
Acting
Wayne Morris
Born 1914-02-17 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Wayne Morris (February 17, 1914 – September 14, 1959), born Bert DeWayne Morris in Los Angeles, was an American film and television actor, as well as a decorated World War II fighter ace. He appeared in many notable films, including Paths of Glory (1957), The Bushwackers (1952) and the title role of Kid Galahad in 1937. While filming Flight Angels (1940), Morris became interested in flying and became a pilot. With war in the wind, he joined the Naval Reserve and became a Navy flier in 1942, leaving his film career behind for the duration of the war. Flying the F6F Hellcat off the aircraft carrier USS Essex, Morris shot down seven Japanese planes and contributed to the sinking of five ships. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. Morris was considered by the Navy as physically 'too big' to fly fighters. After being turned down several times as a fighter pilot, he went to his brother in law, Cdr. David McCampbell, imploring him for the chance to fly fighters. Cdr. McCampbell said "Give me a letter." He flew with the VF-15, the famed "McCampbell Heroes." He married Patricia O'Rourke, an Olympic swimmer, and sister to B-movie actress Peggy Stewart. Following the war, Morris returned to films, but his nearly four-year absence had cost him his burgeoning stardom. He continued to act in movies, but the pictures, for the most part, sank in quality. Losing his boyish looks but not demeanor, Morris spent most of the fifties in low-budget westerns. He made an unusual career move in 1957, making his Broadway debut as a washed-up boxing champ in William Saroyan's The Cave Dwellers. He also appeared as a weakling in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957). Morris suffered a massive heart attack while visiting aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard in San Francisco Bay and was pronounced dead after being transported to Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He was 45. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wayne Morris (American actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Acting credits
8.3A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
Paths of Glory
1957
6.0A US Marshal hunts down three bank robbers that are living under new identities.
Fighting Lawman
1953
4.8Federal Airlines ace pilot Chick Faber is grounded by Flight Superintendent Bill Graves when a doctor says his eyesight is failing. Aided by Mary Norvell and Nan Hudson, Graves persuades Chick to take a job as teacher in the school for airline hostesses, and Chick and Mary get married. He learns that the Army is going to test a stratosphere plane that he and Artie Dixon designed and feels that he should make the first flight but permission is refused.
Flight Angels
1940
7.0A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Plunder Road
1957
6.0When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.
The Return of Doctor X
1939
6.1Three comrades graduate from Viriginia Military Institute. Bing has a chance to return to VMI as a football coach.
Brother Rat and a Baby
1940
5.8An aviator ignores skeptics to make the first commercial flight from San Francisco to China.
China Clipper
1936
5.3A pair of slick Broadway producers con a wealthy cowboy into backing their show.
An Angel from Texas
1940
6.7A lumberman takes on a sleezy corporate giant wanting to move in and do whatever it takes to drive everyone else out of business.
Valley of the Giants
1938
6.0When a stagecoach guard tries to warn a town of an imminent raid by a band of outlaws, the people mistake him for one of the gang.
Riding Shotgun
1954
6.9After learning the finer points of carrier aviation in the 1920s, career officer Jonathan Scott and his pals spend the next two decades promoting the superiority of naval air power. But military and political "red tape" continually frustrate their efforts, prompting Scott to even consider leaving the Navy for a more lucrative civilian job. Then the world enters a second World War and Scott finally gets the opportunity to prove to Washington the valuable role aircraft carriers could play in winning the conflict. But what will it cost him and his comrades personally?
Task Force
1949
5.3WWII veteran Mike Donovan decides to sell his fishing boat after suffering a a series of accidents, the worst of which sends his father, Captain John Donovan, to the hospital suffering from amnesia. His decision is opposed by hie sweetheart, Nina Torres, and his loyal crew, but supported by his father's nurse, Jean Elliott, who also has romantic designs on Mike.
Yellow Fin
1951
7.1Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Kid Galahad
1937
5.6Told in flashback, this drama follows the training and personal lives of three recruits in the Army Air Corps: a wealthy playboy, a college jock, and an auto mechanic. Love interest is supplied by a female photographer and a sultry blonde.
I Wanted Wings
1941
7.0Mike Martin becomes a deputy marshal and takes on a gang of cattle rustlers.
The Marksman
1953
7.0A small town farmer, who happens to be very wealthy, meets and falls for an actress, but his friends warn him she's only interested in his money.
Ladies Must Live
1940
7.2"Only a fool sticks his neck out for somebody else. Don't get in the habit of it." Outlaw gunslinger Sam Garrett offers that sage wisdom to fellow fugitive Tom Cameron, who's on the run from the "Bluebellies," Texas State Police officers who wield a brutal iron fist of enforcement in the early 1870s. But quick-draw, hard-bitten Garrett soon decides not to take his own advice after young Cameron heads home to surrender - and instead gets framed for a revenge murder by a jealous rival for the affections of his girl.
The Desperado
1954
7.0Hoping to strike it rich, four people--two best buddies, a blonde waitress and a cheerful oldtimer--pool their resources so they can drill for oil. A Columbia Pictures B-film from 1951.
The Big Gusher
1951
7.0The new warden of a large American harbor raises the hackles of sailors and fishermen by his strict enforcement of all the safety rules. He takes the time, though, to romance the sister of his biggest rival.
Port of Hell
1954
6.2A group of outlaws posing as Southern sympathizers and led secretly by freight-line owner Jim Maroon are raiding stagecoaches, and this is a threat to the Union communications. Grif Holbrook, a trouble-shooter for the Butterfield Stage Line, and Union man Barney Broderick team up to try and put a stop to the activity, when they aren't fighting over the charms of Kate Crocker.
Stage to Tucson
1950
5.7A reporter enlists the help of a gangster's secretary to obtain evidence to bring her boss to justice.
Gambling on the High Seas
1940
6.0Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1949.
Breakdowns of 1949
1949
6.3An American detective unmasks a gambler as the head of a banknote counterfeiting gang.
The Crooked Sky
1957
6.2Gangsters frame a boxer for murder when he refuses to throw a fight.
The Big Punch
1948