Howard Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American comic actor and director.
Contents |
Early career in television
Morris was born in Bronx, New York. He came to prominence in appearances on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (a live sketch comedy television series appearing weekly in the United States, from 1950 until June 5, 1954). Although he was a classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is best remembered for playing the wily and over the top "mountain man" character Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show. He had lampooned southern accents while in the army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He starred in one of the more comical early hour-long Twilight Zone episodes. He also provides Gerald's boings and other sound effects in Gerald McBoing-Boing's animated features, and in the television series The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show and played a variety of voices in many Hanna-Barbera series (including The Jetsons as "Jet Screamer" who sung the "Eep opp ork ah ah!" song,[1] and The Flintstones). He also voiced the characters Professor Icenstein and Luigi La Bounci in the animated series Galaxy High. He played a fine art dealer once on the Dick Van Dyke Show. Morris provided the original vocalizations for the Hamburglar ("Robble, robble, robble") in McDonald's 1971 ad campaign. He is also remembered by Filmation and Archie fans as the voice of Jughead Jones throughout the life of the franchise. Morris also played "Wade Duck" in the U.S.Acres segment of Garfield and Friends.
The move to directing
While Morris continued to make himself available for voice and sound effect roles, he also began a new career in voice directing. Among the projects he directed are Police Academy, Richie Rich, Bionic Six, Galaxy High, The Snorks, The Mighty Orbots, Rose Petal Place, The Dogfather and Kidd Video. In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh he did the voice of Gopher and became one of his most famous roles. In the 1980s he voiced a regular character on the cartoon series Garfield and Friends. On the show, he voiced Wade Duck, a cowardly duck who was said to have had "almost every phobia known to man and some known to duck." He also performed nearly all of the voices in the 1960 Oscar-winning cartoon MUNRO, directed by Gene Deitch.
Later career
Mel Brooks occasionally cast Morris in his films. For example, he played Brooks' mentor psychiatrist in the 1977 comedy High Anxiety, the emperor's court spokesman ("Here, wash this!") in History of the World, Part I, and played a memorable role as a would be sailor living in the streets in 1991's Life Stinks. In 1986, he reprised his famous role as Ernest T. Bass in the high-rated TV movie Return to Mayberry. Morris died of heart ailment at age 85 in 2005. He is interred in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.
References
- ^ Howard Morris Biography, Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
