British character actor of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry. Prolific on stage
and screen, he was especially adept at impersonating people from
diverse ethnicities, including Indians, Arabs, Japanese, Mexicans and
Boers. He was a graduate of RADA and winner of the Forbes-Robertson and
Kendal prizes. Morris frequently appeared with the Royal Exchange, the
Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His many successes
on stage included Professor Godbole in "A Passage to India" (1960) and
Pozzo in "Waiting for Godot" (1980.) On screen, he specialised -- true
to form -- in exotic oriental characters. His gallery of personae
included Padmasambhava in "The Abominable Snowman" chapter of
Doctor Who (1963), Detective Bose
in Neun Stunden zur Ewigkeit (1963),
Beirut police chief Takla in
Department S (1969) ("A Fish Out
of Water"), assorted shady Eastern Europeans in
Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone (1961),
The Rat Catchers (1966), and
so on. Morris is best remembered as the insidious Thomas Cromwell in
the BBC's
Die sechs Frauen Heinrich VIII (1970),
a role he was said to have researched by visiting Tudor castles and
studying contemporary portraits.
