American actor (1929?1982)
Vic Morrow
|
---|
Morrow in 1971
|
Born
| (
1929-02-14
)
February 14, 1929
|
---|
Died
| July 23, 1982
(1982-07-23)
(aged 53)
|
---|
Cause of death
| Accidental
decapitation
by helicopter rotor blades
|
---|
Resting place
| Hillside Memorial Park
Culver City, California
|
---|
Other names
| Victor Morrow
|
---|
Occupation
| Actor
|
---|
Years active
| 1955?1982
|
---|
Spouses
| -
(
m.
1957;
div.
1964)
-
Gale A. Lester
(
m.
1975;
div.
1979)
|
---|
Children
| 2, including
Jennifer Jason Leigh
|
---|
Victor Morrow
(born
Victor Morozoff
; February 14, 1929 ? July 23, 1982) was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the
ABC
drama series
Combat!
(1962?1967), which earned him an
Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series. Active on screen for over three decades, his film roles include
Blackboard Jungle
(1955),
King Creole
(1958),
God's Little Acre
(1958),
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
(1974), and
The Bad News Bears
(1976). Morrow continued acting up to his death during filming of
Twilight Zone: The Movie
(1983) when he and two child actors were killed in a
helicopter crash
.
[2]
[3]
Early life
[
edit
]
Morrow was born in
the Bronx
, New York City.
[4]
He was a son of Harry Morozoff, an electrical engineer, and his wife Jean (Kress) Morozoff.
[5]
Morrow dropped out of high school when he was 17 and enlisted in the
United States Navy
.
[6]
Morrow and his family lived in
Asbury Park, New Jersey
for many years.
[7]
Career
[
edit
]
Morrow attracted attention playing
Stanley Kowalski
in a touring production of
A Streetcar Named Desire
.
[8]
His first movie role was in
Blackboard Jungle
(1955), playing a thug student who torments teacher
Glenn Ford
.
It was made by
MGM
, who then put Morrow in
Tribute to a Bad Man
(1956). Morrow appeared on television, guest starring on shows like
The Millionaire
,
Matinee Theatre
,
Climax!
,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
,
The Restless Gun
,
Trackdown
,
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
, and
Telephone Time
.
Morrow had support roles in
Men in War
(1957), directed by
Anthony Mann
, and was third billed in
Hell's Five Hours
(1958). He starred alongside
Elvis Presley
and an all-star supporting cast including
Walter Matthau
and
Carolyn Jones
in the movie
King Creole
(1958), directed by
Michael Curtiz
. Mann asked him back for
God's Little Acre
(1958).
However Morrow remained mostly a television actor, appearing in
Naked City
,
Wichita Town
,
The Rifleman
,
The Lineup
,
Johnny Ringo
,
The Brothers Brannagan
,
The Law and Mr. Jones
,
The Lawless Years
,
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
,
General Electric Theatre
,
Target: The Corruptors
,
The Tall Man
,
Outlaws
,
Bonanza
, and
The Untouchables
.
He was cast in the early
Bonanza
episode "The Avenger" as a mysterious figure known only as "Lassiter" ? named after his town of origin ? who arrives in Virginia City. He helps save Ben and Adam Cartwright from an unjust hanging, while eventually gunning down one sought-after man, revealing himself as the hunter of a lynch mob who killed his father. Having so far killed about half the mob, he rides off into the night, in an episode that resembles the later
Clint Eastwood
film
High Plains Drifter
. Morrow later appeared in the third season
Bonanza
episode "The Tin Badge".
[
citation needed
]
Mann used Morrow a third time in
Cimarron
(1960), again tormenting Glenn Ford. He took on
Audie Murphy
in
Posse from Hell
(1961).
Morrow was cast as soldier-engineer Lt. Robert Benson in the 1962 episode, "A Matter of Honor", on the
syndicated
anthology series
,
Death Valley Days
, hosted by
Stanley Andrews
. The story focuses on Benson's fiance, Indiana (
Shirley Ballard
), who tries to persuade him to boost their income by selling inside Army information to criminal
real estate
moguls like Joseph Hooker (
Howard Petrie
).
