Image of Harry Morgan

Harry Morgan

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.


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Born:
Apr 10, 1915 In Detroit, Michigan USA
Movie/TV Credits:
144
First Appeared:
In the series You Can't Take It With You
Latest Project:
Movie Greenboy: Prescription for Death 2013-04-20
Known For
Poster of Kentucky Jones
Poster of Dragonwyck
Poster of The Eve of St. Mark
Filmography
Series You Can't Take It With You Unknown 2025
Movie Greenboy: Prescription for Death Bill Gannon (archive footage) 2013-04-20
Movie M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion Himself 2002-05-17
Series Love & Money Unknown 1999-10-08
Movie Family Plan Sol Rubins 1997-01-01
Series The Jeff Foxworthy Show Unknown 1995-09-12
Movie Incident in a Small Town Judge Bell 1994-01-23
Series Grace Under Fire Unknown 1993-09-29
Series Renegade Unknown 1992-09-19
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 The Twilight Zone Unknown 1985-09-27
Series Murder, She Wrote Unknown 1984-09-30
Series AfterMASH Sherman T. Potter 1983-09-26
Movie Sparkling Cyanide Captain Kemp 1983-11-05
Movie Showbiz Goes to War (archive footage) 1982-12-31
Movie The Flight of Dragons Carolinus 1982-08-17
Movie Rivkin: Bounty Hunter Father Everett Kolodny 1981-05-20
Movie More Wild Wild West Robert T. 'Skinny' Malone 1980-10-07
Movie Scout's Honor Mr. Briggs 1980-09-30
Series Roots: The Next Generations Bob Campbell 1979-02-18
Series Backstairs at the White House Pres. Harry S. Truman 1979-01-29
Movie The Wild Wild West Revisited Robert T. Malone 1979-05-09
Movie You Can't Take it With You Mr. DePinna 1979-05-16
Movie Better Late Than Never Mr. Scott 1979-10-17
Movie The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again T.P. Gaskill 1979-06-27
Movie Maneaters Are Loose! Toby Waites 1978-05-03
Movie Murder at the Mardi Gras Jim Bob Jackson 1978-05-10
Movie Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid Hugo Peavey 1978-05-26
Movie The Cat from Outer Space General Stilton 1978-06-09
Movie The Bastard Capt. Caleb 1978-05-22
Movie Exo-Man Arthur Travis 1977-06-18
Series The Love Boat Unknown 1977-09-24
Movie The Shootist Marshall Thibido 1976-07-21
Movie The Last Day Narrator 1975-02-15
Series Bronk Unknown 1975-04-17
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 Hec Ramsey Doc Amos Coogan 1972-09-13
Series M*A*S*H Sherman Potter 1972-09-17
Movie Snowball Express Jesse McCord 1972-12-22
Movie The Feminist and the Fuzz Horace Bowers 1971-01-26
Movie The Barefoot Executive E.J. Crampton 1971-03-17
Series The D.A. H.M. 'Staff' Stafford 1971-09-17
Movie Support Your Local Gunfighter Taylor 1971-05-26
Movie Scandalous John Sheriff Pippin 1971-06-22
Series Night Gallery Unknown 1970-12-16
Movie But I Don't Want to Get Married! Mr. Good 1970-10-06
Movie Dragnet Bill Gannon 1969-01-27
Movie Viva Max! Chief of Police Sylvester 1969-12-01
Movie Support Your Local Sheriff! Olly Perkins 1969-03-26
Series Love, American Style Unknown 1969-09-29
Movie The Flim-Flam Man Sheriff Slade 1967-08-22
Series Dragnet 1967-01-12
Movie What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? Major Pott 1966-08-31
Movie Frankie and Johnny Cully 1966-03-31
Movie John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! Sarajevo 1965-03-24
Series The Wackiest Ship in the Army Unknown 1965-09-19
Series Kentucky Jones Seldom Jackson 1964-09-19
Series The Richard Boone Show Unknown 1963-09-24
