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Good Night, Harry Morgan

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Harry Morgan was best known and loved for his long time roll as Col. Henry Blake Col. Sherman T. Potter on TV's M.A.S.H.

Morgan's career started as a supporting character actor in films, including To The Shores of Tripoli (1942), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), and High Noon (1952), along with many others. Morgan was originally billed himself as Henry Morgan, and later as Henry "Harry" Morgan. Finally he took on the name Harry in order to avoid confusion with the popular radio humorist of the time. On the radio he hosted Peter Lorre's Mystery in the Air during the 1947 season. He also made several appearances on This is Your FBI.



On TV he found some success on early situation comedies before landing what would be considered his signature role and Sgt Joe Friday's partner, Bill Gannon, on TV's Dragnet. Morgan had been a guest early in the radio version of Dragnet, only he played a jewel thief rather than a cop. Jack Webb had worked with Morgan in other projects, including the movie version of Pete Kelley's Blues (1955) and two other Film Noir projects, Dark City (1950) and Appointment with Danger (1951).
Harry Morgan's calm demeanor and no-nonsense persona made him a natural for playing authority figures, and he appeared in over 100 films. He passed away on Dec 7, 2011 at the age of 96.
Good night Harry Morgan.







Dragnet: Sixteen Jewel Thieves starring
Jack Webb and Harry Morgan (Aug 18, 1949)
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  1. DarrenDecember 8, 2011 at 1:41 PM

    In the Bio it states he played Lt Col Henry Blake not true he replaced McClain Stephenson who played that role. He Played Col Potter. Loved Dragnet as a Kid. RIP

    ReplyDelete

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