Read Morgan

Brawny Read Lawrence Morgan spent two years as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky where he acquitted himself as a star baseball player for the Kentucky Wildcats. He then became heavily involved with bodybuilding, undertook further studies at Northwestern University and served for two years with the U.S. Air Force. Featured in the spreads of several high profile magazines, Morgan had established something of a tough guy image by the time he appeared as a rugged mountaineer in L'il Abner on Broadway. This duly led to his screen debut in 1949 where his muscular physique henceforth ensured a steady and lucrative employment as a character actor in innumerable TV episodes, playing stalwart soldiers and lawmen, hard-bitten westerners or athletes. His best-known role was as the eye-patch wearing U.S. Cavalry Sergeant Hapgood Tasker in NBC's The Deputy (1959). Morgan also appeared multiple times as different characters in Laramie (1959), Gunsmoke (1955), Police Woman (1974), Barnaby Jones (1973) and Lou Grant (1977). He was invariably cast in smaller roles on the big screen, beginning with the Shirley MacLaine-David Niven comedy Ask Any Girl (1959) and ending with a bit part as a card dealer in Maverick (1994) which also heralded his retirement from acting.