David Morse

David Morse
David Morse, 2005
Born	David Bowditch Morse October 11, 1953 (1953-10-11) (age 56) Hamilton, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation	Actor Singer Television director Television writer
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Susan Wheeler Duff (1982–present) 3 children

David Bowditch Morse^[1] (born October 11, 1953) is an American stage, television, and film actor. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack Morrison in the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. Morse continued his movie career with roles in Dancer in the Dark, The Green Mile, Disturbia, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Rock, Extreme Measures, Twelve Monkeys, 16 Blocks, and Hounddog.

In 2006, Morse had a recurring role as Detective Michael Tritter on the medical drama House, receiving an Emmy Award nomination.^[2] He also had a supporting role in the recent movie Disturbia. In 2008, Morse portrayed George Washington in the HBO Miniseries John Adams for which he received his second Emmy nomination.^[3] Morse has received acclaim for his portrayal of Uncle Peck on the Off-Broadway play How I Learned to Drive for which he earned a Drama Desk and Obie Award. He also had success on Broadway, portraying James "Sharky" Harkin in The Seafarer.

Early life

Morse was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts, the son of Jacquelyn, a school teacher, and Charles Morse, a sales manager.^[4] He has three younger sisters.^[5]

Career

Morse studied acting at the William Esper Studio.^[6] He began his acting career in the theatre as a player for the Boston Repertory Theatre in the early 1970s.^[5] He spent some time in New York's theatre community in the early 1980s before moving into television and film.^[5] During that time, Morse was listed as one of the twelve most "Promising New Actors of 1980" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 32.^[7] Morse's big break came in 1982 when he was cast in the television medical drama St. Elsewhere. Morse played Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison, a young physician who is forced to deal with the death of his wife and the struggles of a single parent professional.^[8]

After the finale of St. Elsewhere in 1988, Morse went on to appear as a supporting character in various popular films, usually as a "bad guy" character. In an interview with the Associated Press Morse said: "I just basically made the decision, I didn't care if there was any money in the role or not. I had to find roles that were different from what I had been doing".^[9] The 1990 crime movie Desperate Hours accomplished that, but probably led to him being known as good at playing bad guys.^[9] Morse later starred in The Indian Runner and The Crossing Guard, which were the first two films written and directed by Sean Penn. So far, Morse has appeared in three adaptations of Stephen King stories: The Langoliers, Hearts in Atlantis and The Green Mile. In addition to this, Morse was a guest star on Homicide: Life on the Street, playing the racist cousin of Detective Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor).^[10]

In 2002, Morse starred as Mike Olshansky, an ex-Philadelphia police officer turned cab driver, in the television movie Hack. The movie was received so well that a television series based on it (also with the title Hack) was created, which ran from 2002 to 2004. For his role in the 2002 crime-drama movie Shuang Tong, Morse was nominated as "Best Supporting Actor" in the Golden Horse Awards, the first nomination ever for an English speaking actor. His most recent big-screen appearance was as questionable neighbor Mr. Turner in the 2007 release Disturbia. In a review of this film, film critic and commentator John Podhoretz wrote that Morse is a "largely unsung character actor who enlivens and deepens every movie fortunate enough to have him in the cast".^[11]

In 2006, Morse received a phone call from David Shore, whom he had previously worked with on Hack, who asked him if he would be interested in having a guest role on House. When Morse watched the show, he could not understand why people watched the show, because, in his words, "This House guy is a total jerk". But when he told some of his friends, their excited reactions convinced Morse to take the part.^[12] Morse portrayed Michael Tritter, a detective with a vendetta against Gregory House. Morse earned his first Emmy Award nomination for his work on the series.^[2]

In 2008, Morse portrayed George Washington in the HBO mini-series John Adams, for which his nose was made bigger. Morse commented: “The first thing that comes to mind is my nose; it was my big idea to do that nose. We didn't have a lot of time, because they asked me to do this about three weeks before they started shooting, and I just kept looking at these portraits and thinking ‘This man's face is so commanding’, and I did not feel that my face was very commanding in the way his was. So I convinced them that we should try the nose, and we tried it on, and everybody went, ‘Wow, that's Washington’.”^[12] Morse's portrayal earned him his second Emmy Award nomination.^[3]

Theatre

In addition to his film and television career, Morse has continued to appear on stage. For his performance in the 1997 Off-Broadway production of Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama How I Learned to Drive, he received an Obie Award, a Drama League Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Lucille Lortel Award. That same year Morse played Father Barry in the play adaptation of On the Waterfront along with James Gandolfini and Penelope Ann Miller. The play only ran for a week, with just eight performances.^[13] From 2007 to 2008, Morse appeared on Broadway in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer.^[14][15]

Personal life

Morse has been married to actress Susan Wheeler Duff since June 19, 1982.^[5] They have three children, one daughter and twin sons, Samuel Wheeler and Benjamin Bowditch (born 1991).^[5] In 1994, Morse moved to Philadelphia with his family after the 1994 Northridge earthquake to be near his wife's family.^[16][9] Morse stated that out of all of the films he has done, his favorites are The Green Mile,^[16] The Crossing Guard and The Indian Runner.^[12]

Filmography

Film work

Television work

Theatre

Broadway

Off-Broadway

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Morse

• David Morse at the Internet Movie Database
• David Morse at the Internet Broadway Database
• David Morse at the Internet Off-Broadway Database