Spotlight: Wolfe Morris (Hubbard in Buddyboy)

Wolfe Morris was born on 5^th January 1925 in Portsmouth, Hampshire as Wolfe Steinberg into a family of Ukrainian-Jewish heritage[1]. During his career Morris appeared in several Nigel Kneale productions aside from the Beasts episode ‘Buddyboy’. He had a small role as the Custard Pie Expert in The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), The Crunch (1964) as Mr Jimson and both the television and film versions of The Abominable Snowman.

Short and stocky (he was only 5’ 4’’ or 1.63 m) with curly black hair Morris was one of nine children born to Morry and Becky Morris. His father had been a professional entertainer in the London’s East End before becoming a businessman specialising in fruit, vegetables and jewellery. As a young child, alongside his brothers and sisters, his father taught his children songs and routines from his music hall days and actively encouraged interest in the performing arts. It was at Portsmouth Northern Grammar School that Morris first demonstrated his acting ability. In one school play when part of the scenery caught fire he extinguished it without faltering on a single word and made the incident look like it had been rehearsed. His younger brother, Aubrey Morris, became an established and distinctive character actor whilst his sisters Sonia and Julia also entered the profession as well.

Wolfe trained on a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1941 where he won the Forbes-Robertson and Kendal prizes. On leaving RADA he immediately went into serving with the RAF during World War Two. On being demobbed Morris went into local rep theatre before making his West End debut in 1947 with a production of The White Devil, a Jacobean revenge tragedy. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, when it was under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie, winning special acclaim for his work in a production of Henry VIII. He rapidly established himself as a reliable character actor specialising in ethnic roles and characters playing a diverse range that included Indians, Arabs, Mexicans and Japanese. He was able to imbue even the smallest and slimmest role with depth and interest, a quality he would also bring to his screen roles.

In the years leading up to his screen debut Wolfe refined his craft on the stage with a plethora of appearances in prestigious productions. For the Arts Theatre, Cambridge he appeared in the play Queen Elizabeth and was then assigned the role of Luigi Bunghi in The Mask and the Face during August and September 1950. During October he could be seen in a production of Queen Elizabeth. April 1951 saw him featured in a production of Saint Joan at the Bristol Old Vic. Further stage work includes the role of Signor Romeo in the comedy play Storks Don’t Talk presented at the Devonshire Part Theatre over May and June 1951, a production of Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great in September and October and, as part of the Old Vic Company, performing in the comedy play The Clandestine Marriage during November and December 1951. During March 1952 he was in a production of King Lear at The Old Vic followed by Timon of Athens during May and Romeo and Juliet during September 1952 at the same venue. January 1953 saw Morris play Tubal in a revival of The Merchant of Venice at The Old Vic followed by a small role as a priest in a revival of Murder in the Cathedral during March and April 1953.

Morris made his TV debut in an episode of the drama anthology BBC Sunday Night Theatre playing a waiter in ‘The Bridge’ (27th September 1953). This was quickly followed with the more substantial role of Ella Petrovitch in his second BBC Sunday Night Theatre episode, ‘Crime and Punishment’ (29th November 1953), an adaptation of the Fyodor Dostoevsky novel. His next TV role was in the BBC drama series A Place of Execution appearing in the final four episodes (10th October – 31st October 1953) in the role of Benda. The plot involved a villain who is due to be sentenced to death for kidnapping the daughter of an MP.  His colleagues issue a threat that if their friend is hung then the girl will be hung at the same time. The death sentence is not commuted and the police have to race against time to rescue the girl. Morris played the first in a long line of untrustworthy foreigners that would make up a sizeable portion of his acting career. Theatre roles for the remainder of 1953 included roles in King Henry VIII at the Old Vic during May and, for the Arts Theatre in London, the play London Actress during December 1953.

He started 1954 appearing alongside his brother Aubrey in a production of Crime and Punishment at the Arts Theatre in London during January. His next television credit was ‘Ambrose Applejohn’s Adventure’ (7th March 1954), an episode of the BBC Sunday Night Theatre series, and based on a play by Walter Hackett. Morris portrayed Horace Pengard. His next role was in the early BBC science fiction series The Lost Planet. Morris appears in the debut episode, ‘Through Corridors of Space’ (27th March 1954), as Andrieff.

