 | The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc. |
 (From Old Corral collection) 1941 |  | Morris Ankrum Birth name: Morris Winslow Ankrum 1897 - 1964 Nickname: "Morrie" Briefly used the screen name of "Stephen Morris" in the mid 1930s. |
There are lots of biographies on Ankrum ... and many have him erroneously tagged with a surname / birth name of "Nussbaum". Another error is that he's interred at Spring Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. More on those errors further down this webpage. Ankrum became a well known and respected actor in nearly 300 films and TV programs, but his first love was the legitimate theater. His prolific stage career amounted to thousands of acting performances and credits as producer, writer, director, and production supervisor. Father Horace passed away in 1908, and a couple years later, the Ankrums moved to Los Angeles. There's newspaper articles about him on the debate team at Los Angeles High School, and in September, 1915, he was elected president of the student body. And 1918 - 1923 college yearbooks verify his attendance at the University of Southern California (USC) and University of California. And his full name was Morris Winslow Ankrum on his World War I and World War II draft registrations, Veterans Administration / Army records, more. Ankrum did many plays in college and early professional (paid) roles were in Los Angeles and San Francisco. His first major stage work occurred In 1922 - 1923 when he toured with the play "The Green Goddess" which starred George Arliss. In 1923, he was selected as the first director of the "Little Theater" drama group at the University of California. Soon after, he was in New York City doing many Broadway plays. He also co-wrote "The Mystery Man" comedy which ran for about 100 performances in 1927. Returning to California circa 1930, he became a drama teacher, performer, and director at the Pasadena Playhouse. His students included Gloria Stuart, Robert Preston, and Raymond Burr. He signed a contract with Hopalong Cassidy producer Harry 'Pop' Sherman in the mid 1930s. Using the screen name of "Stephen Morris", he did a half dozen Hoppys released 1936 - 1937 ... and then exited due to New York play commitments. There, he was production designer on "Prologue to Glory" which ran from March - November, 1938, and "The Big Blow" from October, 1938 - February, 1939. Why the "Stephen Morris" name? My guess is that Morris Ankrum, stage actor, Pasadena Playhouse teacher, et al was leary of Hollywood and used that alias to see if "movie actor" was a good career move. And the answer was Yes! Circa 1940, he was back in Tinseltown with Harry 'Pop' Sherman ... but as Morris Ankrum, not "Stephen Morris". For Sherman, he did seven more Cassidy adventures as well as a few westerns starring Richard Dix and Russell Hayden. Of his thirteen Cassidy films, my favorite Ankrum role occurs in BORDERLAND (Paramount, 1937). He plays gang leader "the Fox", and to keep track of his minions and local townsfolk, he masquerades as dim-witted "Loco". Another good western is Tim Holt's THE BANDIT TRAIL (RKO, 1941). Morrie is bad guy 'Red' Haggerty, who reforms at the end but is killed while helping relative Steve Haggerty (Holt) in a gunfight against Roy Barcroft and gang. He then concentrated on character roles / authority figures such as minister, father, businessman, politician, and military officer. And he shows up in A grade films at MGM. Examples: he portrayed Confederate president Jefferson Davis in TENNESSEE JOHNSON (MGM, 1942); was Admiral William F. Halsey in THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (MGM, 1944); a judge in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (MGM, 1946); and he appeared in two of the Thin Man mysteries with William Powell and Myrna Loy. I admire his villainy in the Hoppy oaters. Also have fond memories of him in 1950s sci-fi films - examples: ROCKETSHIP X-M (Lippert, 1950), RED PLANET MARS (United Artists, 1952), INVADERS FROM MARS (20th Century Fox, 1953), EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS (Columbia, 1956), and KRONOS (20th Century Fox, 1957). He did many television programs in the 1950s - early 1960s. He's in about a dozen of the Warners Westerns (Maverick, Bronco, Sugarfoot, etc.), a half dozen RIN TIN TINs, and was re-united with William Boyd in a couple episodes of the Hopalong Cassidy TV show. And we can't forget him as a judge in nearly two dozen of the PERRY MASON TV program ... and he was working on that series at the time of his 1964 death. He married Joan Natalia Wheeler (1913 - 2001) on August 16, 1935 in Benbow, Humboldt County, California, and they had two sons, Cary Gregory Ankrum and David Wheeler Ankrum. David was born in 1947 and has done writing as well as movie and TV roles. There was an earlier marriage to a woman named Elizabeth (last name may be Lawrence) and they had two children, Carolee Ankrum and Morris G. Ankrum. Morris Ankrum passed away September 2, 1964 and some biographies note that cause of death was trichinosis. However, newspaper death notices indicate that he was hospitalized for about a week with an intestinal ailment, and suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep at Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, California. He had a previous heart attack. Newspaper death notices listed his survivors as wife Joan, sons David and Carey, and his sister Charlotte. In 2014, the Vermilion County, Illinois Heritage Foundation honored actor Morris Winslow Ankrum, a Danville, Illinois native, with a display at the Fischer Arts and Entertainment Museum. Morris Ankrum was a great villain in the Hopalong Cassidys ... and a wonderful character actor in scores of films and TV. As mentioned, many Ankrum biographies incorrectly have "Nussbaum" as his surname / birth name. And a few profiles have him as "Stephen Morris Nussbaum". Neither are correct. More on those controversies further down this webpage.
