Vic Morrow: Difference between revisions
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Morrow was born in [[the Bronx]], ([[New York]]) to a middle class Jewish family,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/morrow_BIO.html|title=About Vic Morrow|accessdate=2009-07-27|publisher=''Jodavidsmeyer''}}</ref> the son of Jean (née Kress) and Harry Morrow, an electrical engineer.<ref name="ref1">{{cite book |last=Donnelley |first=Paul |title=Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries |publisher=''Omnibus'' |year=2003 |page=504 |isbn=0-7119-9512-5}}</ref> When he was 17, Morrow dropped out of high school and joined the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]. |
Morrow was born in [[the Bronx]], ([[New York]]) to a middle class Jewish family,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/morrow_BIO.html|title=About Vic Morrow|accessdate=2009-07-27|publisher=''Jodavidsmeyer''}}</ref> the son of Jean (née Kress) and Harry Morrow, an electrical engineer.<ref name="ref1">{{cite book |last=Donnelley |first=Paul |title=Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries |publisher=''Omnibus'' |year=2003 |page=504 |isbn=0-7119-9512-5}}</ref> When he was 17, Morrow dropped out of high school and joined the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]. |
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⚫ | Morrow had a falling out with his daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh following his divorce from her mother; Leigh changed her last name as a teenager to avoid being publicly associated with Morrow. They remained estranged at the time of his death.<ref>Wallace, David. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083345,00.html "For Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times Are Slowed by Personal Tragedy"]. ''People''. October 18, 1982. Vol. 18, No. 16.</ref> |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
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A Man Called Sledge (1970): Filming Locations |publisher= [[Internet Movie Database]] |accessdate= August 24, 2013}}</ref> with desert-like settings that were highly evocative of the [[Southwestern United States]]. |
A Man Called Sledge (1970): Filming Locations |publisher= [[Internet Movie Database]] |accessdate= August 24, 2013}}</ref> with desert-like settings that were highly evocative of the [[Southwestern United States]]. |
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=== Family === |
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Vic Morrow married actress and screenwriter [[Barbara Turner (actress)|Barbara Turner]], with whom he had two daughters: actress [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] and Carrie Ann Morrow. Morrow's marriage to Barbara lasted seven years and ended in divorce in 1964. He did not remarry until 1975, over a decade later, when he courted Gale Lester (currently Gale Morrow Butler). They were married for five years and were separated just prior to Morrow's death. |
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⚫ | Morrow had a falling out with his daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh following his divorce from her mother; Leigh changed her last name as a teenager to avoid being publicly associated with Morrow. They remained estranged at the time of his death.<ref>Wallace, David. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083345,00.html "For Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times Are Slowed by Personal Tragedy"]. ''People''. October 18, 1982. Vol. 18, No. 16.</ref> |
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=== Relationships with other actors === |
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His friend and fellow actor on ''[[Combat!]]'', [[Rick Jason]], wrote in his memoirs, |
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<blockquote>Vic 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. On one of the few days we got off early while there were still several hours of daylight left, I said to him, "I've got a couple of shotguns in the back of my station wagon. You want to shoot some skeet?"<br/>Without so much as a pause he responded, "No, thanks. I can't stand to kill clay."<br/>He knew he could always break me up and during our five years together he did it quite a bit. His sense of humor happened to tickle my funny bone and he knew he had my number."<ref name= "RJ">{{cite web |url= http://www.scrapbooksofmymind.com/vic_morrow.htm |author= Jason, Rick |authorlink= Rick Jason |date= July 2000 |chapter= Vic Morrow |title= Scrapbooks of My Mind: A Hollywood Autobiography by Rick Jason |publisher= www.scrapbooksofmymind.com |accessdate= August 24, 2013}}</ref></blockquote> |
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In his memoirs, Jason also 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]]. |
