Farewell, Colonel Potter

[bbgun]

Harry Morgan, who played Col. Potter on M*A*S*H, dies at 96

Posted: 12:41 PM, December 7, 2011


LOS ANGELES – Actor Harry Morgan, who played gruff but lovable Colonel Potter on the long-running television series M*A*S*H, died Wednesday at 96 at his Los Angeles home, the New York Times reported.

Morgan, who also played Officer Bill Gannon on the popular late-60s show "Dragnet," had a prolific acting career, appearing in more than 100 movies.

He joined M*A*S*H in its fourth season (1975-76) as tough but caring Colonel Sherman T. Potter, always loyal to his wife and his horse, and won an Emmy in 1980. He stayed with the show until it went off the air in 1983.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainme...l_potter_pubG8kWNRvgYtAjDpjmA8L#ixzz1fsKggbUZ

 

[Duane]

R.I.P. Harry. He was always great in M*A*S*H.

 

[Hostile]

One of the funniest TV Characters ever.

 

[Wimbo]

http://i123.***BLOCKED***/albums/o307/don935_photo/captaincomics/horsehockey.jpg

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

One of my favorite shows of all time.

Loved his character and also liked when he came on as a different General while Henry Blake was still the commanding officer. Harry played a General that was racist and looney...that episode was funny.

http://i18.***BLOCKED***/albums/b133/BrAinPaiNt/horsehockey.jpg

 

[Faerluna]

Mule fritters!

Rest in peace, Harry. Thanks for all the laughs.

 

[bbgun]

One of my favorite shows of all time.

Loved his character and also liked when he came on as a different General while Henry Blake was still the commanding officer. Harry played a General that was racist and looney...that episode was funny.

http://i18.***BLOCKED***/albums/b133/BrAinPaiNt/horsehockey.jpg

Yeah, he was regular Army, but he wasn't a loon like Flagg or a rat like Burns. Nice change from Henry Blake.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Yeah, he was regular Army, but he wasn't a loon like Flagg or a rat like Burns. Nice change from Henry Blake.

Reminds me...the other day I caught the episode of mash where Hawkeye goes to try and see Trapper before he got on the plane to leave. Misses him so he picks up BJ and when they get back they get soused. But one of the funniest lines ever on MASH was when BJ first meets Frank and calls him ferret face. :laugh1:

 

[Illini88228]

Nice change from Henry Blake.

That was the secret to how they stayed on the air so long. When one person would leave, rather than trying to replace them with someone like them (see Don Knotts leaving the Andy Griffith Show to be replaced by Jack Burns) they would replace them with someone very different. For example, Larry Linville was replaced by David Ogden Stiers. This let them open up a whole new set of possible story lines and kept the show fresh much longer than it otherwise would have.

 

[Yeagermeister]

RIP to one of my favorite actors

 

[bbgun]

Reminds me...the other day I caught the episode of mash where Hawkeye goes to try and see Trapper before he got on the plane to leave. Misses him so he picks up BJ and when they get back they get soused. But one of the funniest lines ever on MASH was when BJ first meets Frank and calls him ferret face. :laugh1:

[youtube]zXEJb6Ezebo[/youtube]

:laugh1:

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm know I'm in the minority on this, but I was never really a MASH fan.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I'm know I'm in the minority on this, but I was never really a MASH fan.

Leave this thread now and never come back. :

 

[Idgit]

I'm know I'm in the minority on this, but I was never really a MASH fan.

Sam I Am, why don't you shut your mouth and let that ugly cut under your nose heal!

 

[Hostile]

I don't know why, but it seems kind of fitting to me that he died on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Given that his character was a WWI and WWII veteran.

 

[Phoenix]

Sad news. Loved him on MASH. RIP

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

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[bbgun]

"Harry had a thousand stories. That of course comes from appearing in over 100 movies, and probably 10,000 television programs," M*A*S*H executive producer Ken Levine wrote, paying tribute to Morgan on his blog on Wednesday. "Harry was very much like Colonel Potter. He raised horses, and in fact, in the final episode when he says goodbye to Sophie, that really was one of Harry's horses. The picture on Potter's desk was of Harry's real wife, Eileen. And the only difference in personalities between Harry and Sherman is that Harry held his liquor better."

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I agree. One of the guys that everybody had a kind of soft spot for. I remember him in Dragnet before Mash. He was in one of my very favorite movies as well, Support Your Local Sheriff. He played in a bunch of stuff.

Gonna miss him.

RIP Henry Morgan.

 

[Hostile]

My favorite Colonel Potter scene was one where everyone in camp was sick. He goes to talk to Igor and tell him the only way to get over it is to get it out of his head. Igor proceeds to explain what his head and stomach are doing and Potter is desperately trying not to yack. Finally he interrupts Igor in mid sentence and it ends like this.

Potter: "Private."

Igor: "Sir?"

Potter: "Move, move over."

That scene always killed me.