Trevor Bardette
and
Meg Wyllie
were cast in the roles of Captain and Mrs. Warner.
[
citation needed
]
Morrow had his first leading role in
Portrait of a Mobster
(1961) playing
Dutch Schultz
.
[9]
He continued as mostly a television actor, appearing in
Death Valley Days
,
Alcoa Premiere
, and
Suspense
.
Combat!
[
edit
]
Morrow was cast in the lead role of Sergeant "Chip" Saunders in
ABC
's
Combat!
, a World War II drama, which aired from 1962 to 1967.
[10]
Pop culture scholar
Gene Santoro
has written:
TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962?1967) was really a collection of complex 50-minute movies. Salted with battle sequences, they follow a squad's travails from D-Day on ? a gritty ground-eye view of men trying to salvage their humanity and survive. Melodrama, comedy, and satire come into play as
top-billed
Lieutenant Hanley (
Rick Jason
) and Sergeant Saunders (Vic Morrow) lead their men toward Paris ... The relentlessness hollows antihero Saunders out: at times, you can see the tombstones in his eyes."
[11]
His friend and fellow actor on
Combat!
, Rick Jason, described Morrow as "a master director" who directed "one of the greatest anti-war films I've ever seen". He was referring to the two-part episode of
Combat!
entitled
Hills Are for Heroes
, which was written by
Gene L. Coon
.
[12]
Deathwatch
and
A Man Called Sledge
[
edit
]
Morrow also worked as a television director. Together with
Leonard Nimoy
, he produced the 1965 film
Deathwatch
, an English-language film version of
Jean Genet
's play
Deathwatch
(title in
French
:
Haute Surveillance
), adapted by Morrow and
Barbara Turner
, directed by Morrow, and starring Nimoy.
[13]
After
Combat!
ended, Morrow played the lead in
Target: Harry
(1969), the pilot for a proposed series that was not picked up;
Roger Corman
directed.
In 1969 he set up his own company, Carleigh, which was named after his daughters
Car
rie Ann and Jennifer
Leigh
.
[14]
Morrow wrote and directed a
Spaghetti Western
, produced by
Dino DeLaurentiis
, titled
A Man Called Sledge
(1970) and starring
James Garner
,
Dennis Weaver
and
Claude Akins
. After
Deathwatch
, it was Morrow's first and only big screen outing behind the camera.
Sledge
was filmed in Italy
[
citation needed
]
with desert-like settings that were highly evocative of the
Southwestern United States
.
Morrow guest starred in
The Immortal
,
Dan August
,
Hawaii Five-O
,
Mannix
,
Sarge
,
McCloud
, and
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
.
TV movies
[
edit
]
In the 1970s Morrow starred in some television movies including
A Step Out of Line
(1971),
Travis Logan, D.A.
(1971) (playing the title role),
River of Mystery
(1971),
The Glass House
(1972),
The Weekend Nun
,
Tom Sawyer
(1973), and
Nightmare
(1974).
He guest starred in
Ironside
,
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
,
Mission: Impossible
,
The FBI
,
Love Story
,
The Streets of San Francisco
, and
Police Story
.
Morrow appeared in two episodes of Australian-produced anthology series
The Evil Touch
(1973), one of which he also directed.
He played the wily local sheriff in director
John Hough
's road classic
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
, as well as the homicidal sheriff, alongside
Martin Sheen
, in the television film
The California Kid
(1974), and
The Take
(1974).
Morrow had the lead in
Funeral for an Assassin
(1975). He had key roles in
Death Stalk
(1975),
Wanted: Babysitter
(also called
Scar Tissue
; 1975),
The Night That Panicked America
(1975),
Treasure of Matecumbe
(1976) and had a key role as aggressive, competitive baseball coach Roy Turner, in the comedy
The Bad News Bears
(1976).
In the late 1970s Morrow worked increasingly in miniseries such as
Captains and the Kings
(1977),
Roots
and
The Last Convertible
(1979), as well as guest starring on shows like
Bronc
,
Hunter
,
The Littlest Hobo
and
Charlie's Angels
.
