Morris Ankrum

About Morris Ankrum

Who is it?: Actor
Birth Day: August 27, 1896
Birth Place:  Danville, Illinois, United States
Died On: September 2, 1964(1964-09-02) (aged 68)\nPasadena, California, US
Birth Sign: Virgo
Cause of death: Trichinosis
Resting place: Spring Hill Cemetery in Danville, Illinois
Alma mater: University of Southern California
Occupation: Actor, lawyer, professor
Years active: 1933–1964
Spouse(s): Joan Wheeler (1935–1964, his death) Gillian Gilbert (? - ?)

Morris Ankrum Net Worth

Morris Ankrum was born on August 27, 1896 in  Danville, Illinois, United States, is Actor. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Law, Morris Ankrum was an attorney and an economics professor before switching careers and joining the theater. He was a veteran stage actor by the time he entered the film industry in the 1930s. His film career spanned from 1933 to 1965 in which played in 276 films and TV shows. Ankrum spent much time in westerns, playing everything from Indian chiefs to crooked town bankers. Among his best remembered parts are his numerous villainous roles in Paramount's highly popular Hoplaong Cassidy film series. The Hoppy films in which he appears include, North of the Rio Grande, Hills of Old Wyoming, Pirates on Horseback, Three Men from Texas, Borderland, Hopalong Cassidy Returns, among others. He was cast in many other films throughout the 30s, 40s, and 50s, his parts varying from small appearances to co-starring roles. He can be seen in low-budgets and box-office hits alike. It was in the 1950s, though, that he hit his popular stride in the genre of science-fiction films, where his gruff, no-nonsense demeanor and authoritative voice perfectly fit the role of the military officer helping scientists fight an outer-space menace, most memorably as Col. Fielding in the classic film Invaders from Mars (1953). He appeared in many genres of television, playing in series such as Bonanza, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, The 20th Century Fox Hour, Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel, Sea Hunt, and over a dozen more. Toward the end of his career Ankrum had a recurring role as a judge on the Perry Mason (1957) TV series.
Morris Ankrum is a member of Actor

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1923

From 1923-39 he acted in several Broadway stage productions, including Gods of the Lightning, The Big Blow, and Within the Gates.

1930

Before signing with Paramount Pictures in the 1930s, Nussbaum had already changed his last name to Ankrum. Upon signing with the studio, he chose to use the name "Stephen Morris" before changing it to Morris Ankrum in 1939.

1942

Ankrum appeared in such westerns as Ride 'Em Cowboy in 1942, Vera Cruz opposite Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, Apache (1954), and Cattle Queen of Montana with Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan.

1950

In the sci-fi genre, he appeared in Rocketship X-M (1950), Flight to Mars (1951), as a Martian, Red Planet Mars (1952), playing the United States Secretary of Defense; the cult classic Invaders From Mars (1953), playing a United States Army officer; and as an Army general in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). In 1957 he played a Psychiatrist in the cult sci-fi classic Kronos and had military-officer roles in Beginning of the End and The Giant Claw.

1957

On October 15, 1957, Ankrum had a major part in the episode "Strange Land" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins. Ankrum played an embittered rancher named Cash Billings, who allows a hired gunman, Burr Fulton ( Rhodes Reason), to take over his spread, but Sugarfoot arrives to bring law and justice to the situation. Jan Chaney appears in the episode as Billings' daughter Anne, who takes a liking to Sugarfoot. Ankrum appeared again, as John Savage in 1959, in the Sugarfoot episode "The Wild Bunch". In 1961, he again played an embittered and this time paralyzed rancher, Cyrus Dawson, in the episode "Incident at Dawson Flats" of the ABC/WB western series, Cheyenne, with Clint Walker in the starring role, with other guest-starring parts for Jock Gaynor, Joan O'Brien, Gerald Mohr, and Hampton Fancher.

1958

In the 1958-59 season Ankrum appeared 12 times in Richard Carlson's syndicated western series Mackenzie's Raiders, along with other cast "Raiders" Brett King, Jack Ging and Louis Jean Heydt. In the series set on the Rio Grande border, Carlson plays Col. Ranald Mackenzie, who faces troubles from assorted border outlaws.

1959

Ankrum was cast in an episode of the 1959 CBS sitcom Dennis the Menace. He also made occasional uncredited appearances in several Roger Corman films. While busy in films and television, Ankrum was still involved in live theatre and continued to direct plays at the Pasadena Playhouse.

1964

On September 2, 1964, Ankrum died of trichinosis. At the time of his death, he was still involved with Raymond Burr's Perry Mason series. His final appearance on Perry Mason, "The Case of the Sleepy Slayer", and his last film, Guns of Diablo, in which he was cast as Ray Macklin, were released in 1964 and 1965, respectively, after Ankrum's death.