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Harry Who?
By Jeff Little
To most the name Harry Morgan sounds like that of your elderly next-door-neighbor, your father’s lodge brother or the charming and adept plumber that visited your family’s home when you were growing up and problems with the pipes occurred. So it’s fair to say that a moniker like this is a household name of sorts. However, it isn’t a name recognized in the same way as those of Rock Hudson, Steve McQueen or Montgomery Clift. But it should be, in that this man with the ordinary sounding name has forged a career as one of the finest character actors who has ever lived.
Born Harry Bratsburg in Detroit, Michigan in 1915, he later abandoned his early aspirations to become a lawyer in favor of pursuing an acting career. And those who recognize the importance of acting while “not being caught doing it” were soon rewarded by his choice of career reassessment.
First appearing on stage, he built-up his resume by appearing in roles written by luminaries such as Clifford Odets while working with legends such as Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. But his face and talent was not fully recognized by the majority of the American public until he began appearing in some of the most respected films of all time.
In 1943 Morgan delivered a strong “sidekick” role alongside Henry Fonda in the screen adaptation of The Ox-Bow Incident. And from there he continued his illustrious career by also appearing in such classics as High Noon (1952), Inherit the Wind (1960) and (at John Wayne’s request) The Shootist (1976), in which Morgan performed in “The Duke’s” last film.
But despite his illustrious film career, most came to know Harry Morgan best from his numerous television roles, as he first became noticeably popular in CBS’ Pete and Gladys (1960-1962) and then later as Detective Bill Gannon, Sergeant Joe Friday’s partner in NBC’s revised version of Dragnet (1967-1970). Then, in addition, Morgan further gave a comedic interpretation as he reprised the role while performing with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd in the 1987 film spoof of the same name.
Then, after several other fine performances, came 1975…when Morgan took on the role of Colonel Sherman T. Potter, commander of the 4077th Army Surgical Hospital in
CBS Television’s M*A*S*H.
After a brilliant comedic turn as Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in 1974’s episode The General Flipped at Dawn, Morgan won over the series’ producers (in the same way he’s managed to charm audiences throughout his career) and became the obvious choice to replace McLean Stevenson as the wacky military unit’s beloved leader after Stevenson retired from the show.
And the rest is Harry Morgan history.
Fortunately, Mr. Morgan is still with us and robust (though still short at 5’6”) at the age of ninety-four…and with any luck will pleasure us with his company for many years to come (hopefully on both the big and small screens).
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Morgan with Jack Webb in television’s Dragnet.
Morgan (center) with the cast of television’s M*A*S*H
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