AS SEEN ON TV: BUGS MORAN

From the New York Times
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Harry Morgan, the prolific character actor best known for playing the acerbic but kindly Colonel Potter in the long-running television series “M*A*S*H,” died Wednesday morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. His son Charles confirmed his death, saying Mr. Morgan had been treated for pneumonia recently.

In more than 100 movies, Mr. Morgan played Western bad guys, characters with names like Rocky and Shorty, loyal sidekicks, judges, sheriffs, soldiers, thugs and police chiefs.

Today's "As Seen On TV" showcase is in memory of Harry Morgan....

AS SEEN IN:
'The Untouchables'

AS PLAYED BY:
Harry Morgan

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:
Recastaway (plastic surgery?)

From Wikipedia:
George Clarence Moran (born Adelard Cunin on August 21, 1891 – February 25, 1957), better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs. He was incarcerated three times before turning 21. On February 14, 1929, in an event which has become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre, seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse, supposedly on the orders of Moran's rival Al Capone. He has been credited with popularizing the act of driving by a rival's hangout and spraying it with gunfire, now referred to as a drive-by shooting.

Harry Morgan was the third actor to play Moran in 'The Untouchables', with "Double Cross" being broadcast in December of 1962. ('The Untouchables' from 1993 belongs in the TV dimension of remakes, so that portrayal doesn't count.) Before Morgan, Lloyd Nolan originated the role in 1959 for one episode and Robert Wilke played Moran twice earlier in 1962.

Coming up with a splainin for the change in appearance for Moran, an historical figure, deserves to be more rooted in reality than quantum leaping or alien impersonation. But it also means Moran's life in Toobworld has to diverge from his established biography.

Toobworld Central is going with that old stand-by, plastic surgery. At some point between the time he was played by Lloyd Nolan and by Robert Wilke, (with Time flowing at a different pace in Toobworld's reality than in scheduled television), Moran was scarred by either an explosion or perhaps some kind of corrosive agent. He underwent whatever plastic surgery was available at that time (and we know that with the right surgeon, it was quite advanced even by the 1870's, thanks to 'The Wild Wild West'), and regained some semblance of his former appearance.

Of course, throughout the ordeal and the procedure, some damage occurred to his vocal chords, which is why his voice changed over time as well.

Hopefully that will work. I don't like breaking up TV series into individual segments and flinging them throughout the TV Universe......

Harry Morgan appeared once before in the ASOTV Gallery, in a quick post while I was on summer vacation last year. This time out, it's a little more detailed.......

Good night and may God bless.......