Terence Morgan
Encyclopedia
Terence Ivor Grant Morgan (8 December 1921 – 25 August 2005) was an English
actor
in theatre
, cinema
and television
. He was the nephew of British character actor Verne Morgan. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical adventure series Sir Francis Drake
.
Terence Morgan was born in Lewisham and started work as a shipping clerk at Lloyd's of London before winning a scholarship to RADA. After training at RADA
, Morgan began as a repertory theatre actor. His career was interrupted by two years in the army in WWII before he was invalided out. In 1948 he joined the Old Vic Company
alongside Laurence Olivier
, and played the role of Laertes
in the 1948 film of Hamlet
. He was the first actor in such a role to get fan mail from teenage girls.
In his third role he played a support to Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo in Captain Horatio Hornblower in 1951. In Mandy
(1952) he played the insensitive father of a deaf girl and in Encore
in 1951 he played a cad risking the life of his wife. In 1953 he again played a villain in Turn the Key Softly
as a crook who gets his girlfriend a prison sentence for helping him in a burglary.
More nasty roles quickly followed with Always A Bride (1953) where he played a Treasury Investigator who turns bad as well as Forbidden Cargo
in 1954 as a smuggler and Tread Softly Stranger
(1958) where he is an embezzler). Two films he made in 1955 saw him cast in more positive roles—in March Hare
he played an impoverished aristocrat riding a horse for the Derby, and in the espionage melodrama They Can't Hang Me
he starred as a dapper Special Branch
officer charged with discovering the identity of an enemy agent. One of his nastiest roles was in 1959, The Shakedown
when he played a pornographer and blackmailer. 1960 saw him as a petty thief in Piccadilly Third Stop
.
Morgan's biggest screen success came when he landed the title role in the ITV
series Sir Francis Drake
, but parts dried up after that as he was no longer seen as "the bad guy".
He appeared in 20 films; other notable roles included the villainous brother of the mummy (Rameses VIII) in Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
(1964) and the 1967 shocker The Penthouse
where he is an estate agent who is forced to watch as his girlfriend is abused by thugs. The Lifetaker in 1975 has him back as the bad guy again where as a wealthy business man he plans ritualistic revenge on his wife and her lover. In 1986 he appeared in a series, King and Castle and in 1993, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
. As roles dried up, Morgan bought a small hotel in Hove (near Brighton) and ran that for some years before becoming a property developer.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. He was the nephew of British character actor Verne Morgan. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical adventure series Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake (TV series)
Sir Francis Drake was a British adventure television series starring Terence Morgan as Sir Francis Drake, commander of the sailing ship the Golden Hind...
.
Terence Morgan was born in Lewisham and started work as a shipping clerk at Lloyd's of London before winning a scholarship to RADA. After training at RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
, Morgan began as a repertory theatre actor. His career was interrupted by two years in the army in WWII before he was invalided out. In 1948 he joined the Old Vic Company
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
alongside Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, and played the role of Laertes
Laertes
In Greek mythology, Laërtes was the son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa. He was the father of Odysseus and Ctimene by his wife Anticlea, daughter of the thief Autolycus. Laërtes was an Argonaut and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar...
in the 1948 film of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. He was the first actor in such a role to get fan mail from teenage girls.
In his third role he played a support to Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo in Captain Horatio Hornblower in 1951. In Mandy
Mandy (film)
Mandy was a 1952 Ealing Studios film, based on the book The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis, with screenplay by Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham, and direction by Alexander Mackendrick and Fred Sears. Another title for the film was Crash of Silence...
(1952) he played the insensitive father of a deaf girl and in Encore
Encore (1951 film)
Encore is a 1951 anthology film composed of adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham:*"The Ant and the Grasshopper", directed by Pat Jackson and adapted by T. E. B...
in 1951 he played a cad risking the life of his wife. In 1953 he again played a villain in Turn the Key Softly
Turn the Key Softly
Turn the Key Softly is a 1953 British drama film, directed by Jack Lee and starring Yvonne Mitchell, Joan Collins, Kathleen Harrison and Terence Morgan...
as a crook who gets his girlfriend a prison sentence for helping him in a burglary.
More nasty roles quickly followed with Always A Bride (1953) where he played a Treasury Investigator who turns bad as well as Forbidden Cargo
Forbidden Cargo (1954 film)
Forbidden Cargo is a 1954 British film starring Jack Warner, Nigel Patrick and Elizabeth Sellars. The plot involved a narcotics agent tryinng to halt illegal drug smuggling under the cover of bird-watching.-Cast:* Jack Warner as Major Alec White...
in 1954 as a smuggler and Tread Softly Stranger
Tread Softly Stranger
Tread Softly Stranger is a 1958 British crime drama directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The film was shot in black-and-white in film noir style, and its setting in a gritty working industrial town in northern England mirrors the kitchen sink realism...
