Vic Morrow

Victor Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July

23, 1982) was an American actor and director. He came to
Vic Morrow
prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series Combat!
(1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series.
Active on screen for over three decades, his film roles include
Blackboard Jungle (1955), King Creole (1958), God's Little Acre
(1958), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), and The Bad News Bears
(1976). Morrow continued acting up to his death during filming of
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) when he and two child actors
were killed by a stunt helicopter crash.[2][3]

Contents
Early years
Career
Combat!
Deathwatch and A Man Called Sledge Morrow in 1971
TV movies Born Victor Morozoff[1]
Final roles February 14, 1929
Personal life Bronx, New York
City, U.S.
Death
Died July 23, 1982
Filmography
(aged 53)
Award nominations Indian Dunes,
References California, U.S.
External links Cause of Accidental
death decapitation by
helicopter rotor
Early years blades
Resting Hillside Memorial
Morrow was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx, to
place Park
a middle-class Jewish family.[4] He was a son of Harry Morozoff,
Culver City,
an electrical engineer, and his wife Jean (Kress) Morozoff.[5]
Morrow dropped out of high school when he was 17 and enlisted California
in the United States Navy. Other names Victor Morrow
Occupation Actor, director
Career Years active 1955–1982
Spouse(s) Barbara Turner
(m. 1958; div. 1964)
Morrow attracted attention playing Stanley Kowalski in a touring Gale A. Lester
production of A Streetcar Named Desire.[6] His first movie role (m. 1975; div. 1979)
was in Blackboard Jungle (1955), playing a thug student who
Children 2, including Jennifer
torments teacher Glenn Ford.
Jason Leigh
It was made by MGM, who then put Morrow in Tribute to a Bad
Man (1956). Morrow appeared on television, guest starring on shows like The Millionaire, Matinee
Theatre, Climax!, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Restless Gun, Trackdown, Richard Diamond, Private
Detective, and Telephone Time.

Morrow had support roles in Men in War (1957), directed by Anthony Mann, and was third billed in Hell's
Five Hours (1958). He starred alongside Elvis Presley and an all-star supporting cast including Walter
Matthau and Carolyn Jones in the movie King Creole (1958), directed by Michael Curtiz. Mann asked him
back for God's Little Acre (1958).

However Morrow remained mostly a television actor, appearing in Naked City, Wichita Town, The
Rifleman, The Lineup, Johnny Ringo, The Brothers Brannagan, The Law and Mr. Jones, The Lawless
Years, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, General Electric Theatre, Target: The Corruptors, The Tall Man,
Outlaws, Bonanza, and The Untouchables.

He was cast in the early Bonanza episode "The Avenger" as a mysterious figure known only as
"Lassiter" – named after his town of origin – who arrives in Virginia City, and helps save Ben and Adam
Cartwright from an unjust hanging, while eventually gunning down one sought-after man, revealing
himself as the hunter of a lynch mob who killed his father; having so far killed about half the mob, he rides
off into the night, in an episode that resembles the later Clint Eastwood film High Plains Drifter. Morrow
later appeared in the third season Bonanza episode "The Tin Badge".

Mann used Morrow a third time in Cimarron (1960), again tormenting Glenn Ford. He took on Audie
Murphy in Posse from Hell (1961).

Morrow was cast as soldier/engineer Lt. Robert Benson in the 1962 episode, "A Matter of Honor", on the
syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. The story focuses on
Benson's fiancé, Indiana (Shirley Ballard), who tries to persuade him to boost their income by selling inside
Army information to criminal real estate moguls like Joseph Hooker (Howard Petrie). Trevor Bardette and
Meg Wyllie were cast in the roles of Captain and Mrs. Warner.

Morrow had his first leading role in Portrait of a Mobster (1961) playing Dutch Schultz.[7]

He continued as mostly a television actor, appearing in Death Valley Days, Alcoa Premiere, and Suspense.

Combat!

