Frank Morgan

Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan
	Morgan publicity picture
Born	Francis Phillip Wuppermann; June 1, 1890; New York City, U.S.
Died	September 18, 1949 (aged 59); Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Green-Wood Cemetery
Other names	Frank Wupperman; Francis Morgan;
Alma mater	Cornell University
Occupations	Actor; stage performer;
Years active	1916–1949
Known for	Playing the Wizard and others in The Wizard of Oz
Spouse	Alma Muller; (m. 1914)
Children	1
Family	Ralph Morgan (elder brother); Claudia Morgan (niece)

Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, with a career spanning 35 years^[1] mostly as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is best-known for his multiple roles, including the title role of The Wizard in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. He was also briefly billed early in his career as Frank Wupperman and Francis Morgan.

Early life

Morgan was born on June 1, 1890, in New York City, to Josephine Wright (née Hancox) and George Diogracia Wuppermann. He was the youngest of 11 children and had five brothers and five sisters. The elder Mr. Wuppermann was born in Venezuela but was brought up in Hamburg, Germany, and was of German and Spanish ancestry.^[2]^[3]^[4] His mother was born in the United States, of English ancestry. His brother Ralph Morgan was also an actor of stage and screen. The family earned their wealth distributing Angostura bitters, allowing Wuppermann to attend Cornell University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the Glee Club.^[5]^[6]

Career

Film

In 1936 Morgan played alongside Shirley Temple as Professor Appleby in Dimples.

In The Wizard of Oz (1939), Morgan played FIVE roles: the Wizard, the carnival huckster "Professor Marvel", the "bust my buttons" Gatekeeper (who initially refuses to let Dorothy and her friends into the city), the "horse of a different color" carriage driver of Emerald City, and the Palace Guard (who refuses to let Dorothy and her friends in to see the Wizard). Morgan was cast in the role on September 22, 1938. W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the part of the Wizard, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee.^{[citation needed]}

An actor with a wide range, Morgan was equally effective playing comical, befuddled men such as Jesse Kiffmeyer in Saratoga (1937) and Mr. Ferris in Casanova Brown (1944), as he was with more serious, troubled characters like Hugo Matuschek in The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Professor Roth in The Mortal Storm (1940) and Willie Grogan in The Human Comedy (1943). MGM's musical comedy film The Great Morgan (1946), is a compilation film featuring Frank Morgan supposedly as himself but playing the familiar bumbler. Occasionally a co-star (as in The Human Comedy, and, once established, invariably a featured player), he also saw the occasional lead deep in his Hollywood career, as the philanthropic tycoon falsely accused of murder in 1941's Washington Melodrama and The Great Morgan (in which he is the Morgan of the title, the picture's central player).

During the 1940s Morgan appeared in such diverse genres and roles as an oil wildcatter in Boom Town (supporting Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Claudette Colbert); Tortilla Flat in 1942 (based on the John Steinbeck book, again supporting Tracy); a jungle doctor in White Cargo (supporting Walter Pidgeon and Hedy Lamarr); a shepherd in the Courage of Lassie in 1946; a doctor again in Green Dolphin Street in 1948 in support of Lana Turner, Van Heflin, and Donna Reed; King Louis XIII in The Three Musketeers in 1948, supporting Gene Kelly and Turner again; and as Jimmy Stewart’s boss in The Stratton Story in 1949. He played a fire chief in his final picture, Key to the City, filmed in 1949 but released posthumously in 1950.

Radio

Morgan also had a career in radio. In the 1940s, Morgan co-starred with Fanny Brice in one version (of several different series) of the radio program Maxwell House Coffee Time, aka The Frank Morgan-Fanny Brice Show. During the first half of the show Morgan would tell increasingly outlandish tall tales about his life adventures, much to the dismay of his fellow cast members. After the Morgan segment there was a song, followed by Brice as 'Baby Snooks' for the last half of the show. When Brice left to star in her own program in 1944, Morgan continued solo for a year with The Frank Morgan Show.^[7] In 1947, Morgan starred as the title character in the radio series The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy. He also recorded a number of children's records, including the popular Gossamer Wump, released in 1949 by Capitol Records.

