Harry Morgan - Later Years

Later Years

In 1986, he costarred with Hal Linden in Blacke's Magic, a show about a magician who doubled as a detective solving unusual crimes. The series lasted only one season. Morgan's character, Leonard Blacke, was a semi-retired con artist.

In 1979, Morgan played Mr. DePinna in a TV version of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's Pulitzer prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You. He also played the lead role of Martin Vanderhoff in a short-lived series based on the same play, in 1987. He was given a supporting role in John Wayne's last film The Shootist in 1976, playing the town lawman who cheered Wayne's character's forthcoming demise from cancer.

In 1987, Morgan reprised his Bill Gannon character, now a captain, for a supporting role in another film version of Dragnet, a parody of the original series written by and starring Dan Aykroyd and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Plummer.

In the 1990s, Morgan played the role of Judge Stoddard Bell in a series of TV movies starring Walter Matthau (The Incident; Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (TV 1992) and Incident in a Small Town (1994 TV)). He was on an episode of The Simpsons as Officer Bill Gannon from Dragnet in the 7th season ("Mother Simpson") and had a recurring role on 3rd Rock from the Sun as Professor Suter. Morgan directed episodes for several TV series, including two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 1 episode of Adam-12 and eight episodes of M*A*S*H. Morgan had a guest role on The Jeff Foxworthy Show as Raymond and a guest role on Grace Under Fire as Jean's pot-smoking boyfriend.

In 2006, Morgan was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.