David Morse Biography

David Bowditch Morse (born October 11, 1953) is an American stage, television, and film actor. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack Morrison in the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. Morse continued his movie career with roles in Dancer in the Dark, The Indian Runner, The Negotiator, Contact, The Green Mile, Disturbia, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Crossing Guard, The Rock, Extreme Measures, 12 Monkeys, 16 Blocks, and Hounddog.

In 2006, Morse had a recurring role as Detective Michael Tritter on the medical drama House for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Morse portrayed George Washington in the 2008 HBO Miniseries John Adams, which garnered him a second Emmy nomination. Morse has received acclaim for his portrayal of Uncle Peck on the Off-Broadway play How I Learned to Drive for which he earned a Drama Desk and Obie Award. He also had success on Broadway, portraying James "Sharky" Harkin in The Seafarer. As of 2011, Morse is a regular on the HBO series, Treme, where he plays an honest police officer in a corrupt New Orleans police department.

Early life

Morse was born in Beverly, Massachusetts and raised in nearby Hamilton, Massachusetts, the son of Jacquelyn, a school teacher, and Charles Morse, a sales manager. He has three younger sisters. His middle name, Bowditch, comes from mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch.

Career

Morse studied acting at the William Esper Studio. He began his acting career in the theatre as a player for the Boston Repertory Theatre in the early 1970s. He spent some time in New York's theatre community in the early 1980s before moving into television and film. During that time, Morse was listed as one of the twelve most "Promising New Actors of 1980" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 32. Morse's big break came in 1982 when he was cast in the television medical drama St. Elsewhere. Morse played Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison, a young physician who is forced to deal with the death of his wife and the struggles of a single parent professional.

Morse appeared in a number of supporting roles following the finale of "St. Elsewhere" in 1988. The actor is quoted as saying "I [...] made the decision [that] I didn't care if there was any money in the role or not. I had to find roles that were different from what I had been doing". His turn in "Desperate Hours" as antagonist showed a darker Morse. Morse later starred in The Indian Runner and The Crossing Guard, written and directed by then novice auteur and writer Sean Penn. So far, Morse has appeared in three adaptations of Stephen King stories: The Langoliers, Hearts in Atlantis, and The Green Mile. Additionally Morse was a guest star on Homicide: Life on the Street, playing the racist cousin of Detective Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor).

In 2002, Morse starred as Mike Olshansky, an ex-Philadelphia police officer turned cab driver, in the television movie Hack. The movie was so well received that a television series was created (also with the title Hack), which ran from 2002 to 2004. For his role in the 2002 crime-drama film Shuang Tong, Morse was nominated as "Best Supporting Actor" in the Golden Horse Awards, the first nomination ever for an English-speaking actor. His most recent big-screen appearance was as questionable neighbor Mr. Turner in the 2007 release Disturbia. In a review of this film, film critic and commentator John Podhoretz wrote that Morse is a "largely unsung character actor who enlivens and deepens every movie fortunate enough to have him in the cast".

In 2006, Morse received a phone call from David Shore, whom he had previously worked with on Hack, who asked him if he would be interested in having a guest role on House. When Morse watched the show, he could not understand why people watched the show, because, in his words, "This House guy is a total jerk". But when he told some of his friends, their excited reactions convinced Morse to take the part. Morse portrayed Michael Tritter, a detective with a vendetta against Gregory House. Morse earned his first Emmy Award nomination for his work on the series.

In 2008, Morse portrayed George Washington in the HBO mini-series John Adams, for which his nose was made bigger. Morse commented: "The first thing that comes to mind is my nose; it was my big idea to do that nose. We didn't have a lot of time, because they asked me to do this about three weeks before they started shooting, and I just kept looking at these portraits and thinking 'This man's face is so commanding', and I did not feel that my face was very commanding in the way his was. So I convinced them that we should try the nose, and we tried it on, and everybody went, 'Wow, that's Washington'." Morse's portrayal earned him his second Emmy Award nomination. He is currently "reprising" the role of George Washington, in voice only, as part of the The Hall of Presidents show in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Morse stated that out of all of the films he has done, his favorites are The Green Mile, The Crossing Guard, and The Indian Runner.

In 2010, Morse guest starred in two episodes of the HBO drama series, Treme, as Lt. Terry Colson of the New Orleans Police Department. Morse was promoted to series regular starting with season two of the show, which began in April 2011.

In 2011, Morse won the best actor award at Karlovy Vary IFF for his role in Collaborator.

Morse played an ex-CIA agent in the film World War Z (2013).

Theatre

In addition to his film and television career, Morse has continued to appear on stage. For his performance in the 1997 Off-Broadway production of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama How I Learned to Drive, he received an Obie Award, a Drama League Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award. That same year Morse played Father Barry in the play adaptation of On the Waterfront along with James Gandolfini and Penelope Ann Miller. The play only ran for a week, with just eight performances. From 2007 to 2008, Morse appeared on Broadway in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer.

