Eric Morris (actor)

Eric Morris
Born Frederic (or Frauka) Stein
November 19, 1931
Mount Sinai Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
Residence Los Angeles, California
Ethnicity Ashkenazi Russian Jew
Alma mater
  • Sumner School, Chicago
  • Key Clark Branch school (Chicago)
  • Austin High School (Chicago, Illinois), 1949
  • Wright Junior College (Chicago)
  • Northwestern University School of Speech
Home town Chicago
Spouse(s) Joy (2nd wife)
Parent(s) Nessie and Veshel Stein

Military career

Allegiance  United States
Service/branch U.S. Army
Website
ericmorris.com

Notes

Eric Morris is an American acting teacher and actor who founded his own theory of acting based on the works of Lee Strasberg and Martin Landau. Morris lives with his wife in Los Angeles and teaches actors the Eric Morris System of Acting.

Early life

His parents were Russian Jews; his father emigrated from Odessa to the United States in 1912, and his named was changed from Veshel Shtarenshees to Stein. They spoke Russian and Yiddish at home. Young Fred heard stories of pogroms as a child. He lived with his family in various apartments in a neighborhood inhabited chiefly by Jewish immigrants from Russia or Poland until, in seventh grade, his father bought a house. Young Fred suffered anti-semitic verbal abuse at the new school. He spent some years as a Boy Scout, attaining the rank of Star Scout. He was a soda jerk at Walgreens, and at age fourteen spent some Saturdays doing stand up comedy at a mafia night club. After a false start and a detour in therapy, Morris returned to Wright Junior College in 1950 and took up drama. He enrolled at Northwestern University School of Speech in 1952, as a junior theater major. Alvina Krause taught him acting, though he reports she did not like him; he got a "C" in the class. In 1978 he bought a house at Lake Arrowhead, fulfilling a wish he had made as a ten-year-old in 1941.[1]

The Eric Morris System

Having published over six books in his theory, Morris claims that his System is derived partly from Lee Strasberg's Method Acting. However, Strasberg's Method focuses too much on craft, according to Morris, and not enough on the actor's instrument. Facing struggle in finding truth, he contemplated his theory while heading the Directors Unit at the Actor's Studio in Los Angeles. Morris' method recognizes the fact that actors have emotional blocks, tension, insecurities and other preventions to achieving a fundamental state of being, and works to clear these blocks, rendering the actor truly organic. In this sense, Morris stresses that acting is essentially living and being. There are seven major obligations to material, according to Eric: 1) Time and Place, 2) Relationship, 3) Emotional Obligation, 4) Character Obligation, 5) Historic Obligation, 6) Thematic Obligation, 7) Subtextual Obligation. After recognizing these 7 obligations, there are the choices the actor utilizes to render these emotions, and finally the approach to which the actors use these choices.

The Eric Morris System has received praise from such actors as Jack Nicholson and Johnny Depp.

Acting career

Morris has been acting since 1949. He is an original member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1954. He has worked in over 100 equity plays on stages across the US, including such stages as the Globe Theater and Chicago Rep. Morris has also worked in several television shows, including Lawman, Days of Our Lives, Hogan's Heroes, The New Phil Silvers Show and Fame. Furthermore, Morris has worked in over 25 major motion pictures, including Pork Chop Hill, Battle Beyond the Stars and Mirage.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1957 Monkey on My Back Soldier
1959 Holiday for Lovers Airforce Military Police Uncredited
A Private's Affair Orderly Uncredited
1960 Ma Barker's Killer Brood Fred Barker
1969 Strategy of Terror Tippo Alternative title: In Darkness Waiting
1976 My Friends Need Killing Dr. MacLaine
1980 Battle Beyond the Stars Feh
1983 Wavelength Dr. Vernon Cottrell
1989 Cipayos (la tercera invasión) English Colonel
1995 Mirage Police captain
1996 Eye for an Eye Columnist
2006 Love Hollywood Style Psychologist
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1957 The Silent Service Soldier 19 episodes, uncredited
1959 Lawman Joey Young 1 episode
1961 Ben Casey Patient 1 episode
Dr. Kildare Doctor 1 episode, uncredited
1963–1964 The New Phil Silvers Show Stanley 4 episodes, uncredited
1965 Kraft Suspense Theatre Tippo 2 episodes
1969–1970 Hogan's Heroes Captain Streicker 2 episodes
1982 Fame Panel Member 1 episode
1988 Mathnet Wharfinger 1 episode
Square One Television Wharfinger 1 episode

Books

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Morris, Eric (2007). The Diary of a Professional Experiencer: An Autobiographical Journey Into the Evolution of an Acting System. 8004 Fareholm Drive, Los Angeles, California 90046: Ermor Enterprises. Retrieved 2013-12-02.

External links