Barry Morse facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Barry Morse
Barry Morse in 2007, photo by Anthony Wynn
Born	Herbert Morse (1918-06-10)10 June 1918 Hammersmith, London, England
Died	2 February 2008(2008-02-02) (aged 89) London, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor director writer
Years active	1937–2007
Known for	The Fugitive Space: 1999 The Adventurer Encounter
Spouse(s)	Sydney Sturgess ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1999)​
Children	Hayward Morse Melanie Morse MacQuarrie

Herbert Morse (born June 10, 1918 – died February 2, 2008), known as Barry Morse, was a talented actor from Britain and Canada. He worked in plays, movies, and radio. He is best remembered for his roles in the TV shows The Fugitive and the British science fiction drama Space: 1999. Barry Morse acted for 70 years, taking on thousands of different roles. He worked for famous broadcasters like the BBC and the CBC.

Early Life and Training

Barry Morse was born Herbert Morse on June 10, 1918, in Hammersmith, London. His parents owned a tobacco shop. When he was 15, Barry won a special scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. This is a famous school for actors.

While studying, he played the role of the Lion in a play called Androcles and the Lion. This led him to meet George Bernard Shaw, a very famous writer who supported the school. Barry's first paid acting job was in a play called If I Were King. When he graduated, he played the main character in William Shakespeare's play Henry V. This performance was special because King George VI and Queen Elizabeth watched it.

Acting Career Highlights

Radio Work

After finishing drama school, Barry Morse won a BBC Radio Prize. This helped him get many roles, including a main part in the drama The Fall of the City. He later played the lead in Shakespeare's Hamlet and was Paul Temple in the radio series Send for Paul Temple Again.

From 1951, he also performed on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio. He was part of many shows, including A Touch of Greasepaint and The Investigator. In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked on some U.S. radio shows. One of these, The Odyssey of Homer, won a special award called a Peabody Award. His very last radio performance was in 2007, called Rogues and Vagabonds – A Theatrical Scrapbook.

Stage Performances

Barry Morse gained a lot of experience by joining theatre groups in cities like Peterborough and Nottingham. He played over 200 different roles in these groups. In 1941, he joined a national tour of a play called The First Mrs. Fraser.

He made his first appearance on the London West End stage in a play called The School for Slavery. The West End is like Broadway in New York. He also acted in other West End shows like Escort and The Assassin. Famous director John Gielgud directed him in Crisis in Heaven. Barry Morse often worked with actress Nova Pilbeam in plays and movies.

Movie Roles

Barry Morse's first movie was the comedy The Goose Steps Out in 1942. He then appeared in films like Thunder Rock and When We Are Married. He also worked with Glynis Johns and Nova Pilbeam in This Man Is Mine.

Other important movies he was in include Kings of the Sun with Yul Brynner, Justine, and Puzzle of a Downfall Child with Faye Dunaway. He also appeared in thrilling movies like Asylum (1972) and The Changeling (1980) with George C. Scott. Barry also lent his voice to animated shows, like playing Dragon in The Railway Dragon. His last movie was I Really Hate My Job in 2007.

Later Stage Work

Barry Morse also performed on Broadway, which is a famous theatre district in New York City. He starred in plays like Hide and Seek and Salad Days. He played the main role of Frederick Rolfe in Hadrian the Seventh, a part he also performed in Australia.

He created his own one-man show called Merely Players in 1959. This show explored the lives and experiences of actors throughout history. He also taught at Yale Drama School in 1968.

In 1995, he played George Bernard Shaw in a new play called The Private Life of George Bernard Shaw. He performed this play in Toronto and later in London. In 2004, he acted with his son, Hayward Morse, in a play called Bernard and Bosie: A Most Unlikely Friendship. Barry played George Bernard Shaw, and Hayward played Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas.

Television Appearances

Barry Morse was a guest star in over a thousand TV shows, comedies, and talk shows in the U.S., Canada, and Britain. Some of his early American TV appearances were on U.S. Steel Hour and Playhouse 90. He also guest-starred on popular shows like Naked City, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone, and The Saint. He appeared with Carroll O'Connor in The Outer Limits episode "Controlled Experiment".

Later in his career, he appeared in Canadian shows like La Femme Nikita and British shows like Doctors and Waking the Dead.

Main TV Series Roles

Barry Morse's first TV series was Presenting Barry Morse in 1960. Some of his most famous TV roles include:

• Lieutenant Philip Gerard in the 1960s series The Fugitive. He played the detective who chased the main character, Dr. Richard Kimble.
• Dr. Victor Bergman in the science fiction show Space: 1999 (1975–76).
• Mr. Parminter in The Adventurer.
• Alec "the Tiger" Marlowe in The Zoo Gang.
• He also hosted the series Strange But True for Global and the BBC.

TV Miniseries

Barry Morse also appeared in several TV miniseries, which are like long TV movies. These include The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, both with Robert Mitchum. He was also in The Martian Chronicles and Sadat.

Books Written by Barry Morse

Barry Morse wrote several books about his life and career.

• Merely Players – The Scripts, based on his stage play, was published in 2003.
• His first autobiography, Pulling Faces, Making Noises, came out in 2004.
• Stories of the Theatre (2006) included material from his CBC radio series A Touch of Greasepaint.
• His detailed memoir, Remember With Advantages – Chasing 'The Fugitive' and Other Stories from an Actor's Life, was released in 2007. It shared many stories from his acting life.

He also wrote introductions or afterwords for other books, including Destination: Moonbase Alpha – The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to SPACE: 1999 and Conversations At Warp Speed, a book about actors from Star Trek.

Personal Life

Family

Barry Morse married actress Sydney Sturgess on March 26, 1939. They met while working in theatre. They had two children, Melanie Morse (1945–2005) and Hayward Morse (born 1947).

In 1951, the Morse family moved to Canada. Barry worked in radio and theatre there and was part of the first TV broadcasts for CBC Television. He became a Canadian citizen in 1953.

Charity Work

Barry Morse supported many charities throughout his life. These included groups that help actors, like the Performing Arts Lodges of Canada and the Actors' Fund of Canada. He also supported the Samaritans and organizations working on Parkinson's disease research.

Parkinson's disease was very important to him because his wife, Sydney Sturgess, battled the illness for 14 years before she passed away in 1999. In his later years, he also spoke up for senior citizens in Canada.

Death

Barry Morse passed away on February 2, 2008, in London, at the age of 89. He had a short illness. His body was donated to science. Later, on April 3, 2011, his ashes were scattered in St. James's Square Garden in London.

Selected Film and TV Roles

See also

In Spanish: Barry Morse para niños