 Special thanks to Ellen Bailey at the Pasadena Playhouse for the following information on Ankrum:
Morrie was active at the Pasadena Playhouse from 1930 until 1963, a year before his death. He appeared in as well as directed dozens of plays. However the only additional information I can give you are excerpts taken from program bios. (The 'Sherman Productions' mentioned above is Harry Sherman, producer of the Hopalong Cassidy series at Paramount.) |
| He used the screen name "Stephen Morris" in a half dozen early Hopalong Cassidy films. After a couple year break, he was back in Hoppy adventures but using his real name of Morris Ankrum. My guess is that Morris Ankrum, stage actor, Pasadena Playhouse teacher, et al was leary of Hollwyood and used that alias to see if "movie actor" was a good career move. And it was! |
| As "Stephen Morris" in six Hoppys: HOPALONG CASSIDY RETURNS (Paramount, 1936) TRAIL DUST (Paramount, 1936) BORDERLAND (Paramount, 1937) HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (Paramount, 1937) NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE (Paramount, 1937) RUSTLERS' VALLEY (Paramount, 1937) Then came a couple year break while he was in New York doing plays. As Morris Ankrum in seven Hopalongs: THE SHOWDOWN (Paramount, 1940) THREE MEN FROM TEXAS (Paramount, 1940) DOOMED CARAVAN (Paramount, 1941) IN OLD COLORADO (Paramount, 1941) BORDER VIGILANTES (Paramount, 1941) PIRATES ON HORSEBACK (Paramount, 1941) WIDE OPEN TOWN (Paramount, 1941)  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above - Ankrum (billed as "Stephen Morris") has the drop on William 'Hoppy' Boyd in this lobby card from HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (Paramount, 1937).  (Courtesy of Les Adams) L-to-R are William Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde and Ankrum (now billed as Morris Ankrum) in a lobby card from WIDE OPEN TOWN (Paramount, 1941).  (Courtesy of Les Adams) L-to-R are Morris Ankrum, Dennis Moore, William Haade - and sitting is George Sowards - in the Hopalong Cassidy PIRATES ON HORSEBACK (Paramount, 1941). Ankrum was brains heavy 'Ace Gibson'. |
| Controversy #1 - many Morris Ankrum biographies incorrectly have "Nussbaum" as his surname / birth name. And a few profiles have him as "Stephen Morris Nussbaum". Neither are correct. |
| Veterans Administration / Army records, draft registrations, college records, census, et al confirm his full name was Morris Winslow Ankrum. College yearbooks from 1918 - 1923 also confirm him as Morris Ankrum. Ankrum being musician "Morris Nussbaum" appears to be a case of mistaken identity which continues to present day.