He returned to directing, helming episodes of
Quincy, M.E.
as well as
Lucan
and
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
.
Final roles
[
edit
]
Morrow had the lead in
The Ghost of Cypress Swamp
(1977), the Japanese film
Message from Space
(1978) and
The Evictors
(1979). He was in TV movies
The Man with the Power
(1977),
The Hostage Heart
(1977),
Curse of the Black Widow
(1977),
Wild and Wooly
(1978),
Stone
(1979), and
Paris
(1980)
Morrow made
Humanoids from the Deep
(1980) for
Roger Corman
and
The Last Shark
(1981) and had a regular role in the series,
B.A.D. Cats
(1980).
Morrow's last roles included guest roles in
Charlie's Angels
,
Magnum, P.I.
and the films
1990: The Bronx Warriors
(1981) and
Abenko Green Berets
(1982).
Personal life
[
edit
]
From 1957 to 1964, Morrow was married to actress and screenwriter
Barbara Turner
.
[15]
They had two daughters, Carrie Ann Morrow and actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh
. He married Gale Lester in 1975; they separated just prior to Morrow's death in July 1982.
[
citation needed
]
Morrow fell out with his daughter Jennifer after his divorce from her mother. She changed her last name to Leigh and they were still estranged at the time of his death.
[16]
Rick Jason
, co-star of
Combat!
, wrote in his memoirs that Morrow "had an absolute dislike of firearms. He used a
Thompson submachine gun
in our series, but that was work. In any other respect he'd have nothing to do with them."
[12]
Death
[
edit
]
In 1982, Morrow was cast in a feature role in
Twilight Zone: The Movie
, in a segment directed by
John Landis
. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a
racist
who is taken back in time and placed in various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a Jewish man in
Vichy France
, a black man about to be
lynched
by the
Ku Klux Klan
, and a Vietnamese man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers.
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were filming on location in California, in an area that was known as
Indian Dunes
, near
Santa Clarita
. They were performing in a scene for the
Vietnam
sequence, in which their characters attempt to escape out of a deserted Vietnamese village from a pursuing
U.S. Army
helicopter.
[2]
The helicopter was hovering at approximately 24 feet (7.3 m) above them when the heat from special effect
pyrotechnic
explosions reportedly
delaminated
the
rotor blades
[17]
and caused the helicopter to plummet and crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Le were decapitated and mutilated by the helicopter rotor blades, while Chen was crushed by a helicopter skid.
[18]
Landis and four other defendants, including the helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo, were ultimately acquitted of involuntary manslaughter after a nearly nine-month trial. The parents of Le and Chen sued and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Both of Morrow's daughters, notably
Jennifer Jason Leigh
, also sued and settled for an undisclosed amount.
[18]
[19]
Morrow's remains are interred in
Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
in
Culver City, California
.
[20]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Role
|
Notes
|
1955
|
Blackboard Jungle
|
Artie West
|
|
It's a Dog's Life
|
Wildfire the dog
|
Voice, Uncredited
|
1956
|
Tribute to a Bad Man
|
Lars Peterson
|
|
The Millionaire
|
Joey Diamond
|
Episode: "The Joey Diamond Story"
|
Climax!