Personal life

Morse has been married since 1982 to actress and author Susan Wheeler Duff Morse. Susan Morse published a memoir, The Habit, in 2011. They have three children: one daughter and twin sons. In 1994, Morse moved to Philadelphia with his family after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Filmography

Film work

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1980	Inside Moves	Jerry Maxwell
1981	Our Family Business	Phil	TV movie
1982	Max Dugan Returns	Shoe Store Cop
1983	Prototype	Michael	TV movie
1984	Shattered Vows	Father Tim	TV movie
1985	When Dreams Come True	Robert Wynton	TV movie
1987	Place at the Table		TV movie
	Personal Foul	Ben
	Six Against the Rock	Marvin Hubbard	TV movie
	Downpayment on Murder	Det. Jackson	TV movie
1988	Winnie	Thomas	TV movie
1989	Cross of Fire	Klell Henry	TV movie
1990	Desperate Hours	Albert
1991	Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann	Bicycle Pete	TV movie
	The Indian Runner	Joe Roberts
1992	Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster	Rick Steiner	TV movie
1993	Miracle on Interstate 880	Dr. Jim Betts	TV movie
	The Good Son	Jack Evans
1994	The Getaway	Jim 'Deer' Jackson
	Magic Kid II	Jack
1995	The Taming Power of the Small
	The Langoliers	Captain Brian Engle	TV movie
	Tecumseh: The Last Warrior	Galloway	TV movie
	The Crossing Guard	John Booth	Nominated"?Best Supporting Male at the Independent Spirit Awards
	12 Monkeys	Dr. Peters
1996	The Rock	Major Tom Baxter
	Extreme Measures	FBI Agent Frank Hare
	The Long Kiss Goodnight	Luke/Daedalus
1997	George B	George
	Murder Live!	Frank McGrath	TV movie
	Contact	Ted Arroway
1998	The Legend of Pig Eye
	The Negotiator	Adam Beck
1999	Crazy in Alabama	Dove Bullis
	The Green Mile	Brutus 'Brutal' Howell	Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2000	Bait	Edgar Clenteen
	Dancer in the Dark	Bill Houston	Performed the song 'Smith & Wesson' in the film.
	Proof of Life	Peter Bowman
2001	Diary of a City Priest	Father John McNamee
	Hearts in Atlantis	Bobby Garfield (Adult)
2002	The Slaughter Rule	Gideon 'Gid' Ferguson
	Double Vision	Kevin Richter	Nominated"?Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Horse Film Festival
2005	Down in the Valley	Wade
	Nearing Grace	Shep Nearing
	Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story	Palmer
2006	A.W.O.L. (short)	Major Cliff Marquette
	16 Blocks	Det. Frank Nugent
2007	Hounddog	Lou
	Disturbia	Robert Turner
2008	Passengers	Arkin
2009	The Hurt Locker	Colonel Reed	Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast WAFCA Award for Best Ensemble
2010	Mother and Child	Tom
	Shanghai	Richard Astor
	Mint Julep	Karl
	The Pond (short)	Adam 11
2011	Drive Angry	Webster
	Winter in the Blood	Airplane Man
	Collaborator	Gus Williams	Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Canadian Screen Awards
2012	The Odd Life of Timothy Green	James Green Sr.
	Yellow	Psychologist
2013	McCanick	Eugene 'Mack' McCanick	Producer
	World War Z	Ex-CIA Agent

Television work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Nurse	Kevin Mallory	Episode: 'Equal Opportunity'
1982"1988	St. Elsewhere	Dr. Jack Morrison	137 Episodes Directed the Episodes: 'A Coupla White Dummies Sitting Around Talking' 'Handoff'
1987	Friday the 13th	Director/Writer	Episode: 'A Friend to the End'
1989	Brotherhood of the Rose	Chris/Remus	TV Movie
	Midnight Caller	Chandler	Episode: 'Wait Until Midnight'
1992	The Hat Squad		Episode: 'Frankie Stein'
	Tales from the Crypt	Tom McMurdo	Episode: 'Showdown'
	Reasonable Doubts	Edward Durrell	Episode: 'Moment of Doubt'
1993	Big Wave Dave's	Dave Bell	6 Episodes: 'Him' 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Marshall' 'Dave's Big Wave' 'Making Up Is Hard to Do' 'The Six Stages of Marshall' 'Pilot'
	SeaQuest DSV	Lenny Sutter	Episode: 'SeaWest'
1995	Homicide: Life on the Street	Jim Bayliss	Episode: 'Colors'
	Action Man	Voices
	The New Adventures of Madeline	Pepito	Voice
1998	Stories from My Childhood	Voices	2 Episodes: 'The Snow Queen' 'The Wild Swans'
2001	American Experience: Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided	Abraham Lincoln	6 Part Miniseries: Voice
2002"2004	Hack	Mike Olshansky	40 Episodes: Wrote the episode 'Gone'
2006"2007	House	Det. Michael Tritter	6 Episodes: 'Fools for Love' 'Que Será Será' 'Son of Coma Guy' 'Finding Judas' 'Merry Little Christmas' 'Words and Deeds' Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2008	John Adams	George Washington	Miniseries-4 Episodes: 'Unnecessary War' 'Unite' 'Reunion' 'Independence' Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated"? Monte-Carlo Television Festival for Outstanding Actor in a Mini Series
2009	Medium	Douglas Lydecker	3 Episodes
	Empire State	James Cochrane	1 Episode: 'Pilot'
2010"Present	Treme	NOPD Lieutenant Terry Colson	24 Episodes
2011	Lights Out	Jerry 'The Rainmaker' Raines	1 Episode
2012	Victory in Defeat	Douglas MacArthur	Japanese TV Miniseries
	Robot Chicken	Robin Hood/The Lorax	1 Episode 'Butchered in Burbank" Voices

Theatre

Broadway

Title	Role	Run
On the Waterfront	Father Barry	May 1, 1995 " May 7, 1995
The Seafarer	James "Sharky" Harkin	December 6, 2007 " March 30, 2008

Off-Broadway

Title	Role	Run	Theatre	Notes
Threads	Nub	October 25, 1981 " November 22, 1981	Circle Theatre
How I Learned to Drive	Uncle Peck	May 6, 1997 " April 19, 1998	Century Center for the Performing Arts	Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actor Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor Obie Award for Best Performance Nominated"?Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor
The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin	Tom Durnin	May 31, 2013 " August 25, 2013	Laura Pels Theatre