Ken Levine has posted a short statement from Gary Burghoff in which he remembers the late Harry Morgan. Here’s a brief excerpt:
You had to know Harry to appreciate his abundant humor, warmth, kindness, modesty and his special kind of quiet strength. There was not an insecure bone in him. He was a “straight shooter” but also non-judgmental, understanding and tolerant.
Read the entire statement at Ken’s blog. Mike Farrell released a statement to the press yesterday and comments from Jamie Farr were included in an NPR story published on Wednesday.
Mike Farrell, who like Harry Morgan joined the cast of M*A*S*H at the start of its fourth season, has released a statement remembering his friend and co-star:
Harry was a wonderful man, a fabulous actor and a dear and close friend since the first day we worked together. As Alan said, “He did not have an unadorable bone in his body.”
He was a treasure as a person, an imp at times, and always a true professional. He had worked with the greats and never saw himself as one of them. But he was. He was the rock everyone depended on and yet he could cut up like a kid when the situation warranted it.
He was the apotheosis, the finest example of what people call a ‘character actor.’ What he brought to the work made everyone better. He made those who are thought of as ‘stars’ shine even more brightly.
The love and admiration we all felt for him were returned tenfold in many, many ways. And the greatest and most selfless tribute to the experience we enjoyed was paid by Harry at the press conference when our show ended. He remarked that someone had asked him if working on M*A*S*H had made him a better actor. He responded by saying, “I don’t know about that, but it made me a better human being.”
It’s hard to imagine a better one.
I’ve tried to find the original source for the statement. RumorFix calls it an “exclusive” while the Washington Post’s Celebritology blog says it was “released to the press.”
NPR is reporting that Farrell was, according to Jamie Farr, “a huge presence in Morgan’s last days,” helping to keep members of the cast updated.
Harry Morgan, who portrayed Colonel Sherman Potter for eight seasons on M*A*S*H and an additional two on AfterMASH, passed away this morning at the age of 96. Although M*A*S*H defined his career, Morgan spent five decades acting, starting with bit parts in films in the early 1940s before transitioning to television in the mid-1950s. He co-starred in December Bride from 1954-1959; from 1960-1962 he starred in a spin-off of that series, Pete and Gladys. He had a recurring role on Kentucky Jones from 1964-1965. Then, from 1967-1970 he appeared opposite Jack Webb in a revival of Webb’s police drama, Dragnet.
Harry Morgan (1915-2011)
Morgan followed up Dragnet with a recurring role in Hec Ramsey from 1972-1974. Then, on September 10th, 1974, he made a memorable guest appearance on the third season premiere of M*A*S*H. When McLean Stevenson (Colonel Blake) left the series at the end of that season, Morgan was brought in to replace him the following year as commanding officer of the 4077th. Morgan’s Colonel Potter was a very different CO, stricter in many ways than Blake, but fit in well with the other characters. For his role on M*A*S*H, Morgan was nominated for ten Emmy Awards (nine for acting and one for directing) and won once in 1980 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series. He also was nominated for a DGA Award in 1982.
Scriptwriter Ken Levine has posted a few memories of working with Harry Morgan. MSNBC.com has a list of seven great Colonel Potter moments. TV Land has put together the following brief video and has announced it will be airing special episodes of M*A*S*H to honor Harry Morgan this weekend:
In 2004, Morgan was interviewed for three-and-a-half hours for the Archive of American Television. Here’s an excerpt in which he discusses his famous role of Colonel Potter:
Here’s Alan Alda talking about Harry Morgan, from his own Archive of American Television interview:
The fourth and final episode of PBS’s America in Primetime aired last night. The episode focused on “The Crusader” character from television. One of these crusaders was Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H and Alan Alda was among those discussing the character. You can watch the entire episode at PBS.org; I’ve embedded the segment about Hawkeye and M*A*S*H below (skip to approximately 2:00):
Alan Alda on heroic images of war:
“I was a boy during the Second World War and pretty much what you saw during the movies was the heroics. It simply would not be done: show an image of the day to day suffering that goes into it.”
Alda on Hawkeye’s conservatism:
“Some people think it he was very liberal. But he was also a traditional conservative. I mean, he wanted nothing more than to have people leave him alone so he could enjoy his martini, you know? The government should get out of his liquor cabinet.”
Alda on “Preventive Medicine:”
“Well, at the rehearsal for this, Mike Farrell said ‘I’m playing a doctor who takes this seriously and I will not operate on a patient who doesn’t need the operation. That’s mutilation.’ And we started an argument that lasted about an hour that day. And at a certain point we said, you know what? This is what we ought to be doing on camera because this is a serious conflict.”
Alda’s closing comment:
“We openly dealt with all the sides of war. And we were exploring things that were not neat. There was no right and there was no wrong. But it came out of passion and disgust and anger and upset at being where they were and going through what they were going through. And that’s, I think, more useful to know than to see what I saw as a kid, when they would shoot down an enemy plane and they’d would all laugh and cheer. There’s more interest, human interest, in looking at the real cause than there is in just skimming across the surface.”
Judd Apatow (executive producer, Freaks and Geeks) on watching M*A*S*H as a kid:
“On some level I knew, ‘Oh, this is someone who is speaking out against hypocrisy and that it’s wrong to hurt people.’ I assume it just wired my brain for almost a compassionate way of looking at the world that seems king of full of crap. But it is true. When you’re watching M*A*S*H two times a day from the time your like five years old for ten or twelve years you know what you’re soaking in is the humanity of Larry Gelbart and his way of looking at the world.”
Hugh Laurie (actor, House) on the laugh track:
“When the BBC showed M*A*S*H, they showed it without laughter. There was no laugh track on it. So, I suppose an English audience, we tended to look at it in a rather more dramatic way.”
Tom Fontana (executive producer, Homicide: Life on the Street), Linda Wallen (co-creator, Nurse Jackie) and Steven Bocho (co-creator, NYPD Blue) also share their thoughts on the character of Hawkeye and M*A*S*H.
Tonight at 8PM, PBS will broadcast the fourth and final episode of America in Primetime, which from what I’ve read is not your typical documentary but rather a collection of interviews with actors, directors and writers attempting to explain how contemporary television has been influenced by decades worth of creativity and effort. Each episode has focused on an archetypal television character: Independent Woman, Man of the House, The Misfit and tonight, “The Crusader.” Among those interviewed for “The Crusader” were Hugh Laurie, Dennis Franz, Michael Chiklis, Gillian Anderson and Alan Alda, who will presumably be talking about M*A*S*H and the famous crusader he portrayed, Hawkeye Pierce.
Check your local listings to see if America in Primetime is airing on your PBS station tonight.
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