Movie How the West Was Won Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 1962-11-02
Series The Virginian Unknown 1962-09-19
Series Going My Way Unknown 1962-10-03
Series Dr. Kildare Unknown 1961-09-27
Movie Inherit the Wind Judge Mel 1960-07-07
Movie The Mountain Road Mike Michaelson 1960-06-15
Movie Cimarron Jessie Rickey 1960-12-01
Series Here's Hollywood Unknown 1960-09-26
Series Pete and Gladys 1960-09-19
Movie It Started with a Kiss Charles Meriden 1959-08-19
Movie The Teahouse of the August Moon Sergeant Gregovich 1957-07-01
Series Have Gun, Will Travel Unknown 1957-09-14
Movie Star in the Dust Lew Hogan 1956-06-13
Movie Backlash Tony Welker 1956-03-14
Movie Not as a Stranger Oley 1955-07-01
Movie Strategic Air Command Sergeant Bible 1955-07-12
Series Gunsmoke Unknown 1955-09-10
Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents Unknown 1955-10-02
Series The 20th Century Fox Hour Unknown 1955-10-05
Movie The Glenn Miller Story Chummy MacGregor 1954-01-04
Movie The Far Country Ketchum 1954-02-12
Movie Prisoner of War Maj. O.D. Hale 1954-05-04
Series December Bride Pete Porter 1954-10-04
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 Stop, You're Killing Me Innocence 1952-12-10
Movie Boots Malone Quarter Horse Henry 1952-01-11
Movie My Six Convicts Dawson 1952-03-20
Movie Scandal Sheet Biddle 1952-01-16
Movie High Noon Sam Fuller 1952-06-09
Movie Toughest Man in Arizona Verne Kimber 1952-10-10
Series Cavalcade of America Unknown 1952-10-01
Movie What Price Glory Sergeant Moran 1952-08-22
Movie Apache War Smoke Ed Cotten 1952-09-25
Movie Belle Le Grand Abel Stone 1951-01-27
Series The Amazing Mr. Malone Unknown 1951-02-14
Movie The Well Claude Packard 1951-09-24
Movie When I Grow Up Father Reed (Modern) 1951-04-19
Movie The Blue Veil Charles Hall 1951-10-26
Movie Outside the Wall Garth 1950-02-08
Movie Dark City Soldier 1950-10-17
Movie Appointment with Danger George Soderquist 1950-03-31
Movie The Showdown Rod Main 1950-08-15
Movie Hello Out There The Young Gambler 1949-01-01
Movie Down to the Sea in Ships Britton 1949-02-15
Movie Madame Bovary Hyppolite 1949-08-25
Movie Holiday Affair Police Lieutenant 1949-12-12
Movie Strange Bargain Richard Webb 1949-11-05
Movie Red Light Rocky 1949-09-30
Movie The Big Clock Bill Womack 1948-03-18
Movie All My Sons Frank Lubey 1948-05-01
Movie Yellow Sky Half Pint 1948-12-24
Movie Race Street Hal Towers 1948-09-11
Movie The Saxon Charm Hermy 1948-09-28
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 Somewhere in the Night Bath Attendant (uncredited) 1946-06-12
Movie It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog Gus Rivers 1946-07-01
Movie Crime Doctor's Man Hunt Jervis 1946-10-24
Movie State Fair Barker 1945-08-29
Movie A Bell for Adano Capt. N. Purvis 1945-06-21
Movie The Eve of St. Mark Private Shevlin 1944-05-22
Movie Wing and a Prayer Malcolm Brainard 1944-01-01
Movie Roger Touhy, Gangster Thomas "Smoke" Reardon 1944-06-03
Movie Gentle Annie Cottonwood Goss (as Henry Morgan) 1944-12-05
Movie Take It or Leave It Himself 1944-07-17
Movie The Ox-Bow Incident Art Croft 1943-03-11
Movie Crash Dive Brownie 1943-04-22
Movie Happy Land Tony Cavrek (as Henry Morgan) 1943-11-10
Movie The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe Ebenezer Burling 1942-08-28
Movie To the Shores of Tripoli Mouthy 1942-11-09
Movie The Omaha Trail Henchman Nat 1942-09-01
Movie Orchestra Wives Cully Anderson 1942-09-04
Movie The Kennel Murder Case Gamble (uncredited) 1933-10-28