Later Life and Career
1976, Morris appeared in the movie Car Wash, playing the role of Sly the bookie maker. In 1983 and 1984, Morris appeared in five episodes of The Jeffersons, playing a character named Jimmy.
He starred in the 1984 film The Census Taker, a 1984 black comedy directed by Bruce R. Cook.
In 1985, he appeared in Larry Cohen's science fiction horror film The Stuff, playing cookie magnate "Chocolate Chip Charlie", a parody of Famous Amos. That year he also guested on Murder, She Wrote as "Lafayette Duquesne".
In 1986, Morris began playing a regular occasional character, "Arnold 'Sporty' James," on the NBC cop drama Hunter, starring Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer. Morris continually appeared as "Sporty" on "Hunter" through 1989.
In 1994, he was shot in an apparent robbery attempt but went on to make a full recovery. In a radio interview, he mentioned that the robber who shot him was eventually incarcerated, and in prison some fans of Morris who happened to be inmates there teamed up and beat up the robber in revenge.
Morris starred on Martin as Martin's first boss Stan Winters. Morris's shooting had caused him to be unable to continue in the role, and he was written out of the show by having the character become a national fugitive. The scene where he is about to undergo plastic surgery was shot on the hospital bed Morris occupied while recuperating from the 1994 assault. He later reprised the role one last time in a guest appearance during the show's third season. In that particular episode, he is seen walking on a cane (due to his shooting) but the incident was comically parodied by saying Stan was in a police chase and had a car crash.
Among later television performances, he had regular roles on Diff'rent Strokes, The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, Martin, Roc and The Jamie Foxx Show.
He was a regular and fan favorite on The Jamie Foxx Show. He played hotel owner, and uncle of Jamie Foxx, Junior King for the entire run of the show.
In 1999, Morris appeared as himself in the fifth episode of the fifth season of the TV series, Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
In 2002, Morris made a cameo appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Brittany Murphy.
In 2006, Morris reprised his role as "Headmaster of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing" in a cameo on the TV series Family Guy, in the episode "Barely Legal".
As of 2006, he continues to perform regularly in films. He also operates and is the host of his own comedy club, The Downtown Comedy Club in downtown Los Angeles.
On February 9, 2007, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa honored Garrett Morris for his work and contributions to the black community. He declared February 9, 2007 Garrett Morris Day and named The Downtown Comedy Club the official club of Los Angeles.
In August 2008, Morris played the role of Reverend Pratt in the family comedy drama film, The Longshots, starring Ice Cube and Keke Palmer.
In 2009, Morris appeared in two TV commercials for the Nintendo DS--one featuring Mario Kart DS, and the other featuring Brain Age.
In 2010, Morris appeared in a television commercial for Miller Lite. The national commercial, titled "PopPop," features Morris alongside actors Stacey Dash and Jason Weaver. The commercial takes a light-hearted look at a family relationship with Morris playing the grandfather, PopPop, and Weaver as his grandson.
Since summer 2010, Morris has appeared in an ad for Orbit gum in the United States.
In 2011, Morris had a cameo role as a Catholic priest on the episode "Three Boys" on the Showtime series Shameless.
He is currently cast as Earl in the CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls, which premiered on September 19, 2011.
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Famous quotes containing the words life and/or career:
“My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that’s walked
A song that’s spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke
When I think about myself.”
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“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)