Topic: Harry Morgan

[falsealarms]

One of the things I like to do is collect autographs through the mail - mostly baseball players and prospects - but very occasionally I'll write to an actor. Anyway, on 2/16 I sent a 3x5 card to TV legend Harry Morgan and got it back today signed to me with the inscription "all the best!"

Anyone here fans of him? He is best known for playing Bill Gannon in Dragnet and Colonel Potter in MASH. Both shows were on and off the air before I was even born, but I've always liked him in Dragnet. He's going to be 92 years old in May.

FROM 2006 -

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[jrvass]

I was about 5 when Dragnet on TV with Harry Morgan was originally on the air. He was not the first partner of Sgt. Friday. The old radio programs had other actors. I think Oldtimeradiofans.com has some of their old shows.

MASH was on before I was reincarnated as a deity of fools. (Just messin' with you all... I believe the show debuted when I was in 2nd grade and ended after my 2nd year in college. Just yesterday was the anniversary of their final show in '83, I saw on a "Fun facts to know & tell" on the news.

Thanks falsealarms... for making me feel old. Like my parents don't do it enough. "Feel 50 for the rest of your life... buy this book from the Mayo Clinic". Uhhh. I'm still 44 until Saturday... thanks Mom & Dad. Wait until they see their nursing home in Detoilet... I mean Detroit. I picked out a real nice freeway overpass. They'll have roomates with shopping carts and everything except heat and food. Oh and a bed, or electricity. Or toilets & running water. It's real nice. PM me for pictures!

James

[JazzBill]

I never cared for the TV show MASH, but the movie MASH is in my top 5 of favorites, along with PATTON. I watched them both for the first time while I was in the Army. So I guess I was able to relate to them.

[jrvass]

Jazzbill,

After MASH (which I don't own) and PATTON (which I do), what would be your favorite 5?

Mine?

Apocalypse Now
Deer Hunter
Full Metal Jacket
The Civil War by Ken Burns
The Patriot

Saving Private Ryan would be in the list too... but I said 5 and snuck in a 6th!

James

[JazzBill]

Jazzbill,

After MASH (which I don't own) and PATTON (which I do), what would be your favorite 5?

Mine?

Apocalypse Now
Deer Hunter
Full Metal Jacket
The Civil War by Ken Burns
The Patriot

Saving Private Ryan would be in the list too... but I said 5 and snuck in a 6th!

James

James,
Right now I would go,
1.  Patton
2.  Mash
3.  The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 
4.  Saving Private Ryan
5.  Psycho
Of coarse this could change the first time someone mentions a movie that I have forgotten about.

[Dunrobin]

Neither one of you mentioned my favorite war movie - Kelly's Heroes.   

I grew up watching Harry Morgan in Dragnet, since my Dad was a cop.  (We used to refer to Dragnet and Adam-12 as his "training shows.")  My favorite films with Morgan have to be Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter, both starring James Garner.

[JazzBill]

Just hearing you mention the movie, "Support Your Local Gunfighter" makes me sad. I took my girlfriend (now my wife) to see that on our first date in 1971. Not only do I hate that movie, I hate everything James Garner has been in.     

[BeAStooge]

"Henry" Morgan (*) had a prolific film career during the 1940s and 1950s, which is often overlooked due to his high-profile recognition as a television actor (DECEMBER BRIDE, PETE & GLADYS, DRAGNET and M*A*S*H). Supporting roles, often as the leading man's buddy, in a long list of popular films.

I highly recommend THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943), with Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and Anthony Quinn. Other recommended credits of Morgan's to see are HIGH NOON (1952), BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1953) and INHERIT THE WIND (1960).


* Trivia -  He changed his name from "Henry" to "Harry" in the mid-1950s. Henry Morgan was a NY magazine/newspaper columnist, popular as a panelist on TV game shows like TO TELL THE TRUTH and WHAT'S MY LINE? To avoid name confusion, particularly after landing a costarring role on the sitcom DECEMBER BRIDE, Morgan (the actor) changed his name to "Harry."

Trivia -  In the M*A*S*H episode "The Moon Is Not Blue," the camp is watching STATE FAIR (1945), which costarred "Henry" Morgan.

Stooge-connections -  He costarred as a gangster in OUTSIDE THE WALL (1950), which had Joe Besser in a small, supporting role. And, Jack Webb and Harry appeared in the U.S. Govt. short STAR SPANGLED SALESMAN (1968), which also featured Moe, Larry and Curly Joe.

[jrvass]

Be a Stooge wrote:

STAR SPANGLED SALESMAN (1968), which also featured Moe, Larry and Curly Joe.

Is that available anywhere? If it was produced by the US Govt., we may have to watch the film in reverse! And isn't it a MPAA union requirement that you can't "re-use" a former actor's name? Even if it is your own and you are in the film?

i.e. Joe Schmoe is a bit actor in the 30's. Your real name is Joe Schmoe. You have to be listed in the credits of your 2007 movie as Joe A. Schmoe. (?)  I seem to remember hearing this on the radio years ago.

I also remember Henry Morgan. Black hair and those ugly men's plastic glasses. You can see him on the old game show reruns on the Game Show Network when you can't sleep in the "wee" hours. (They call them that because that is when you have to get up to wee!)

Rob, "Kelly's Heroes" is OK. Seen it a bunch of times. But I wouldn't pay money for it. I'd tape it next Memorial Day off TBS or TNT. MASH (the movie) is also shown a lot. That was Kellerman's first nude scene.

Anything vintage Clint Eastwood is OK. Even back to the TV show "Rawhide". I own "Space Cowboys". Garner, Sutherland, and Jones were also good in that film.

I forgot to qualify my question by saying "military" films.

John Wayne or John Ford films... eh. I can take or leave them mostly. Jimmy Stewart in the "Spirit of St. Louis" was good. I bought that for a few bucks on Amazon when I saw part of it on CBC-TV after the "time-compressed" version of the late hockey game. (4-6am on Sunday before the sappy Canadian cartoons).

But since I didn't qualify my question to just military films... my Favorite is Godfather 1 & 2.

James

PS. Not sure how this came up this afternoon, but my boss & the guy in the cube behind me were discussing MASH, the TV show. The final show with MacLean Stevenson (sp?) is too emotional for one of them to watch the final minutes. And it wasn't the guy I expected to say something like that... but the jack-off of the two!

Yeah. I liked the dimwit Blake over Potter. But I can separate out reality from fiction!

[BeAStooge]

BeAStooge wrote:

STAR SPANGLED SALESMAN (1968), which also featured Moe, Larry and Curly Joe.

Is that available anywhere?

Yes.

For any movie in this site's "Filmography," go to the film's page. If it's available on home video, there will be an Amazon.com link for the DVD and/or VHS.

[jrvass]

Thanks.

What a maroon I is!

James