Ancestry.com has over 40 family trees and many records for Morris Ankrum. But a search for Morris Nussbaum, born 1894 - 1897 in Danville, Illinois, and died 1964 in California got the following response from Ancestry.com: "Your Search for Morris Nussbaum returned zero good matches."  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Morris Ankrum, AKA Stephen Morris. Scroll down his long list of films, and you'll find the error - Ankrum is listed as a musician in REUNION IN VIENNA (MGM, 1933): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0030194/
Hungarian musicians Morris Nussbaum (accordion) and Bela Lablov (violin) appeared in the Broadway play "Reunion In Vienna" in the early 1930s. The duo were also cast in the REUNION IN VIENNA (MGM, 1933) film: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-news/158385530/ The Internet Movie Database has photos and lobby cards from the REUNION film, and shows accordion player Morris Nussbaum and violinist Bela Loblov: Lobby cards: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024496/mediaviewer/rm3724527104/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638277/mediaviewer/rm1187266048/ Photos: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024496/mediaviewer/rm1916008193/ https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0638277/mediaviewer/rm1137642753/ Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has the trailer for REUNION IN VIENNA (MGM, 1933). Musicians Morris Nussbaum (accordion) and Bela Lablov (violin) appear with John Barrymore at around 1 minute and 30 seconds in the trailer: https://www.tcm.com/video/369546/reunion-in-vienna-original-trailer The Internet Movie Database has a record for musician Morris Nussbaum (1913 - 1983) and his only film credit was that REUNION IN VIENNA movie: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638277/ |
| Controversy #2 - some bios on Ankrum have his interment at Spring Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. (His father is buried there.) For many years, Find A Grave had Morrie's burial location as Spring Hill. Current info at Find A Grave is "Burial Details Unknown". However, the lengthy bio on Find A Grave still mentions burial at Spring Hill. |
To resolve this issue, I sent an e-mail to Spring Hill Cemetery in November, 2024. Office Manager Diana Larkin, Spring Hill Cemetery-Mausoleum, Danville, Illinois quickly responded:"If you were to look up Mr. Ankrum under find a grave, it would say that he is buried here but has no block or lot numbers. Unfortunately, he is not buried here. His family has burial plots here but he was never interred here. We have had several request for interred information for the last several years. We did some research of our own to find out where he could be interred. We were able to find out that he was cremated and his ashes were released to the family. Funeral director could not give out any more information without legal advice. As far as Find a Grave, we have tried several times to get them to take out that he is interred here." Find A Grave record on Morris Ankrum needs some fixes:
His birth name needs to be changed from "Morris Nussbaum" to Morris Winslow Ankrum. (On November 6, 2024, I sent info on these errors to Find A Grave. Hopefully, they'll update their record.) |
On the trail of Morris Winslow Ankrum.
The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), Fold3 Military records, newspapers, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), California Death Index, and other sources have information on Morris Winslow Ankrum and family:
The Classic Horror Film Board has some comments about Ankrum dying from trichinosis or a heart attack: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/morris-ankrum-death-by-trichinosis-t86601.html
Ankrum did many plays in college as well as professional roles in Los Angeles and San Francisco. His first major stage work occurred In 1922 - 1923 when he was a member of the touring group for "The Green Goddess" which starred George Arliss. Newspaper clippings summarizing his early stage career: The Internet Broadway database has many credits for Morris Ankrum as producer, performer, writer, director: https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/morris-ankrum-7808 The Playbill Vault website has many playbills from 1920s - 1930s plays in which Ankrum was a performer, writer, or production supervisor: https://playbill.com/person/morris-ankrum-vault-0000019232 In the mid 1940s, Ankrum was a contract player at MGM. There's a photo and bio on him in the 1944 issue of Who's Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which is available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/whoswhoatmetrogo00metr_1/page/40/mode/2up?q=%22morris+ankrum%22 D. M. Brockman's PERRY MASON TV show website has a listing of Ankrum's 20+ appearances as a judge: https://www.perrymasontvseries.com/A_Actors.htm The California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside has several hundred California newspapers which mention Ankrum. One of the early articles is from 1915 and Los Angeles high schooler Ankrum is in the play "Julius Caesar": https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=q&r=1&results=1&e=-------en--20--141-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Morris+ankrum%22------- The Smithsonian, Archives of American Art, has a lengthy interview with Joan Ankrum (1913 - 2001) conducted 1997 - 1998 by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Pasadena, California. She became a noted Los Angeles art gallery owner after a difficult marriage with Morris Ankrum: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-joan-ankrum-12691 Boyd Magers Western Clippings website has a profile on Morris Ankrum ... but has "Morris Nussbaum" as his birth name: http://www.westernclippings.com/heavies/morrisankrum_charactersheavies.shtml |
 (Courtesy of Sam Lawson) Morris Ankrum autographed photo. Has a 1954 date and still ID of "VC - A - 37", which is probably VERA CRUZ (1954) with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. Ankrum was about 57 years old and portrayed "General Ramírez".  (Courtesy of Bruce Hickey) TWO GUNS AND A BADGE (1954) was the last of the SERIES westerns at Monogram/Allied Artists, and among the last of the low budget B westerns. World War II Navy fighter pilot and ace Wayne Morris starred, with assistance from Beverly Garland and Morris Ankrum. Ankrum played "sheriff Jackson", was billed third, and is shown bottom right. |