Morrow was cast in the lead role of Sergeant "Chip" Saunders in ABC's Combat!, a World War II drama,
which aired from 1962 to 1967.[8] Pop culture scholar Gene Santoro has written:

TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962–1967) was really a collection of complex 50-
minute movies. Salted with battle sequences, they follow a squad's travails from D-Day on – a
gritty ground-eye view of men trying to salvage their humanity and survive. Melodrama,
comedy, and satire come into play as top-billed Lieutenant Hanley (Rick Jason) and Sergeant
Saunders (Vic Morrow) lead their men toward Paris ... The relentlessness hollows antihero
Saunders out: at times, you can see the tombstones in his eyes."[9]
His friend and fellow actor on Combat!, Rick Jason, described
Morrow as "a master director" who directed "one of the greatest
anti-war films I've ever seen". He was referring to the two-part
episode of Combat! entitled Hills Are for Heroes, which was
written by Gene L. Coon.[10]

Deathwatch and A Man Called Sledge

Morrow also worked as a television director. Together with

Leonard Nimoy, he produced the 1965 film Deathwatch, an
English-language film version of Jean Genet's play Haute
Surveillance, adapted by Morrow and Barbara Turner, directed by
Morrow, and starring Nimoy.[11]
As Sgt. Saunders in Combat!
After Combat! ended, Morrow played the lead in Target: Harry
(1969), the pilot for a proposed series that was not picked up;
Roger Corman directed.

In 1969 he set up his own company, Carleigh.[12]

Morrow wrote and directed a Spaghetti Western, produced by Dino DeLaurentiis, titled A Man Called
Sledge (1970) and starring James Garner, Dennis Weaver and Claude Akins. After Deathwatch, it was
Morrow's first and only big screen outing behind the camera. Sledge was filmed in Italy with desert-like
settings that were highly evocative of the Southwestern United States.

Morrow guest starred in The Immortal, Dan August, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Sarge, McCloud, and Owen
Marshall, Counselor at Law.

TV movies

In the 1970s Morrow starred in some television movies including A Step Out of Line (1971), Travis Logan,
D.A. (1971) (playing the title role), River of Mystery (1971), The Glass House (1972), The Weekend Nun,
Tom Sawyer (1973), Nightmare (1974).

He guest starred in Ironside, The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, Mission: Impossible, The FBI, Love Story,
The Streets of San Francisco, and Police Story.

Morrow appeared in two episodes of Australian-produced anthology series The Evil Touch (1973), one of
which he also directed.

He played the wily local sheriff in director John Hough's road classic Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, as well as
the homicidal sheriff, alongside Martin Sheen, in the television film The California Kid (1974), and The
Take (1974).

Morrow had the lead in Funeral for an Assassin (1975). He had key roles in Death Stalk (1975), Scar
Tissue (1975), The Night That Panicked America (1975), Treasure of Matecumbe (1976) and had a key
role as aggressive, competitive baseball coach Roy Turner, in the comedy The Bad News Bears (1976).

In the late 1970s Morrow worked increasingly in miniseries such as Captains and the Kings (1977), Roots
and The Last Convertible (1979), as well as guest starring on shows like Bronc, Hunter, The Littlest Hobo
and Charlie's Angels.
He returned to directing, helming episodes of Quincy, M.E. as well as Lucan and Walt Disney's Wonderful
World of Color.

Final roles

Morrow had the lead in The Ghost of Cypress Swamp (1977), the Japanese film Message from Space
(1978) and The Evictors (1979). He was in TV movies The Man with the Power (1977), The Hostage
Heart (1977), Curse of the Black Widow (1977), Wild and Wooly (1978), Stone (1979), Paris (1980)

Morrow made Humanoids from the Deep (1980) for Roger Corman and The Last Shark (1981) and had a
regular role in the series, B.A.D. Cats (1980).

Morrow's last roles included guest roles in Charlie's Angels, Magnum, P.I. and the films 1990: The Bronx
Warriors (1981) and Abenko Green Berets (1982).

Personal life
In 1958,[4] Morrow married actress and screenwriter Barbara Turner. They had two daughters, Carrie Ann
Morrow (1958–2016) and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (born 1962). Morrow's marriage to Turner ended in
divorce after seven years. He married Gale Lester in 1975, but they separated just prior to Morrow's death
in July 1982.

Morrow fell out with his daughter Jennifer after his divorce from her mother. She changed her last name to
Leigh and they were still estranged at the time of his death.[13]

Rick Jason, co-star of Combat!, wrote in his memoirs that Morrow "had an absolute dislike of firearms. He
used a Thompson submachine gun in our series, but that was work. In any other respect he'd have nothing
to do with them."[10]

Death
In 1982, Morrow was cast in a feature role in Twilight Zone: The Movie, in a segment directed by John
Landis. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a racist who is taken back in time and placed in
various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a Jewish man in Vichy France, a black man
about to be lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers.

