Frank Morgan

Frank Morgan
Born Francis Phillip Wuppermann
(1890-06-01)June 1, 1890
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died September 18, 1949(1949-09-18) (aged 59)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death Heart attack[1]
Resting place Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York
Alma mater Cornell University
Occupation Actor
Years active 1914–1949
Spouse(s)
Alma Muller (m. 1914)
Children George Morgan (1916–2003)

Francis Phillip Wuppermann (born; June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor on radio, stage and film.[2] He was also a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Early life

Morgan was born in New York City, to Josephine Wright (née Hancox) and George Diogracia Wuppermann. He was the youngest of six boys and five girls. The elder Mr. Wuppermann was born in Venezuela, but was brought up in Hamburg, Germany and was of German and Spanish ancestry.[3][4][5] His mother was born in the United States, of English ancestry. His brother, Ralph, was also an actor. The family earned their wealth distributing Angostura bitters, allowing Wuppermann to attend Cornell University, and joining Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity and the Glee Club.[6][7]

Career

Morgan and Madge Kennedy in Baby Mine (1917)

Morgan starred with John Barrymore in Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917), an independent film produced in and about New York City. His career expanded when talkies began, his most stereotypical role being that of a befuddled but good hearted middle-aged man. By the mid-1930s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had been so impressed by Morgan that they signed him to a lifetime contract. Morgan's best remembered film performances, playing six roles, are in The Wizard of Oz (1939): as the carnival huckster "Professor Marvel", the gatekeeper at the Emerald City, the coachman of the carriage drawn by "The Horse of a Different Color", the guard who initially refuses to let Dorothy and her friends in to see the Wizard, the Wizard's scary face projection, and the Wizard himself. Morgan was cast in the role on September 22, 1938. W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the role of the Wizard, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee. An actor with a wide range, Morgan was equally effective playing comical, befuddled men such as Jesse Kiffmeyer in Saratoga (1937) and Mr. Ferris in Casanova Brown (1944), as he was with more serious, troubled characters like Hugo Matuschek in The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Professor Roth in The Mortal Storm (1940) and Willie Grogan in The Human Comedy (1943). MGM's comedy film The Great Morgan (1946), was written with the story centering on the latter.

In the 1940s, Morgan co-starred with Fanny Brice in one version (of several different series) of the radio program Maxwell House Coffee Time, aka The Frank Morgan-Fanny Brice Show. During the first half of the show Morgan would tell increasingly outlandish tall tales about his life adventures, much to the dismay of his fellow cast members. After the Morgan segment there was a song, followed by Brice as 'Baby Snooks' for the last half of the show. When Brice left to star in her own program in 1944, Morgan continued solo for a year with The Frank Morgan Show.[8] In 1947, Morgan starred as the title character in the radio series The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy. He also recorded a number of children's records, including the popular Gossamer Wump, released in 1949 by Capitol Records. Like most popular character actors of the studio era, Morgan was sought out for numerous supporting roles. He played Barney Wile in The Stratton Story (1949), which follows a baseball player (James Stewart), who makes a comeback after having his leg amputated due to a hunting accident. His final film, Key to the City (1950), was released posthumously.

Personal life and death

Morgan married Alma Muller (1895–1949) in 1914; they had one son, George (1916-2003). Their marriage ended with his death in 1949. He was widely known to have alcoholism, according to several who worked with him, including Margaret Hamilton and Aljean Harmetz. Morgan sometimes carried a black briefcase to work fully equipped with a small mini-bar.[9] Morgan's niece Claudia Morgan (née Wuppermann) was a stage and film actress, most notable for playing the role of Vera Claythorne in the first Broadway production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Morgan was also a brother of playwright Carlos Wuppermann (1887-1919, stage/pen names Carlyle Morgan and Carlos Wupperman), who was killed in the Rhineland in 1919 while on duty there with the Army of Occupation. Wuppermann had only one play produced on Broadway, The Triumph of X which opened at the Comedy Theater in New York City on August 24, 1921,[10] but ran for only 30 performances. The production starred Morgan, and also featured Helen Menken as the female lead. Also in the production for his first Broadway outing was Robert Keith, father of actor Brian Keith and one-time husband of Theater Guild actress Peg Entwistle. Entwistle infamously committed suicide by jumping from the Hollywood Sign in 1932.[11]

Morgan died of a heart attack on September 18, 1949, while filming Annie Get Your Gun. He was replaced by Louis Calhern for the film. His death came before the 1956 premiere televised broadcast on CBS[12] of The Wizard of Oz, which made him the only major cast member from the film who did not live to see the film's revived popularity and become an annual American television institution.[12] Morgan is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. His tombstone carries his real name, Wuppermann, as well as his stage name.

Awards and honors

Morgan was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Actor in The Affairs of Cellini (1934) and one for Best Supporting Actor in Tortilla Flat (1942). He has two stars dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California: one for his films at 1708 Vine Street and one for his work in radio at 6700 Hollywood Boulevard. Both were dedicated on February 8, 1960.