Personal life and death

Morgan married Alma Muller in 1914; they had one son, George. They were married until his death in 1949.^{[citation needed]}

Morgan was widely known to be an alcoholic, according to several people who worked with him, including Margaret Hamilton and Aljean Harmetz. Morgan sometimes carried a black briefcase to work, fully equipped with a small mini-bar.^[4]

Morgan's niece Claudia Morgan (née Wuppermann) was a stage and film actress, and his brother was playwright Carlos Wuppermann.^[8]

Morgan had filmed a few scenes as Buffalo Bill in the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950) when he died suddenly of a heart attack on September 18, 1949 at the age of 59. He was replaced in the film by Louis Calhern.^[9] Morgan is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. His tombstone carries his real name, Wuppermann, as well as his stage name.^[10]

Awards and honors

Morgan was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Actor in The Affairs of Cellini (1934) and one for Best Supporting Actor in Tortilla Flat (1942). He has two stars dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California: one for his films at 1708 Vine Street and one for his work in radio at 6700 Hollywood Boulevard. Both were dedicated on February 8, 1960.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1916	The Suspect	Sir Richard	Film debut, as Frank Wupperman Lost film
	The Daring of Diana	John Briscoe	As Francis Morgan Lost film
	The Girl Philippa	Halkett	As Francis Morgan Lost film
1917	A Modern Cinderella	Tom	Lost film
	A Child of the Wild	Frank Trent	Lost film
	The Light in Darkness	Ramsey Latham
	Baby Mine	Alfred
	Who's Your Neighbor?	Dudley Carlton	Lost film
	Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman	Bunny Manders
1918	The Knife	Dr. Robert Manning	Lost film
	At the Mercy of Men	Count Nicho	Lost film
	The Gray Towers Mystery	Billy Durland	Lost film
1919	The Golden Shower	Lester	Lost film
1924	Manhandled	Arno Riccardi
1924	Born Rich	Eugene Magnin
1925	The Crowded Hour	Bert Caswell	Lost film
	The Man Who Found Himself	Lon Morris	Lost film
	Scarlet Saint	Baron Badeau	Lost film
1927	Love's Greatest Mistake	William Ogden	Lost film
1930	Belle of the Night		Short
	Dangerous Nan McGrew	Muldoon
	Queen High	Mr. Nettleton
	Laughter	C. Mortimer Gibson
	Fast and Loose	Bronson Lenox
1932	Secrets of the French Police	François St. Cyr
1932	The Half-Naked Truth	Merle Farrell
1933	The Billion Dollar Scandal	John Dudley Masterson
	Luxury Liner	Alex Stevenson
	Hallelujah, I'm a Bum	Mayor John Hastings
	Reunion in Vienna	Dr. Anton Krug
	The Kiss Before the Mirror	Paul Held
	The Nuisance	Dr. Buchanan Prescott
	Best of Enemies	William Hartman
	When Ladies Meet	Rogers Woodruf
	Broadway to Hollywood	Ted Hackett
	Bombshell	Pops Burns
1934	The Cat and the Fiddle	Daudet
	Success at Any Price	Merritt
	Sisters Under the Skin	John Hunter Yates
	The Affairs of Cellini	Alessandro – Duke of Florence	Academy Award nomination - Best Actor
	A Lost Lady	Forrester
	There's Always Tomorrow	Joseph White
	By Your Leave	Henry Smith
	The Mighty Barnum	Joe	Uncredited
1935	The Good Fairy	Konrad
	Enchanted April	Mellersh Wilkins
	Naughty Marietta	Governor d'Annard
	Escapade	Karl
	I Live My Life	G.P. Bentley
	The Perfect Gentleman	Major Horatio Chatteris
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Jack Billings
	Dancing Pirate	Mayor Don Emilio Perena
	Trouble for Two	Colonel Geraldine
	Piccadilly Jim	James Crocker – Sr./Count Olav Osric
	Dimples	Prof. Eustace Appleby
1937	The Last of Mrs. Cheyney	Lord Kelton
	The Emperor's Candlesticks	Col. Baron Suroff
	Saratoga	Jesse Kiffmeyer
	Sunday Night at the Trocadero	Himself	Short
	Beg, Borrow or Steal	Ingraham Steward
	Rosalie	King
1938	Paradise for Three	Rudolph Tobler
	Port of Seven Seas	Panisse
	The Crowd Roars	Brian McCoy
	Sweethearts	Felix Lehman
1939	Broadway Serenade	Cornelius Collier, Jr.
	The Wizard of Oz	The Wizard of Oz/Professor Marvel/The Gatekeeper/The Carriage Driver/The Guard
	Henry Goes Arizona	Henry Conroy
	Balalaika	Ivan Danchenoff
1940	The Shop Around the Corner	Hugo Matuschek
	Broadway Melody of 1940	Bob Casey
	The Ghost Comes Home	Vern Adams
	The Mortal Storm	Professor Viktor Roth
	Boom Town	Luther Aldrich
	Hullabaloo	Frankie Merriweather
	Keeping Company	Harry C. Thomas
1941	The Wild Man of Borneo	J. Daniel Thompson
	Washington Melodrama	Calvin Claymore
	Honky Tonk	Judge Cotton
1942	The Vanishing Virginian	Robert Yancey
	Tortilla Flat	The Pirate	Academy Award nomination - Best Supporting Actor
	White Cargo	The Doctor
1943	The Human Comedy	Willie Grogan
	A Stranger in Town	John Josephus Grant
	Thousands Cheer	Dr. Frank Morgan
1944	The White Cliffs of Dover	Hiram Porter Dunn
	Kismet	Narrator	Voice, Uncredited
	Casanova Brown	Mr. Ferris
1945	Yolanda and the Thief	Victor Budlow Trout
1946	Courage of Lassie	Harry MacBain
	The Cockeyed Miracle	Sam Griggs
	Lady Luck	William Audrey
	The Great Morgan	Himself
1947	Green Dolphin Street	Dr. Edmond Ozanne
1948	Summer Holiday	Uncle Sid
1948	The Three Musketeers	King Louis XIII
1949	The Stratton Story	Barney Wile
	The Great Sinner	Aristide Pitard
	Any Number Can Play	Jim Kurstyn
1950	Key to the City	Fire Chief Duggan	Final film