Next was a role as a professional ear piercer in an episode of the BBC drama, The Grove Family – ‘The Ears Have It’ (7th May 1954). Morris also appeared alongside Donald Pleasence in the BBC single drama The Coiners (24th June 1954), adapted from a novel by Phyllis Bentley. Just under a month later he featured in another BBC single drama, The Peach Garden (19th July 1954), playing an Asian character called Ming-Y. He continued his association with the BBC by featuring in two episodes of the drama series Six Proud Walkers. Morris played the character Blackie in ‘The Seven Stars’ (11th August 1954), and ‘The Twelve Apostles’ (18th August 1954). His theatrical work for the year included an extensive run of The Teahouse of the August Moon playing a Japanese character, Jane Arden’s Play at the New Lindsey during September and The Immoralist during November.
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Starting 1955 he returned to the character of Andrieff for the sequel Return to the Lost Planet appearing in episodes; ‘A Message from Space’ (8th January 1955) and ‘The Crystal Sand’ (22nd January 1955). With his track record for playing ethnic characters by now firmly established Morris was cast in the BBC Sunday Night Theatre episode ‘The Creature’ (30th January 1955) playing Nima Kusang. The play, written by Nigel Kneale and produced by Rudolph Cartier, starred Peter Cushing and would later become an early Hammer Film production. Another BBC Sunday Night Theatre episode came shortly afterwards with ‘Midsummer Fire’ (17th April 1955) with Morris playing another ethnic role as Pepe. His next BBC Sunday Night Theatre roles were in the instalments ‘The Legend of Pepito’ (5th June 1955, playing a Mexican, and ‘The Weeping Madonna’ (8th January 1956) as yet another ethnic character, Frederico.

Morris made his cinema debut in I’ll Met By Moonlight (Night Ambush in the US) a 1957 film by Powell and Pressburger, which also starred Dirk Bogarde. Morris played the character George. This was followed by Interpol (Pickup Alley in the US) a 1957 crime drama for which he supplied a cameo as a morgue attendant.

He was one of three actors (the others being Peter Cushing and Arnold Merle) to reprise their roles in the Hammer film The Abominable Snowman (1957) which was adapted from the BBC play ‘The Creature’. His TV credits for the year included an episode of the World War Two espionage series O.S.S. – ‘Operation Pigeon Hole’ (19th December 1957). On the big screen Morris made appearances in the Hammer film The Camp on Blood Island (1958) as an interpreter and British comedy films Further Up The Creek (1958) and I Only Arsked (1958) playing ethnic characters in all three productions. On TV Morris had a small role as a wireless operator in the BBC single drama Incident At Echo Six (9th December 1958), the first play by Troy Kennedy Martin who would go on to write the film The Italian Job (1969) and the BBC series Edge of Darkness (1985).

1959 was a busy year for Morris with TV appearances in adventure series Glencannon as Mr Loong in the episode ‘Chinaman’s Chance’, crime series Dial: 999, BBC detective series Charlesworth and the H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man episode ‘The Decoy’ (31st October 1959) as Andreas the Assassin. He also found time to play Little Man in the five part BBC thriller Ask For Billy King (3rd November – 1st December 1959) and make appearances in three episodes of Armchair Theatre for ABC; ‘Strange Meeting’ (22nd March 1959), ‘The Scent of Fear’ (13th September 1959) and ‘The Golden Horn’ (20th December 1959). On the big screen he appeared as an informer in the Hammer film Yesterday’s Enemy (1959).

At the start of 1960s Wolfe appeared as Professor Godbole in an acclaimed staging of A Passage To India during January 1960 at the Oxford Playhouse and continued to concentrate on stage roles for the following year such as Rashomon as the Birmingham Repertory Theatre during April 1961. He did feature in one of the Merton Park Studios series of Edgar Wallace crime thriller productions, Clue of the New Pin (1961), as Yeh Ling, another of his long list of ethnic characters. His TV roles for the following year took in Knight Errant – ‘King Charles’ Head’ (16th March 1961), The Avengers – ‘The Yellow Needle’ (10th June 1961), No Hiding Place – ‘Silent Witnesses’ (28th July 1961) and Maigret – ‘The Winning Ticket’ (13th November 1961). During September 1961 Morris appeared in a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew at the Aldwych theatre. The Stage enjoyed his performance commenting “Morris plays Biondello with inexhaustible energy, prancing about like a monkey and rattling off his nonsense without pausing for breath[2].”

