Biography
American actor Read Morgan chose his profession after two years at the University of Kentucky, where he starred on the basketball court. In 1950, Morgan went on a regular dietary and exercise regimen that earned him quite a few photo spreads in major American magazines like TV Guide. Thanks to his physique, Morgan was cast as an athletic mountaineer in the Broadway play Li'l Abner, which led to TV work in a similar vein: he played a wrestler on US Steel Hour, a ballplayer on
Twilight Zone, a skindiver on
Adventures in Paradise and a boxer on
Steve Canyon. Thus it was that Morgan was more than prepared for the strenuous requirements of his role as cavalry sergeant Tasker on the
Henry Fonda TV-western vehicle
The Deputy (1960). Following the cancellation of this series, Read Morgan found himself on call for innumerable rugged character roles, usually as sheriffs, detectives or highway patrolmen. Among his many film credits were
Fort Utah (1967), Easy Come, Easy Go (1968),
Marlowe (1969),
Dillinger (1971),
The New Centurions (1972),
Shanks (1967), and the made-for-TV movies
Return of the Gunfighter (1967),
Helter Skelter (1976),
The Billion Dollar Threat (1979),
Power (1980) and
A Year in the Life (1986). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide