Harry Morgan

Harry Morgan, born Harry Bratsberg (April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011).

His film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both December Bride (1954–1959) and Pete and Gladys (1960–1962); Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967–1970); Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey (1972–1974); and for his starring role as Colonel Sherman T. Potter in M*A*S*H (1975–1983) and AfterMASH (1983–1984). Morgan also appeared in more than 100 films. 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 popular humorist of the same name. He 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); Thunder Bay (1953); The Glenn Miller Story (1954); The Far Country (1955) and Strategic Air Command (1955). In his later film career, he appeared in Inherit the Wind (1960); How the West Was Won (1962) (as Ulysses S. Grant); 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) with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks.

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. After his contract with Mark VII had expired in 1974, Morgan's first appearance on M*A*S*H was in the show's third season (1974–1975), when he played eccentric Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in "The General Flipped at Dawn", which originally aired on September 10, 1974. Harry Morgan died peacefully in his sleep at age 96 in 2011.