Chester Morris

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BIRTHDAY

February 16, 1901

New York City, NY

DIED

September 12, 1970

RECENT CREDITS

The Great White Hope (FILM) Oct. 11, 1970

Unchained (FILM) Feb. 1, 1955

The Phantom Thief (FILM) May. 2, 1946

One Mysterious Night (FILM) Sep. 21, 1944

Alibi (FILM) Apr. 20, 1929

View all Chester Morris Credits

BIOGRAPHY

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Chester Morris was the son of actors William Morris and comedienne Etta Hawkins; Morris' siblings, Adrian and Wilhelmina, later became performers as well. Reportedly in silent films at the age of nine, Morris' certified Broadway debut, at 15, was in Lionel Barrymore's The Copperhead; that same year (1917), Morris graduated from the New York School of Fine Arts. He billed himself as "the youngest leading man in the country" -- which, at 17, he may very well have been. He was Oscar-nominated for his first talking-picture role in Alibi (1929). Morris spent the 1930s alternating between tough-guy stuff like The Big House (1930) and tux-and-tails assignments in films like The Divorcee (1930). From 1940 through 1949, Morris starred as Boston Blackie in a lively series of Columbia B-pictures, a role which gave him opportunities to indulge his fondness for elaborate makeups and sleight-of-hand. During the 1950s, Morris headlined the touring companies of several Broadway plays, including Detective Story and Advise and Consent; he also hosted the syndicated TV anthology Captured. Chester Morris died of a barbiturate overdose while he was starring in a Bucks County Playhouse production of Caine Mutiny Court Martial; his last film, The Great White Hope, was released shortly after his death.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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