Victor Harry Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor. Active on screen for over three decades, he made his debut in the drama film Blackboard Jungle (1955). Morrow came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series Combat! (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series. He also appeared in the films King Creole (1958), God's Little Acre (1958), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), and The Bad News Bears (1976). Morrow continued acting up to his death during filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) when he and two child actors were killed in a helicopter crash.
Morrow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Harry Morrow (né Morozoff), an electrical engineer, and Eugenia "Jean" (née Barmachenko). Harry and Eugenia were Russian Jewish immigrants. Morrow dropped out of high school when he was 17 and enlisted in the United States Navy. Morrow and his family lived in Asbury Park, New Jersey for many years.
After his military service, Morrow earned his diploma through attending night school and enrolled at Florida Southern College on the G.I. Bill, intending to study pre-law. While there, he became interested in acting after appearing in a student production of I Remember Mama. He dropped pre-law to study at Mexico City College, where he acted in bilingual performances of plays by writers including Shakespeare and Moliere. He then relocated to New York City, where he worked in theater before joining Paul Mann's acting workshop for two years. Per his instructor's request, he did not act professionally during this time, instead driving a taxi to make money.
Morrow attracted attention playing Stanley Kowalski in a touring production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Blackboard Jungle and typecasting
His first movie role was in Blackboard Jungle (1955), playing a thug student who torments teacher Glenn Ford. He signed a contract with MGM in 1955 due to the success of the film, and his breakout performance as Artie West. However, according to Morrow, many of the roles offered to him by MGM after Blackboard Jungle were "switch blade parts." Morrow parted with MGM in 1956 due to this reason, adding that to "be typed isn't good for an actor like me." Morrow said that independent studios offered him similar tough guy and juvenile delinquent roles; "I turned them down until I ran out of money."
MGM afterward put Morrow in Tribute to a Bad Man (1956). Morrow appeared on television, guest starring on shows like The Millionaire, Matinee Theatre, Climax!, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Restless Gun, Trackdown, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Magnum P.I. and Telephone Time.
Morrow had supporting roles in Men in War (1957), directed by Anthony Mann, and was third billed in Hell's Five Hours (1958). He starred alongside Elvis Presley and an all-star supporting cast including Walter Matthau and Carolyn Jones in the movie King Creole (1958), directed by Michael Curtiz. Mann asked him back for God's Little Acre (1958).
A Man Called Sledge is a 1970 Italian spaghetti Western film starring James Garner in an extremely offbeat role as a grimly hardened thief, and featuring Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins and Wayde Preston. The film was written by Vic Morrow and Frank Kowalski, and directed by Morrow in Techniscope.
However, Morrow remained mostly a television actor, appearing in Naked City, Wichita Town, The Rifleman, The Lineup, Johnny Ringo, The Brothers Brannagan, The Law and Mr. Jones, The Lawless Years, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, General Electric Theatre, Target: The Corruptors, The Tall Man, Outlaws, Bonanza, and The Untouchables.
He was cast in the early Bonanza episode "The Avenger" as a mysterious figure known only as "Lassiter" – named after his town of origin – who arrives in Virginia City. He helps save Ben and Adam Cartwright from an unjust hanging, while eventually gunning down one sought-after man, revealing himself as the hunter of a lynch mob who killed his father. Having so far killed about half the mob, he rides off into the night, in an episode that resembles the later Clint Eastwood film High Plains Drifter. Morrow later appeared in the third season Bonanza episode "The Tin Badge".
Mann used Morrow a third time in Cimarron (1960), again tormenting Glenn Ford. He took on Audie Murphy in Posse from Hell (1961).
Morrow was cast as soldier-engineer Lt. Robert Benson in the 1962 episode "A Matter of Honor" on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. The story focuses on Benson's fiancée, Indiana (Shirley Ballard), who tries to persuade him to boost their income by selling inside Army information to criminal real estate moguls like Joseph Hooker (Howard Petrie). Trevor Bardette and Meg Wyllie were cast in the roles of Captain and Mrs. Warner.
Morrow had his first leading role in Portrait of a Mobster (1961) playing Dutch Schultz.
He continued as mostly a television actor, appearing in Death Valley Days, Alcoa Premiere, and Suspense.
Morrow was cast in the lead role of Sergeant "Chip" Saunders in ABC's Combat!, a World War II drama, which aired from 1962 to 1967. Pop culture scholar Gene Santoro has written:
TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962–1967) was really a collection of complex 50-minute movies. Salted with battle sequences, they follow a squad's travails from D-Day on – a gritty ground-eye view of men trying to salvage their humanity and survive. Melodrama, comedy, and satire come into play as top-billed Lieutenant Hanley (Rick Jason) and Sergeant Saunders (Vic Morrow) lead their men toward Paris .... The relentlessness hollows antihero Saunders out: at times, you can see the tombstones in his eyes."
His friend and fellow actor on Combat!, Rick Jason, described Morrow as "a master director", praising his directorial work on the two-part episode of Combat! entitled "Hills Are for Heroes", which was written by Gene L. Coon and was one of seven episodes that Morrow directed, as "one of the greatest anti-war films I've ever seen".