Greg Morris

Greg Morris

Greg Morris as Barney Collier in Mission: Impossible

Born
Francis Gregory Alan Morris
September 27, 1933(1933-09-27)
Cleveland, Ohio

Died
August 27, 1996 (aged 62)
Las Vegas, Nevada

Occupation
Actor

Spouse(s)
Leona Keyes (1956–1995)

This article is about Greg Morris, US actor. For Greg Morris, English organist, see Greg Morris (Organist).

Francis Gregory Alan Morris (September 27, 1933 – August 27, 1996) was an American television and movie actor.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Morris began his acting career in the 1960s making guest appearances on many TV shows such as The Twilight Zone and Ben Casey. In 1966, he was cast in his most recognizable role as the electronics expert Barney Collier in the TV series Mission: Impossible. Along with Peter Lupus and Bob Johnson, he would be the only other actor to remain with the series throughout its entire run.

While in college, Morris was active in theater and hosted the late afternoon Jazz radio show, "Tea-Time," on the University of Iowa's station, WSUI. He co-produced concerts at the University with a student friend. After Iowa, Greg's first professional stage role was in The Death of Bessie Smith. One of his earliest television roles was a cameo appearance on The Dick Van Dyke Show, when Rob and Laura think they've gotten the wrong baby from the hospital. His appearance in that episode caused what is purported to be the longest, uninterrupted span of laughter from a live studio audience in TV history.^[1] In the 1963–1964 season, he appeared on ABC's drama about college life, Channing, starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones.

After Mission: Impossible was cancelled, Morris would appear in movies and make guest TV appearances before he was cast as Lt. David Nelson during the second season of the TV series Vega$. After the cancellation of the series in 1981, Morris would continue to make guest TV appearances in the next decade, including a few episodes in the short-lived 1980s remake of the Mission: Impossible TV series, which starred his son Phil Morris, who was cast as Grant Collier, the son of Barney. He also appeared in a couple of episodes of the TV series What's Happening!! as Lawrence Nelson (father of Dwayne) and in three episodes of The Jeffersons, in which he reprised his role of an electronics expert (although not as Barney Collier) in a quasi-spoof of the "Mission: Impossible" series.

Morris died in 1996 of brain cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shortly before his death, he went to see the film version of Mission: Impossible that starred Tom Cruise. The reports were that he hated the movie so much (an opinion that was shared by several of his former co-stars) that he left the theater early.[1]