12 |
Movie | It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog | Gus Rivers | 1946-07-01 |
Movie | A Bell for Adano | Capt. N. Purvis | 1945-06-21 |
Movie | State Fair | Barker | 1945-08-29 |
Movie | Wing and a Prayer | Malcolm Brainard | 1944-01-01 |
Movie | The Eve of St. Mark | Private Shevlin | 1944-05-22 |
Movie | Roger Touhy, Gangster | Thomas "Smoke" Reardon | 1944-06-03 |
Movie | Take It or Leave It | (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1944-07-17 |
Movie | Gentle Annie | Cottonwood Goss (as Henry Morgan) | 1944-12-05 |
Movie | Crash Dive | Brownie | 1943-04-22 |
Movie | Happy Land | Tony Cavrek (as Henry Morgan) | 1943-11-10 |
Movie | The Omaha Trail | Henchman Nat | 1942-09-01 |
Movie | The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe | Ebenezer Burling | 1942-08-28 |
Movie | Orchestra Wives | Cully Anderson | 1942-09-04 |
Movie | To the Shores of Tripoli | Mouthy | 1942-11-09 |
Movie | The Ox-Bow Incident | Art Croft | 1942-12-03 |
Movie | The Kennel Murder Case | Gamble (uncredited) | 1933-10-28 |