Complete filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1916 The Suspect Sir Richard Film debut, as Frank Wupperman
1916 The Daring of Diana John Briscoe As Francis Morgan
1916 The Girl Philippa Halkett As Francis Morgan
1917 A Modern Cinderella Tom
1917 A Child of the Wild Frank Trent
1917 The Light in Darkness Ramsey Latham
1917 Baby Mine Alfred
1917 Who's Your Neighbor? Dudley Carlton
1917 Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman Bunny Manders
1918 The Knife Dr. Robert Manning
1918 At the Mercy of Men Count Nicho
1918 The Gray Towers Mystery Billy Durland
1924 Manhandled Arno Riccardi
1924 Born Rich Eugene Magnin
1925 The Crowded Hour Bert Caswell
1925 The Man Who Found Himself Lon Morris
1925 Scarlet Saint Baron Badeau
1927 Love's Greatest Mistake William Ogden
1930 Belle of the Night Short
1930 Dangerous Nan McGrew Muldoon
1930 Queen High Mr. Nettleton
1930 Laughter C. Mortimer Gibson
1930 Fast and Loose Bronson Lenox
1932 Secrets of the French Police François St. Cyr
1932 The Half-Naked Truth Merle Farrell
1933 The Billion Dollar Scandal John Dudley Masterson
1933 Luxury Liner Alex Stevenson
1933 Hallelujah, I'm a Bum Mayor John Hastings
1933 Reunion in Vienna Dr. Anton Krug
1933 The Kiss Before the Mirror Paul Held
1933 The Nuisance Dr. Buchanan Prescott
1933 When Ladies Meet Rogers Woodruf
1933 Best of Enemies William Hartman
1933 Broadway to Hollywood Ted Hackett
1933 Bombshell Pops Burns
1934 The Cat and the Fiddle Daudet
1934 Success at Any Price Merritt
1934 Sisters Under the Skin John Hunter Yates
1934 The Affairs of Cellini Alessandro – Duke of Florence
1934 A Lost Lady Forrester
1934 There's Always Tomorrow Joseph White
1934 By Your Leave Henry Smith
1934 The Mighty Barnum Joe Uncredited
1935 The Good Fairy Konrad
1935 Enchanted April Mellersh Wilkins
1935 Naughty Marietta Governor d'Annard
1935 Escapade Karl
1935 I Live My Life G.P. Bentley
1935 The Perfect Gentleman Major Horatio Chatteris
1936 The Great Ziegfeld Jack Billings
1936 Trouble for Two Colonel Geraldine
1936 Dancing Pirate Mayor Don Emilio Perena
1936 Piccadilly Jim James Crocker - Sr. / Count Olav Osric
1936 Dimples Prof. Eustace Appleby
1937 The Last of Mrs. Cheyney Lord Kelton
1937 The Emperor's Candlesticks Col. Baron Suroff
1937 Saratoga Jesse Kiffmeyer
1937 Sunday Night at the Trocadero Himself Short
1937 Beg, Borrow or Steal Ingraham Steward
1937 Rosalie King
1938 Paradise for Three Rudolph Tobler
1938 Port of Seven Seas Panisse
1938 The Crowd Roars Brian McCoy
1938 Sweethearts Felix Lehman
1939 Broadway Serenade Cornelius Collier, Jr.
1939 The Wizard of Oz Professor Marvel, The Wizard of Oz,
The Gatekeeper, The Carriage Driver, The Guard
1939 Henry Goes Arizona Henry Conroy
1939 Balalaika Ivan Danchenoff
1940 The Shop Around the Corner Hugo Matuschek
1940 Broadway Melody of 1940 Bob Casey
1940 The Ghost Comes Home Vern Adams
1940 The Mortal Storm Professor Viktor Roth
1940 Boom Town Luther Aldrich
1940 Hullabaloo Frankie Merriweather
1940 Keeping Company Harry C. Thomas
1941 The Wild Man of Borneo J. Daniel Thompson
1941 Washington Melodrama Calvin Claymore
1941 Honky Tonk Judge Cotton
1942 The Vanishing Virginian Robert Yancey
1942 Tortilla Flat The Pirate
1942 White Cargo The Doctor
1943 The Human Comedy Willie Grogan
1943 A Stranger in Town John Josephus Grant
1943 Thousands Cheer Dr. Frank Morgan
1944 The White Cliffs of Dover Hiram Porter Dunn
1944 Kismet Narrator (voice) Uncredited
1944 Casanova Brown Mr. Ferris
1945 Yolanda and the Thief Victor Budlow Trout
1946 Courage of Lassie Harry MacBain
1946 The Cockeyed Miracle Sam Griggs
1946 Lady Luck William Audrey
1946 The Great Morgan Himself
1947 Green Dolphin Street Dr. Edmond Ozanne
1948 Summer Holiday Uncle Sid
1948 The Three Musketeers King Louis XIII
1949 The Stratton Story Barney Wile
1949 The Great Sinner Aristide Pitard
1949 Any Number Can Play Jim Kurstyn
1950 Key to the City Fire Chief Duggan Posthumous release

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1940Screen Guild PlayersThe Shop Around the Corner[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Desert Sun 20 September 1949 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  2. ↑ Obituary Variety, September 21, 1949, page 63.
  3. ↑ The National cyclopaedia of American biography: being the history of the ... - James Terry White - Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  4. ↑ Playbills to Photoplays - New England Vintage Film Inc Society, New England Vintage Film Society, Inc. - Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  5. ↑ http://irishmafia.us/morgan.html
  6. ↑ Grand Catalogue of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity - Twelfth Edition, p.377: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company, 1985.
  7. ↑ Slon, Michael (1998-01-01). Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell University Glee Club. Cornell University Glee Club. ISBN 9780962010316.
  8. ↑ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 259–260. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
  9. ↑ "Frank Morgan at Hollywood's Irish Mafia". Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  10. ↑ Theater Review by Alexander Woollcot New York Times, August 25, 1921.
  11. ↑ "Internet Broadway Database". Archived from the original on 2012-07-25.
  12. 1 2 Doug Fuhrmann, "Pop Culture History: Wizard of Oz televised (1950s), The Daily Journal.com April 6, 2009 Archived August 24, 2014, at Archive.is. Accessed 24 August, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Those Were The Days". Nostalgia Digest. 41 (3): 32–39. Summer 2015.
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