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1937	Amos & Andy	Amos and Andy with Frank Morgan
1940	Screen Guild Players	The Shop Around the Corner^[11]
1941	Art Museum	January 9, 1941
1942	Pat O'Brien	April 23, 1942
1942	Command Performances	October 27, 1942
1942	The Pied Piper	December 21, 1942
1943	Nothing But The Truth	May 3, 1943
1943	The Human Comedy	July 12, 1943
1943	Holy Matrimoney	December 13, 1943
1944	Wallpapering	September 23, 1944
1944	The Frank Morgan Show	NBC 8/31/1944 - 5/31/1945
1945	The Devil and Miss Jones	March 12, 1945
1945	Birdseye Open House	September 13, 1945, host Dinah Shore
1945	Huckleberry Finn	October 14, 1945
1945	Names On The Land	December 24, 1945
1946	The Bickersons	60 episodes
1947	The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy	5 episodes
1948	The Jimmy Durante Show	January 14, 1948
1949	Kraft Music Hall	35 episodes

References

^ Obituary Variety, September 21, 1949, page 63.
^ White, James Terry, ed. (1967). Frank Morgan Wuppermann. University Microfilms. p. 26. Retrieved April 10, 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ New England Vintage Film Inc Society (December 1, 2010). Playbills to Photoplays. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 488–523. ISBN 978-1453587751. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Frank Morgan". Hollywood's Irish Mafia. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
^ Grand Catalogue of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity (Twelfth ed.). Bernard C. Harris. 1985. p. 377.
^ Slon, Michael (January 1, 1998). Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell University Glee Club. Cornell University Glee Club. ISBN 978-0962010316.
^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 259–260. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
^ "The Triumph of X". Internet Broadway Database.
^ "Frank Morgan, Local Property Owner, Dies". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, Calif. September 20, 1949. p. 8 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
^ Wilson, Scott (2001). Resting Places : The Burial Sites of Over 7,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 258. ISBN 0-7864-1014-0.
^ "Those Were The Days". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 41, no. 3. Summer 2015. pp. 32–39.

External links

Frank Morgan at IMDb
Frank Morgan at the TCM Movie Database
Frank Morgan at the Internet Broadway Database

[WVobit-1] Obituary Variety, September 21, 1949, page 63.

[2] White, James Terry, ed. (1967). Frank Morgan Wuppermann. University Microfilms. p. 26. Retrieved April 10, 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[3] New England Vintage Film Inc Society (December 1, 2010). Playbills to Photoplays. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 488–523. ISBN 978-1453587751. Retrieved April 10, 2020.

[mafia-4] "Frank Morgan". Hollywood's Irish Mafia. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.

[gc1985p377-5] Grand Catalogue of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity (Twelfth ed.). Bernard C. Harris. 1985. p. 377.

[6] Slon, Michael (January 1, 1998). Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell University Glee Club. Cornell University Glee Club. ISBN 978-0962010316.

[dunningota-7] Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 259–260. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 16, 2019.

[8] "The Triumph of X". Internet Broadway Database.

[9] "Frank Morgan, Local Property Owner, Dies". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, Calif. September 20, 1949. p. 8 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

[10] Wilson, Scott (2001). Resting Places : The Burial Sites of Over 7,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 258. ISBN 0-7864-1014-0.

[11] "Those Were The Days". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 41, no. 3. Summer 2015. pp. 32–39.

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