I was not surprised when I heard the news this morning that veteran British/Canadian actor Barry Morse passed away on Saturday. The fact is his name had come up in a couple of conversations with friends this past week. Isn't this always a sign of an impending death?Barry Morse was known to many in this country as a Canadian actor simply because he constantly worked here; having moved to Canada in 1951. He become well known to American viewers with his portrayal of David Janssen's man-of-the-law nemesis Lt. Gerard, in the ABC dramatic series, The Fugitive. As this show was photographed in black & white (except for the final season which was shot in colour... sorry, color), most young folk have not seen it at all. How some of us were introduced to Mr. Morse was through his portrayal of the humanist scientist Victor Bergman, in the first season of Space: 1999. His character was a shot of much needed warmth in that frosty special season. (Morse declined the second season of Space; something about his agent not coming to terms with that series' producers.)
In his very long career, Morse worked in radio, film, television and theatre. He was made director of the 1966 Shaw Festival here in Canada.
My own connection with Barry Morse was made in the summer of 1988 when I was leafing through a book in the Yorkville Library (a branch of the Toronto Library system): I stood before a shelf which was up against the wall. My attention was split enough to look over at a figure who was approaching from the left. In the purest Hal Roach sense, I gave a double take. Mr. Morse saw this and kinda looked past me as he walked by. Hey, I would look past me too. He ended up around the bookshelf behind me and started talking. That for sure is Barry Morse's voice.
(For some reason I forgot about this moment when I wrote my blog "Just a Walkin' Down the Street", from last September 9th.)
I told a friend of mine this incident later and he said, "you should have whispered through the shelf, 'hey I know a man by the name of David Kimble'."
3 comments:
Okay, this is just too freaky. Saturday morning, when he passed away, I was having a "Space 1999" marathon in my house-- I'm not kidding.
A marvelous actor who lived a full life, and a great human being. He always lit up any project he was associated with. Living in small town Ontario in the late 70s-early 80s, I saw him in a lot of programming, when he was doing a lot of Canadian work.... "Klondike Fever", "The Changeling", etc. And I also vividly remember from my childhood an adaption of Bradbury's "The Ugly Little Boy" which he also directed as well as played the supervisor. In 1992, I saw him on City TV's Speaker's Corner, spouting Shakespeare at the top of his lungs. It was a gas.
And oh yes, how could I forget, I used to see him in the Anthology "Strange but True", which played on Global on Sunday nights, 1982-83.
I too remember seeing "The Ugly Little Boy"... probably in it's 1977 premiere. It is a film that sticks to you. There is a rawness (not crudeness)to the presentation which lends authenticity.
I think this is an Issac Asimov story.
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