(1958) where he is an embezzler). Two films he made in 1955 saw him cast in more positive roles—in March Hare
March Hare
Haigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The main character, Alice, hypothesises,...
he played an impoverished aristocrat riding a horse for the Derby, and in the espionage melodrama They Can't Hang Me
They Can't Hang Me
They Can't Hang Me is a 1955 British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, Yolande Donlan and Anthony Oliver. It was based on a novel by Leonard Mosley....
he starred as a dapper Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
officer charged with discovering the identity of an enemy agent. One of his nastiest roles was in 1959, The Shakedown
The Shakedown (1959 film)
The Shakedown is a 1959 crime-drama film directed by John Lemont.It was banned in Finland .-Cast:* Terence Morgan as Augie Cortona* Hazel Court as Mildred Eyde* Donald Pleasence as Jessel Brown...
when he played a pornographer and blackmailer. 1960 saw him as a petty thief in Piccadilly Third Stop
Piccadilly Third Stop
Piccadilly Third Stop is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Terence Morgan, Yoko Tani, William Hartnell and Dennis Price...
.
Morgan's biggest screen success came when he landed the title role in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake (TV series)
Sir Francis Drake was a British adventure television series starring Terence Morgan as Sir Francis Drake, commander of the sailing ship the Golden Hind...
, but parts dried up after that as he was no longer seen as "the bad guy".
He appeared in 20 films; other notable roles included the villainous brother of the mummy (Rameses VIII) in Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is a 1964 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions.-Plot:A mummy discovered by three Egyptologists is brought back to London by a showman...
(1964) and the 1967 shocker The Penthouse
The Penthouse
The Penthouse is a 1967 film directed by Peter Collinson. It stars Suzy Kendall and Terence Morgan and was based on a 1964 play The Meter Man by Scott Forbes.-Cast:*Suzy Kendall as Barbara Willison*Terence Morgan as Bruce Victor...
where he is an estate agent who is forced to watch as his girlfriend is abused by thugs. The Lifetaker in 1975 has him back as the bad guy again where as a wealthy business man he plans ritualistic revenge on his wife and her lover. In 1986 he appeared in a series, King and Castle and in 1993, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who...
. As roles dried up, Morgan bought a small hotel in Hove (near Brighton) and ran that for some years before becoming a property developer.
Selected filmography
- Street CornerStreet Corner (1953 film)Street Corner is a 1953 British drama film. It was written by Muriel and Sydney Box and directed by Muriel. It was marketed as Both Sides of the Law in the United States. While not quite a documentary, the film depicts the daily routine of women in the police force from three different angles...
(1953) - Turn the Key SoftlyTurn the Key SoftlyTurn the Key Softly is a 1953 British drama film, directed by Jack Lee and starring Yvonne Mitchell, Joan Collins, Kathleen Harrison and Terence Morgan...
(1953) - The Steel KeyThe Steel KeyThe Steel Key is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Terence Morgan, Joan Rice and Raymond Lovell.-Cast:* Terence Morgan - Johnny O'Flynn* Joan Rice - Doreen Wilson* Raymond Lovell - Inspector Forsythe...
(1953) - Dance, Little LadyDance, Little LadyDance, Little Lady is a 1954 British film directed by Val Guest, and starring Terence Morgan, Mai Zetterling, Guy Rolfe and Mandy Miller.-Cast:* Terence Morgan as Mark Gordon* Mai Zetterling as Nina Gordon* Guy Rolfe as Dr. John Ransome...
(1954) - SvengaliSvengali (1954 film)Svengali is a 1954 British drama film directed by Noel Langley and starring Hildegard Knef, Donald Wolfit and Terence Morgan. A svengali hypnotises an artist's model into becoming a great opera singer, but she struggles to escape from his powers. It was based on a novel by George Du Maurier.-Cast:*...
(1954) - It's a Wonderful WorldIt's a Wonderful World (1956 film)It's a Wonderful World is a 1956 British musical film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, George Cole and Kathleen Harrison.-Synopsis:...
(1956) - The ScampThe ScampThe Scamp is a 1957 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Richard Attenborough, Colin Petersen, and Dorothy Alison.-Cast:* Richard Attenborough as Stephen Leigh* Dorothy Alison as Barbara Leigh* Colin Petersen as Tod Dawson...
(1957) - Tread Softly StrangerTread Softly StrangerTread Softly Stranger is a 1958 British crime drama directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The film was shot in black-and-white in film noir style, and its setting in a gritty working industrial town in northern England mirrors the kitchen sink realism...
(1958) - Piccadilly Third StopPiccadilly Third StopPiccadilly Third Stop is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Terence Morgan, Yoko Tani, William Hartnell and Dennis Price...
(1960) - Hide and SeekHide and Seek (1972 film)Hide and Seek is a 1972 British drama film directed by David Eady starring Peter Newby, Gary Kemp, Robin Askwith, Liz Fraser and David Lodge.-Cast:* Peter Newby as Keith* Gary Kemp as Chris* Eileen Fletcher as Beverley...
(1972) - Ri Ri Colidia(1971)