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== Death == |
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{{Main|Twilight Zone: The Movie#Helicopter accident}} |
{{Main|Twilight Zone: The Movie#Helicopter accident}} |
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In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in an accident while filming on location for the ''[[Twilight Zone: The Movie]]'' in [[Ventura County, California]], between [[Santa Clarita, California|Santa Clarita]] and [[Piru, California|Piru]]. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a [[racism|racist]] who is taken back in time and placed in various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a [[Jewish]] [[Holocaust]] victim, a black man about to be [[lynching|lynched]] by the [[Ku Klux Klan]], and a [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers. Morrow, Le, and Chen were filming a scene for the [[Vietnam]] sequence in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing [[U.S. Army]] helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 24 feet above them when [[pyrotechnics|pyrotechnic]] explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Dinh were decapitated by the helicopter rotor. Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djVBzrucNLY |title=Twilight Zone Accident}}</ref><ref name="Outrageous Conduct"/> |
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in an accident while filming on location for the ''[[Twilight Zone: The Movie]]'' in [[Ventura County, California]], between [[Santa Clarita, California|Santa Clarita]] and [[Piru, California|Piru]]. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a [[racism|racist]] who is taken back in time and placed in various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a [[Jewish]] [[Holocaust]] victim, a black man about to be [[lynching|lynched]] by the [[Ku Klux Klan]], and a [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers. Morrow, Le, and Chen were filming a scene for the [[Vietnam]] sequence in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing [[U.S. Army]] helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 24 feet above them when [[pyrotechnics|pyrotechnic]] explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Dinh were decapitated by the helicopter rotor. Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djVBzrucNLY |title=Twilight Zone Accident}}</ref><ref name="Outrageous Conduct"/> |
Revision as of 17:30, 24 August 2013
Vic Morrow | |
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Born | Victor Morrow February 14, 1929 New York City, New York, USA |
Died | July 23, 1982 | (aged 53)
Cause of death | Accidental decapitation |
Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California |
Other names | Victor Morrow |
Occupation(s) | Actor, director |
Years active | 1955–1982 |
Spouse(s) | Barbara Turner (1957–1964; divorced; 2 children) Gale A. Lester (1975–1979; divorced) |
Children | Jennifer Jason Leigh Carrie Morrow |
Victor "Vic" Morrow (February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s television series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television. He and two children died when a stunt helicopter crashed on them during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Early life
Morrow was born in the Bronx, (New York) to a middle class Jewish family,[1] the son of Jean (née Kress) and Harry Morrow, an electrical engineer.[2] When he was 17, Morrow dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Navy.
Career
Morrow's first movie role was in Blackboard Jungle (1955), after which he went into television. Later, he guest starred on John Payne's NBC western series, The Restless Gun. On April 16, 1959, he appeared in the premiere of NBC's 1920s crime drama The Lawless Years in the episode "The Nick Joseph Story". Morrow then appeared from 1960–1961 as Joe Cannon in three episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. On October 6, 1961, he appeared in an episode of the ABC drama series Target: The Corruptors! with Stephen McNally and Robert Harland. He appeared in two episodes of both The Untouchables and Bonanza. (He was memorably cast in the early Bonanza episode The Avenger as a mysterious figure known only as 'Lassiter' - named after his origin town - who arrives in Virginia City, and helps save Ben and Adam Cartwright from an unjust hanging, while eventually gunning down one sought-after man revealing himself as a hunter of a lynch mob who killed his father; having so far got about half the mob, he rides off into the night,[3] an episode that resembles the later Clint Eastwood film High Plains Drifter). Morrow later appeared in the third season Bonanza episode The Tin Badge.[4]
Morrow also appeared in Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, McCloud, and Sarge, among many other TV guest roles.