In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le
and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were filming on location in California, in an area that was known as
Indian Dunes, near Santa Clarita. They were performing in a scene for the Vietnam sequence, in which
their characters attempt to escape out of a deserted Vietnamese village from a pursuing U.S. Army
helicopter.[2] The helicopter was hovering at approximately 24 feet (7.3 m) above them when the heat from
special effect pyrotechnic explosions reportedly delaminated the rotor blades[14] and caused the helicopter
to plummet and crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Le were decapitated and
mutilated by the helicopter rotor blades, while Chen was crushed by a helicopter skid.[15]

Landis and four other defendants, including the helicopter pilot Dorsey Wingo, were ultimately acquitted of
involuntary manslaughter after a nearly nine-month trial. The parents of Le and Chen sued and settled out
of court for an undisclosed amount. Both of Morrow's daughters also sued and settled for an undisclosed
amount.[15][16]

Morrow is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.[17]

Filmography
 Year Title Role Notes
Blackboard Jungle Artie West
1955
It's a Dog's Life Wildfire the dog Voice, Uncredited
Tribute to a Bad Man Lars Peterson
1956 The Millionaire Joey Diamond Episode: "The Joey Diamond Story"
Climax! Ted Episode: "Strange Hostage"
Men in War Corporal James Zwickley
1957
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Benny Mungo Episode "A Little Sleep"
Richard Diamond, Private
Joe Rovi Episode: "The Ed Church Case"
Detective

1958 Hell's Five Hours Burt Nash

King Creole Shark
God's Little Acre Shaw Walden
1958-1959 The Rifleman Johnny Cotton ABC-TV, 2 episodes
Naked City David Greco ABC-TV, Episode: "The Shield"
1959
Johnny Ringo Bill Stoner CBS-TV, Episode: "Kid With a Gun"
The
NBC-TV, Episode: "The Nick
Lawless Nick Joseph
Joseph Story (pilot)"
Years
Syndicated TV, series premiere,
The Brothers Brannagan Locke
Episode: "Tune in for Murder"
1960 The Barbara Stanwyck NBC-TV, Episode: "The Key to the
Leroy Benson
Show Killer"
Cimarron Wes Jennings
1960-1961 Bonanza Lassiter / Ab Brock 2 episodes
1960-1962 The Untouchables Vince Shirer / Collier 2 episodes
Posse from Hell Crip
ABC-TV, Episode: "A Very Special
The Law and Mr. Jones Dr. Bigelow
Citizen"
1961
Portrait of a Mobster Dutch Schultz
NBC-TV, Episode: "Time of
The Tall Man Skip Farrell
Foreshadowing"
ABC-TV, Episode: "To Sell Another
1962 The New Breed Belman
Human Being"
1962–
Combat! Sergeant Chip Saunders ABC-TV, 152 episodes
1967
Alternative titles: What's In it For
1969 Target: Harry Harry Black
Harry?, How to Make It
A Man Called Sledge Gold Guard Scout Uncredited
The Immortal Sheriff Dan W. Wheeler Episode: "The Rainbow Butcher"
1970
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Union
Dan August Steve Harrison
Forever"
1971 Hawaii Five-O Edward Heron CBS-TV, Episode: "Two Doves and
 Mr. Heron"
CBS-TV, Episode: "Days Beyond
Mannix Eric Latimer
Recall"
The F.B.I. Porter Bent Episode: "The Stalking Horse"
TV, Episode: "A Push Over the
Sarge Lt. Ross Edmonds
Edge"
NBC-TV, Episode: "A Little Plot at
McCloud Richard
Tranquil Valley"
Owen Marshall: Counselor ABC-TV, Episode: "Eight Cents
Andy Capaso
1972 at Law Worth of Protection"
The Glass House Hugo Slocum TV movie
CBS-TV, Episode: "Five Days in the
Mission: Impossible Joseph Collins
Death of Sgt. Brown"
NBC-TV, Episode: "The Cardboard
Love Story Dave Walters
House"
1973 The F.B.I. John Omar Stahl Episode: "Desperate Journey"
The Streets of San ABC-TV, Episode: "The Twenty-Four
Vic Tolliman
Francisco Karat Plague"

