Today, the actor Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Sherman T. Potter on the television series M*A*S*H from 1975-1983 passed away at the age of 96. He continued the Col. Potter role in the short-lived series After MASH in 1983-1984, and he also had appeared on earlier episodes of M*A*S*H as Maj. Gen. Bartford Hamilton Steele. Our older readers may remember Morgan as the partner of Joe Friday (Jack Webb) on Dragnet. He was an excellent character actor who appeared in many films, including some of my favorite Westerns such as The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), High Noon (1952), and Bend of the River (1952).
But he always will be Colonel Potter to me, as those M*A*S*H episodes were a constant in my family’s home. In the role, Morgan went from playing character actors to developing a deep role of a man with character. While he often was the straight man (not an easy acting role) to the shenanigans of Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and BJ (Mike Farrell), he also could be funny in his own right.
Before Morgan’s arrival on the show, many wondered how the show could continue without the departing McLean Stevenson as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake. Stevenson was wonderful on the show, but the M*A*S*H writers demonstrated how a show could thrive after replacing one popular character with a completely different character by exploring new directions (writers for The Office, take note). Where Stevenson played the bumbling uncle to the residents of the M*A*S*H 4077, as Col. Potter, Morgan became the sometimes cranky but always wise and loving father. Like real children, we viewers all loved and learned from Col. Potter.
RIP.
What’s your favorite memories of Harry Morgan? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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