‘Mission: Impossible’ Actor Greg Morris Dies at 61

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Morris died at home, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Coroner's office said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Morris battled brain cancer the past few years, but he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May that he was cancer-free.

Morris was one of the first black actors to star in a hit series during the 1960s, playing a quiet, efficient electronics expert on "Mission: Impossible," which ran from 1966-1973.

"My seven years on that show were seven of the most fun years of my career," he recalled.

But he walked out of the new movie version after watching only 40 minutes.

"It's an abomination," he said of the Tom Cruise film, which did not feature any of the TV series' cast.

Born Sept. 27, 1934, in Cleveland, Morris came to Hollywood in the early 1960s after some minor stage experience in Seattle. He had guest roles on series including "Dr. Kildare," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Twilight Zone" before being cast in "Mission: Impossible."

Morris played the part of an electronics expert who helped an elite team of agents usually involved disrupting the activities of various small foreign powers seeking to creat problems for the free world.

In a 1988 revival of the series, his son, Phil Morris, played the same part his father had played in the original series.

Phil Morris said in a 1994 interview that his father was stubbornly battling cancer that originated in his lung and later spread to his brain. Morris said his father continued to smoke despite the disease.

"My dad is a hard liver, a hard charger," he said.

Morris came to Las Vegas in 1979 to film the television series "Vega$," in which he played Lt. David Nelson. He liked the city so much he decided to stay.

He and his wife, Lee, had three children, Phil, Linda and Iona.