He was cast in the lead role of Sergeant "Chip" Saunders in ABC's Combat!, a World War II drama, which aired from 1962–1967. Pop culture scholar Gene Santoro has written, "TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962-67) 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 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."[5]
He also worked as a television director. Together with Leonard Nimoy, he produced a 1966 version of Deathwatch, an English language film version of Jean Genet's play Haute Surveillance, adapted by Morrow and Barbara Turner, directed by Morrow, and starring Nimoy. After Combat! ended, he worked in several films. Morrow appeared in two episodes of Australian-produced anthology series The Evil Touch (1973), one of which he also directed. He memorably 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 1974 TV film The California Kid, and had a key role in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He also played Injun Joe in 1973 telefilm Tom Sawyer, which was filmed in Upper Canada Village. A musical version was released in theaters that same year.
Morrow wrote and directed a 1970 Spaghetti Western, produced by Dino DeLaurentiis, titled A Man Called Sledge 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[6] with desert-like settings that were highly evocative of the Southwestern United States.
Personal life
Family
Vic Morrow married actress and screenwriter Barbara Turner, with whom he had two daughters: actress Jennifer Jason Leigh and Carrie Ann Morrow. Morrow's marriage to Barbara lasted seven years and ended in divorce in 1964. He did not remarry until 1975, over a decade later, when he courted Gale Lester (currently Gale Morrow Butler). They were married for five years and were separated just prior to Morrow's death.
Morrow had a falling out with his daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh following his divorce from her mother; Leigh changed her last name as a teenager to avoid being publicly associated with Morrow. They remained estranged at the time of his death.[7]
Relationships with other actors
His friend and fellow actor on Combat!, Rick Jason, wrote in his memoirs,
Vic 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. On one of the few days we got off early while there were still several hours of daylight left, I said to him, "I've got a couple of shotguns in the back of my station wagon. You want to shoot some skeet?"
Without so much as a pause he responded, "No, thanks. I can't stand to kill clay."
He knew he could always break me up and during our five years together he did it quite a bit. His sense of humor happened to tickle my funny bone and he knew he had my number."[8]
In his memoirs, Jason also 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.
Death
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in an accident while filming on location for the Twilight Zone: The Movie in Ventura County, California, between Santa Clarita and Piru. 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 Holocaust victim, a black man about to be lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers. Morrow, Le, and Chen were filming a scene for the Vietnam sequence in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing U.S. Army helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 24 feet above them when pyrotechnic explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Dinh were decapitated by the helicopter rotor. Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.[9][10]
Morrow is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.[11]
Director John Landis and four other defendants, including pilot Dorsey 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. Morrow's children also sued and settled for an undisclosed amount.[12][10]
Partial filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | Blackboard Jungle | Artie West | |
1956 | The Millionaire | Joey Diamond | TV, 1 episode |
Tribute to a Bad Man | Lars Peterson | ||
Climax! | Ted | TV, 1 episode | |
1957 | Men in War | Corporal James Zwickley | |
Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Benny Mungo | TV, 1 episode | |
1958 | King Creole | Shark | |
Richard Diamond, Private Detective | Joe Rovi | "The Ed Church Case" (CBS-TV) | |
God's Little Acre | Shaw Walden | ||
The Rifleman | Johnny Cotton | ABC-TV, 1 episode, "The Angry Gun" | |
1959 | Naked City | David Greco | ABC-TV, 1 episode |
The Rifleman | Brett Stocker | TV, 1 episode, "The Letter of the Law" | |
Johnny Ringo | Bill Stoner | CBS-TV, 1 episode, "Kid With a Gun" | |
1960 | Bonanza | Lassiter | TV, 1 episode, "The Avenger" (3/1960, episode 26) |
