Actor Harry Morgan Dead at 96-Years-Old

Harry Morgan, who was probably best known for his character from 1975 – 1983 on the tv show M*A*S*H has died at the age of 96.

He died at his home in Los Angeles. He’s been recently treated for pneumonia.

In the mid 1960s, he played police officer Bill Gannon in the tv show "Dragnet". He was Sergeant Joe Friday’s partner. Friday was played by Jack Webb.

Harry Morgan was born in Detroit -  Harry Bratsburg -  on April 10, 1915. When he was at the University of Chicago, he decided discovered that he wanted to pursue an acting career. His career started in a summer stock production of “At Mrs. Beam’s” in Mount Kisco, N.Y., but his Broadway debut was in 1937 in the original production of “Golden Boy.”

In the 1987 movie “Dragnet” he again played Bill Gannon, but this time he was promoted to captain. The movie was a comedy remake of the series which also starred Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks.

From a story in the New York Times, his son said that “Harry Morgan never sat as a guest on a talk show, Charles Morgan said ; it did not seem appropriate or necessary. Appearing on a talk show to focus on himself because he was Harry Morgan, and was not nearly as natural as appearing in a role as Pete Porter or Bill Gannon or Colonel Potter.

Harry Morgan will be missed.