Wayne Morris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wayne Morris (February 17, 1914 – September 14, 1959) was an American film and television actor.
Born Bert DeWayne Morris in Los Angeles, he appeared in many notable films including Paths of Glory (1957) and the title role of Kid Galahad in 1937.
While filming Flight Angels (1940), Morris became interested in flying and became a pilot. With war in the wind, he joined the Naval Reserve and became a Navy flier in 1942, leaving his film career behind for the duration of the war. Assigned to the carrier USS Essex (CV-9) in the Pacific, Morris shot down seven Japanese planes and contributed to the sinking of five ships. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. Following the war, Morris returned to films, but his nearly four-year absence had cost him his burgeoning stardom. He continued to topline movies, but the pictures, for the most part, sank in quality. Losing his boyish looks but not demeanor, Morris spent most of the Fifties in low-budget Westerns. A wonderful performance as a weakling in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) might have given impetus to a new career as a character actor, had Morris lived. However, he suffered a massive heart attack while visiting aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) in San Francisco Bay and was pronounced dead after being transported to Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He was 45. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Another actor named Wayne Morris appeared in the television program Maid Marian and her Merry Men. See Wayne Morris (actor).
[edit] External links
Categories: American film actors | American television actors | United States Navy officers | American World War II flying aces | American military personnel of World War II | Naval aviators | Recipients of US Distinguished Flying Cross | Deaths from cardiovascular disease | Burials at Arlington National Cemetery | 1914 births | 1959 deaths