1973– Police Story Sergeant Joe LaFrieda NBC-TV, 3 episodes

1974 The Evil Touch Purvis Greene TV, 2 episodes
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry Captain Franklin
The Take Manso
1974
The California Kid Roy Childress TV movie
Funeral for an Assassin Michael Cardiff
Wanted: Babysitter Vic, the kidnapper
1975 The Night That Panicked
Hank Muldoon TV movie
America
Captains and the Kings Tom Hennessey 3 episodes
1976 The Bad News Bears Coach Roy Turner
Treasure of Matecumbe Spangler Disney movie
Roots Ames ABC-TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1977 Hunter CBS-TV, 2 episodes
The Hostage Heart Steve Rockewicz TV movie
Wild and Wooly Warden Willis TV movie
1978 Message from Space
General Garuda Japanese (Toei) movie
(Ucyuu karano messeiji)
1978– ABC-TV, "Angel In Hiding" 2
Charlie's Angels Lt. Harry Stearns
1980 episodes, fifth-season premiere
Greatest Heroes of the TV, Episode: "Daniel and
Arioch
Bible Nebuchadnezzar"
1979
The Evictors Jake Rudd
The Seekers Leland Pell TV movie
1980 Humanoids from the Deep Hank Slattery Alternative titles: Humanoids of the
Deep, Monster
 B.A.D. Cats Captain Eugene Nathan TV, 9 episodes
The Last Shark Ron Hamer Alternative titles: Great White
1981
Magnum, P.I. Police Sergeant Jordan CBS-TV, Episode: "Wave Goodbye"
ABC-TV, Episode: "The Challenge/A
Fantasy Island Douglas Picard
Genie Named Joe"
1982 1990: The Bronx Warriors Hammer Penultimate movie
South Korean war movie. Directed by
Abenko gongsu gundan
Im Kwon-taek
Died in an on-set accident during
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie Bill Connor filming
(final film role)

Award nominations
Year Award Category Work Result
Primetime Emmy Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a
1963 Combat! Nominated
Awards Series (Lead)

References
1. "Victor Morozoff in the 1940 Census" (http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/New-York/
Victor-Morozoff_dk0gx).
2. "TV actor Vic Morrow killed" (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EvNVAAAAIBAJ&pg
=1797%2C5296455). Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. July 23, 1982.
p. 1A.
3. "Actor, two children die during filming" (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jzozAAAAI
BAJ&pg=1709%2C2785919). Lodi News-Sentinel, California. UPI. July 24, 1982. p. 1.
4. "About Vic Morrow" (http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/morrow_BIO.html).
Jodavidsmeyer. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
5. Donnelley, Paul (2003). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus. p. 504.
ISBN 0-7119-9512-5.
6. Schallert, E.date=November 17, 1954. "Moss hart to write duchin story; video man plans
features". Los Angeles Times.
7. MacMINN, A. (January 13, 1963). "Camera angles". Los Angeles Times.
8. Humphrey, Hal (September 20, 1964). "Combat' Star Finds It's Hard to Sleep on the Set".
Los Angeles Times. p. B22.
9. Santoro, Gene (March–April 2011). "Infantrymen on the Small Screen" (http://go.galegroup.c
om/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA249135702&v=2.1&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w). World War II.
Leesburg, Virginia: Weider History Group. 25 (6): 69. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
10. Jason, Rick (July 2000). "Scrapbooks of My Mind: A Hollywood Autobiography" (http://www.
scrapbooksofmymind.com/vic_morrow.htm). www.scrapbooksofmymind.com. Retrieved
August 24, 2013.
11. DRAMA BY GENET WILL BE FILMED. (November 27, 1962). New York Times
12. Martin, B. (October 25, 1969). "Carleigh productions buys two properties". Los Angeles
Times. ProQuest 156298595 (https://search.proquest.com/docview/156298595).
13. Wallace, David. "For Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times Are Slowed by Personal Tragedy" (ht
tp://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083345,00.html). People. October 18, 1982.
Vol. 18, No. 16.
14. "NTSB Accident Report" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120305010558/http://www.airdisast
er.com/reports/ntsb/AAR84-14.pdf) (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board.
Washington, D.C. July 23, 1982. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
15. Farber, Stephen; Green, Marc (1988). Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego and the Twilight Zone
Case (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkGbAAAAMAAJ). Arbor House/Morrow. p. 394.
ISBN 9780877959489. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
16. Noe, Denise. "The Twilight Zone Tragedy: Funerals and Blame" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20131019160436/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/not_guilty/twilight_
zone/3.html). Crime Library. TruTV. Archived from the original (http://www.trutv.com/library/cri
me/notorious_murders/not_guilty/twilight_zone/3.html) on October 19, 2013.
17. Calisphere (https://calisphere.org/item/d09729336eb47e2e7098b02fea3f2a38/)

External links
Vic Morrow (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0607558/) at IMDb
Vic Morrow (https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/136153/wp) at the TCM Movie Database
Vic Morrow (https://www.allmovie.com/artist/p103603) at AllMovie
Filmography (http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/MORROW_credits.html)
Article on Twilight Zone tragedy, written by friend and COMBAT! co-star Dick 'Little John'
Peabody (http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/Peabodys_Place-4.html)
Vic Morrow (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1902) at Find a Grave

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