|
Ted
|
Episode: "Strange Hostage"
|
1957
|
Men in War
|
Corporal James Zwickley
|
|
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
|
Benny Mungo
|
Season 2 Episode 38: "A Little Sleep"
|
1958
|
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
|
Joe Rovi
|
Episode: "The Ed Church Case"
|
Hell's Five Hours
|
Burt Nash
|
|
King Creole
|
Shark
|
|
God's Little Acre
|
Shaw Walden
|
|
1958-1959
|
The Rifleman
|
Johnny Cotton
|
ABC-TV, 2 episodes
|
1959
|
Naked City
|
David Greco
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Shield"
|
Johnny Ringo
|
Bill Stoner
|
CBS-TV, Episode: "Kid With a Gun"
|
The Lawless Years
|
Nick Joseph
|
NBC-TV, Episode: "The Nick Joseph Story (pilot)"
|
1960
|
The Brothers Brannagan
|
Locke
|
Syndicated TV, series premiere, Episode: "Tune in for Murder"
|
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
|
Leroy Benson
|
NBC-TV, Episode: "The Key to the Killer"
|
Cimarron
|
Wes Jennings
|
|
1960-1961
|
Bonanza
|
Lassiter / Ab Brock
|
2 episodes
|
1960-1962
|
The Untouchables
|
Vince Shirer / Collier
|
2 episodes
|
1961
|
Posse from Hell
|
Crip
|
|
The Law and Mr. Jones
|
Dr. Bigelow
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "A Very Special Citizen"
|
Portrait of a Mobster
|
Dutch Schultz
|
|
The Tall Man
|
Skip Farrell
|
NBC-TV, Episode: "Time of Foreshadowing"
|
1962
|
The New Breed
|
Belman
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "To Sell Another Human Being"
|
1962?1967
|
Combat!
|
Sergeant Chip Saunders
|
ABC-TV, 152 episodes
|
1969
|
Target: Harry
|
Harry Black
|
Alternative titles:
What's In it For Harry?
,
How to Make It
|
1970
|
A Man Called Sledge
|
Gold Guard Scout
|
Uncredited
|
The Immortal
|
Sheriff Dan W. Wheeler
|
Episode: "The Rainbow Butcher"
|
Dan August
|
Steve Harrison
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Union Forever"
|
1971
|
Hawaii Five-O
|
Edward Heron
|
CBS-TV, Episode: "Two Doves and Mr. Heron"
|
Mannix
|
Eric Latimer
|
CBS-TV, Episode: "Days Beyond Recall"
|
The F.B.I.
|
Porter Bent
|
Episode: "The Stalking Horse"
|
Sarge
|
Lieutenant Ross Edmonds
|
TV, Episode: "A Push Over the Edge"
|
1972
|
McCloud
|
Richard
|
NBC-TV, Episode: "A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley"
|
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
|
Andy Capaso
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "Eight Cents Worth of Protection"
|
The Glass House
|
Hugo Slocum
|
TV movie
|
Mission: Impossible
|
Joseph Collins
|
CBS-TV, Episode: "Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown"
|
1973
|
Love Story
|
Dave Walters
|
NBC-TV, Episode: "The Cardboard House"
|
The F.B.I.
|
John Omar Stahl
|
Episode: "Desperate Journey"
|
The Streets of San Francisco
|
Vic Tolliman
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Twenty-Four Karat Plague"
|
1973?1974
|
Police Story
|
Sergeant Joe LaFrieda
|
NBC-TV, 3 episodes
|
The Evil Touch
|
Purvis Greene
|
TV, 2 episodes
|
1974
|
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
|
Captain Franklin
|
|
The Take
|
Manso
|
|
The California Kid
|
Roy Childress
|
TV movie
|
Funeral for an Assassin
|
Michael Cardiff
|
|
1975
|
Wanted: Babysitter
|
Vic, the kidnapper
|
|
The Night That Panicked America
|
Hank Muldoon
|
TV movie
|
1976
|
Captains and the Kings
|
Tom Hennessey
|
3 episodes
|
The Bad News Bears
|
Coach Roy Turner
|
|
Treasure of Matecumbe
|
Spangler
|
Disney movie
|
1977
|
Roots
|
Ames
|
ABC-TV miniseries, 2 episodes
|
Hunter
|
|
CBS-TV, 2 episodes
|
The Hostage Heart
|
Steve Rockewicz
|
TV movie
|
1978
|
Wild and Wooly
|
Warden Willis
|
TV movie
|
Message from Space
(
Ucyuu karano messeiji
)
|
General Garuda
|
Japanese (Toei) movie
|
1978?1980
|
Charlie's Angels
|
Lieutenant Harry Stearns
|
ABC-TV, "Angel In Hiding" 2 episodes, fifth-season premiere
|
1979
|
Greatest Heroes of the Bible
|
Arioch
|
TV, Episode: "Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar"
|
The Evictors
|
Jake Rudd
|
|
The Seekers
|
Leland Pell
|
TV movie
|
1980
|
Humanoids from the Deep
|
Hank Slattery
|
Alternative titles:
Humanoids of the Deep
,
Monster
|
B.A.D. Cats
|
Captain Eugene Nathan
|
TV, 9 episodes
|
1981
|
The Last Shark
|
Ron Hamer
|
Alternative titles:
Great White
|
Magnum, P.I.
