Harry Morgan, star of Dragnet and M*A*S*H, dies aged 96

Actor best known for roles on the TV shows Dragnet and M*A*S*H dies aged 96 after suffering from pneumonia

Harry Morgan, the actor best known for playing Colonel Sherman Potter in the US television comedy M*A*S*H, has died at his Los Angeles home aged 96.

Morgan died after suffering from pneumonia, his son Christopher confirmed late on Wednesday.

The Emmy award-winning actor appeared in more than 100 films in a prolific career on the big screen.but was best known as Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H.

Mike Farrell, who played BJ Hunnicutt in the series, said of his co-star: "There was not an unadorable bone in the man's body."

Morgan also appeared as officer Bill Gannon on the crime series Dragnet from 1967 to 1970, alongside Jack Webb.

His ability to play a variety of roles, dramatic and comedic, made him an actor in demand for half a century. He starred in about a dozen US TV series in the 1950s and appeared in movies with some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

But it was Morgan's role on M*A*S*H, the long-running series on the US CBS network, that earned him his most fame. The series was adapted from the successful 1970 feature film of the same name, presenting an anti-war theme at the same time the US was extricating itself from the Vietnam War.

Morgan was not one of M*A*S*H's original cast members. The series began in 1972 but his first appearance came in a guest-starring role during its third season. He became a full-time cast member in 1975 after actor McLean Stevenson, who had played the fictional unit's commanding officer, left the show.

Morgan famously cried during a 1983 news conference after taping the final episode of M*A*S*H, which became the most-watched show in the history of US television.

He told reporters: "I'm feeling very sad and sentimental. I don't know if M*A*S*H made me a better actor, but I know it made me a better human being."

Morgan went on to play Potter in a short-lived TV sequel to Mash entitled After-M*A*S*H.

In 2004, he told the Archive of American Television: "I'd like to be remembered for being a fairly pleasant person and for having gotten along for the most part with a lot of the people I've worked with. And for having a wonderful life and for having enjoyed practically every minute of it. I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world."

 

Morgan was married twice and had four children with his first wife, Eileen, who died in 1985 after the pair had been together 45 years.

His son, Daniel, died in 1989. He is survived by three other sons, eight grandchildren and his second wife, Barbara Bushman.