He reprised the role of Blackie Lilywhite, which he had previously played in the 1954 BBC production, in a new version of Six Proud Walkers transmitted April 1962. For the next few years Morris made his living between stage roles and television which consisted of single plays such as Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (20th July 1962) and No Star on the Way Back (29th December 1963), a single drama from Border Television, which offered a contemporary take on the story of The Three Wise Men. He also took guest roles in ongoing series The Avengers and Ghost Squad.

Morris also continued his association with the work of Nigel Kneale with an appearance as President Jimson in the writer’s nuclear thriller single play The Crunch (9th January 1964). His other single drama appearance for the year was the ITV Play of the Week episode ‘Where Are They Now’ (30th March 1964), written by the actor Alfred Burke under the alias Frank Hanna. Guest spots took in as the uniquely named Choke Hinton in the Z Cars episode ‘Whistle And Come Home’ (22nd April 1964) and Orlando, a spin off series from Crane, in the episode ‘The Black Snake’ (18th May 1965) as the villain of the week, Li Fang. Theatre highlights during 1965 included appearing at the Glasgow Citizen Theatre in John Arden’s Live like Pigs. December 1965 saw Morris undertake the title role in a new adaptation of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus at the Close Theatre Club in Glasgow. In October 1966 Morris undertook the title role in a new version of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great at The Marlowe theatre in Canterbury. The Stage praised his performance “Wolfe Morris has an exacting part which keeps him on stage for nearly all the three and half hours. He makes an impressive figure and is at his best in his stirring speeches of war.[3]”

He then made two guest appearances in the series Orlando playing two different characters, though both were of Asian heritage; Ti Wang in ‘The Black Snake’ (18th May 1965) and Aloysius Wong in ‘Orlando and A Man Called Moosh’ (8th November 1966). His second appearance in an episode of the ITV Play of the Week came in the episode ‘The Crossfire’ (9th February 1967), a comedy which also featured Roger Delgaldo, Peter Wyngarde and Ian Hendry in the cast.

One of the most fondly recalled roles of his career was perhaps influenced by his casting in the play The Creature and its subsequent film version, The Abominable Snowman, when the producers of Doctor Who cast him in a similar role as Padmasambhava in the Patrick Troughton era adventure ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ during September and November 1967. His association with the work of Nigel Kneale continued with Morris popping up in another Kneale scripted production with a small cameo as the custard pie expert in the visionary play The Year of the Sex Olympics (29th July 1968). His film work for the year included The Other People (1968), a film that has been lost and is listed on the BFI Most Wanted Missing Films list.

Also of note is his interpretation of Gollum in the 1968 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Lord of the Rings which ran from 29th September to 17th November. The eight part series was written by the actor Michael Kilgarriff. More guest roles as ethnic characters in continuing series followed with parts in episodes of business drama The Power Game – as Mejulik in ‘Standard Practice’ (25th February 1969) – and in the ITC adventure series The Champions – as Nadkarni in ‘The Gun Runners’ (23rd April 1969). He then had a small role as a Chinese Trade Attache in the British sex comedy film The Best House in London (1969). To round off the year the single BBC drama Tower of London: The Innocent (31st July 1969) featured Morris as Doctor Puebla in a cast which also starred John Abineri, Bernard Archard, Peter Copley and a fresh faced Robert Powell. 

In 1970 Morris played Oliver Cromwell amongst a star studded cast in three episodes of the BBC period drama The Six Wives of Henry VIII. During December 1970 and January 1971 he appeared in a stage revival of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt at the University Theatre in Manchester playing several roles in the production including the Troll King. The director was Michael Elliott who had cast him previously in Kneale’s plays The Crunch and The Year of the Sex Olympics. Cinema wise Morris appeared in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1971) adapted from the novel by Solzhenitsyn based on his own experiences as a political prisoner in Stalin’s Russia. More remembered was his film role as the insane owner of the waxworks in the second story in the British horror anthology The House That Dripped Blood (1971). After more guest roles he made just a single onscreen appearance for 1973 as the Malta Police Commissioner in the film The Mackintosh Man.