The Barbara Stanwyck Show | Leroy Benson | NBC-TV, 1 episode | |
Cimarron | Wes Jennings | ||
The Brothers Brannagan | Locke | Syndicated TV, series premiere, "Tune in for Murder" | |
1961 | Portrait of a Mobster | Dutch Schultz | |
The Tall Man | Skip Farrell | NBC-TV, 1 episode, "Time of Foreshadowing" | |
The Law and Mr. Jones | Dr. Bigelow | ABC-TV, 1 episode, "A Very Special Citizen" | |
1962 | The New Breed | Belman | ABC-TV, 1 episode |
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 | The Immortal | Sheriff Dan W. Wheeler | TV, 1 episode |
Dan August | Steve Harrison | ABC-TV, 1 episode | |
1971 | Hawaii Five-O | Edward Heron | CBS-TV, 1 episode, "Two Doves and Mr. Heron" |
Mannix | Eric Latimer | CBS-TV, 1 episode | |
Sarge | Lt. Ross Edmonds | TV, 1 episode | |
1972 | McCloud | Richard | NBC-TV, 1 episode |
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Andy Capaso | ABC-TV, 1 episode | |
Mission: Impossible | Joseph Collins | CBS-TV, 1 episode | |
1973–1974 | Police Story | Sergeant Joe LaFrieda | NBC-TV, 3 episodes |
The Evil Touch | Purvis Greene | TV, 2 episodes | |
The Streets of San Francisco | Vic Tolliman | ABC-TV, 1 episode | |
1974 | Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry | Cpt. Franklin | |
1974 | The California Kid | Roy Childress | |
1975 | The Night That Panicked America | Hank Muldoon | Television movie |
1976 | Captains and the Kings | Tom Hennessey | Miniseries |
The Bad News Bears | Coach Roy Turner | ||
Treasure of Matecumbe | Spangler | Disney movie | |
1977 | Roots | Ames | ABC-TV miniseries |
1978 | Wild and Wooly | Warden Willis | Television movie |
Message from Space (Ucyuu karano messeiji) | General Garuda | Japanese (Toei) movie | |
1978–1980 | Charlie's Angels | Lt. Harry Stearns | ABC-TV, 2 episodes |
1979 | Greatest Heroes of the Bible | Arioch | TV, 1 episode |
The Evictors | Jake Rudd | ||
1980 | Humanoids from the Deep | Hank Slattery | Alternative titles: Humanoids of the Deep, Monster |
B.A.D. Cats | Capt. Eugene Nathan | TV, 9 episodes | |
Great White | Ron Hamer | Alternative titles: The Last Shark | |
1981 | Magnum, P.I. | Police Sergeant Jordan | CBS-TV, 1 episode |
1982 | Fantasy Island | Douglas Picard | ABC-TV, 1 episode |
1990: The Bronx Warriors | Hammer | Penultimate movie | |
1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Bill Connor | Died in an on-set accident during filming; death scene deleted from film |
Award nominations
Year | Result | Award | Category | Film or series |
---|---|---|---|---|
1963 | Nominated | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) | Combat! |
See also
References
- ^ "About Vic Morrow". Jodavidsmeyer. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Donnelley, Paul (2003). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus. p. 504. ISBN 0-7119-9512-5.
{{cite book}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ "The Avenger". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ "The Tin Badge". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ 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.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ "A Man Called Sledge (1970): Filming Locations". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ Wallace, David. "For Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times Are Slowed by Personal Tragedy". People. October 18, 1982. Vol. 18, No. 16.
- ^ Jason, Rick (July 2000). "Scrapbooks of My Mind: A Hollywood Autobiography by Rick Jason". www.scrapbooksofmymind.com. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
{{cite web}}
:|chapter=
ignored (help) - ^ "Twilight Zone Accident".
- ^ a b Farber, Stephen and Green, Marc (1988). Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego and the Twilight Zone Case. Arbor House (Morrow).
{{cite book}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Vic Morrow". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Noe, Denise. "The Twilight Zone Tragedy: Funerals and Blame" www.trutv.com
External links
- 1929 births
- 1982 deaths
- 20th-century American actors
- Accidental deaths in California
- Actors from New York City
- American film actors
- American film directors
- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- American television actors
- American television directors
- Burials in California
- Deaths by decapitation
- Filmed accidental deaths
- Filmed deaths of entertainers
- Florida State University alumni
- Jewish American actors
- Actors from Los Angeles, California
- People from the Bronx
- Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States