|
Police Sergeant Jordan
|
CBS-TV, Episode: "Wave Goodbye"
|
1982
|
Fantasy Island
|
Douglas Picard
|
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Challenge/A Genie Named Joe"
|
1990: The Bronx Warriors
|
Hammer
|
Penultimate movie
|
Abenko gongsu gundan
|
|
South Korean war movie. Directed by
Im Kwon-taek
|
1983
|
Twilight Zone: The Movie
|
Bill Connor
|
Died in an
on-set accident
during filming
(final film role)
|
Award nominations
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Victor Morozoff in the 1940 Census | Ancestry®"
.
Ancestry.com
.
- ^
a
b
"TV actor Vic Morrow killed"
.
Eugene Register-Guard
. Oregon. Associated Press. July 23, 1982. p. 1A.
- ^
"Actor, two children die during filming"
.
Lodi News-Sentinel, California
. UPI. July 24, 1982. p. 1.
- ^
"About Vic Morrow"
. Jodavidsmeyer
. Retrieved
March 3,
2014
.
- ^
Donnelley, Paul (2003).
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries
. Omnibus. p. 504.
ISBN
0-7119-9512-5
.
- ^
"Morrow, Victor Harry, S1c"
.
Together We Served
. Retrieved
February 4,
2022
.
- ^
"Jersey Shore Native Vic Morrow Remembered 40 Years After Tragic Death"
.
Micromedia Publications
. July 22, 2022
. Retrieved
July 22,
2022
.
- ^
Schallert, E. (November 17, 1954). "Moss Hart to write duchin story; video man plans features".
Los Angeles Times
.
- ^
MacMINN, A. (January 13, 1963). "Camera angles".
Los Angeles Times
.
- ^
Humphrey, Hal (September 20, 1964). "Combat' Star Finds It's Hard to Sleep on the Set".
Los Angeles Times
. p. B22.
- ^
Santoro, Gene (March?April 2011).
"Infantrymen on the Small Screen"
.
World War II
.
25
(6). Leesburg, Virginia: Weider History Group: 69
. Retrieved
August 24,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Jason, Rick
(July 2000).
"Scrapbooks of My Mind: A Hollywood Autobiography"
. www.scrapbooksofmymind.com
. Retrieved
August 24,
2013
.
- ^
DRAMA BY GENET WILL BE FILMED. (November 27, 1962). New York Times
- ^
Martin, B. (October 25, 1969). "Carleigh productions buys two properties".
Los Angeles Times
.
ProQuest
156298595
.
- ^
Schoell, William (2016).
Creature Features
. McFarland. p. 65.
ISBN
9781476610726
.
- ^
Wallace, David.
"For Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times Are Slowed by Personal Tragedy"
.
People
. October 18, 1982. Vol. 18, No. 16.
- ^
"NTSB Accident Report"
(PDF)
.
National Transportation Safety Board
. Washington, D.C. July 23, 1982. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
a
b
Farber, Stephen; Green, Marc (1988).
Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego and the Twilight Zone Case
. Arbor House/Morrow. p. 394.
ISBN
9780877959489
. Retrieved
July 9,
2013
.
- ^
Noe, Denise.
"The Twilight Zone Tragedy: Funerals and Blame"
.
Crime Library
.
TruTV
. Archived from
the original
on October 19, 2013.
- ^
"Calisphere: Funeral for Vic Morrow"
.
calisphere.org
. Archived from
the original
on September 28, 2018.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Vic Morrow
.
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