His TV roles for 1975 included Greg Prince in The Sweeney episode ‘Stoppo Driver’ (6th March 1975), Robert Walpole in the Churchill’s People episode ‘The Fine Art of Bubble Blowing’ (12th May 1975) and as Michelangelo Lombardi in ‘Just My Bill’ (5th December 1975), an episode of the sitcom The Good Life. Prior to his appearance as Hubbard in ‘Buddyboy’ Morris undertook roles in the biblical epic The Message (1976), the Children’s Film Foundation production Seal Island (1976) and in two episodes of the series Killers – ‘The Stinie Morrison Case’ Part 1 (30th June 1976) and Part 2 (7th July 1976).

Post-Beasts work includes his first BBC Play For Today – ‘Rocky Marciano Is Dead’ (28th September 1978) as a punch-drunk boxing trainer, an episode of the ATV high finance drama The Foundation, ‘Intuition’ (12th August 1977). as Jan De Groot and as Fraser in five episodes of the David McCallum starring HTV adaptation of Robert Louis Stephenson’s Kidnapped (1978). For director Michael Elliott he appeared in a stage production of Twelfth Night as Sir Toby Jug at the Royal Exchange, Manchester during January 1978. The following month, February, Morris played the roles of Rabbi Samson and Meyer in a production of The Dybbuk for the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre Company.

His screen work during this period also includes appearing as Doctor Krause in the Walt Disney film The London Connection (1978), a family spy drama which was later re-edited and renamed The Omega Connection (18th March 1979), and shown as part of the series Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour. He then featured as Ebenezer in two episodes of The Famous Five – ‘Five Goes to Demon Rocks’ Part One (18th July 1979) and Part Two (25th July 1979). Morris could also be seen opposite Sean Connery and Denholm Elliott in the film Cuba (1979) playing another ethnic role, General Fulgencio Batista. 

At the start of the 1980s the theatre work The Dybbuk was adapted into a BBC play (24th February 1980) and Morris recreated his stage role of Meyer for the TV version. More single play roles followed; BBC Play for Today – ‘Beyond the Pale’ (6th January 1981) as Mr Somper, People from the Forest (25th May 1981) as Mikhail Malyarov, the role of Sidney Moss in the BBC 2 Playhouse episode ‘A Pocketful of Dreams’ (12th March 1982).  Escape to the West (18th June 1982) was a single drama from HTV written by Dave Martin and story edited by his former writing partner, Bob Baker. The plot revolved around a TV play that is being made about a Russian dissident. Kubin, a real-life dissident who will introduce the programme, was played by Joss Ackland. Leonard Rossiter portrayed an extra in the in the play. Wolfe Morris played the producer of the play. 

.Morris made no film or TV appearances during 1983 and concentrated on theatre roles such as the touring production of the play Outlaw which began at the Haymarket Studio in Leicester. During 1984 he was back on the television as the character Leister in the Bergerac episode ‘House Guests’ (4th February 1984). Theatre provided the bulk of employment for the next few years with highlights including Breackneck at the Theatre Royal in Stratford during April 1984 and a production of Great Expectations at the Manchester Royal Exchange in November 1984. He made one television appearance in 1985 with the role of Mr Doffman in The Bill episode ‘The Sweet Smell of Failure’ (22nd January 1985). During April 1985 he appeared in a production of Lulu at the Palace Theatre in Watford.
He undertook the role of Rabbi Lionel Weiss in a six episode run of the soap opera Emmerdale during November and December 1987 and had previously been seen in Big George Is Dead (1st October 1987), a Channel Four single drama with Morris in the role of Fat Larry. Dirty Dozen: The Series was a short lived American programme based on the war film The Dirty Dozen (1967). Morris appears as Grimaldi in the ninth episode, ‘Don Danko’ (1988).

Morris had more work with the Compass Theatre Company from May 1988 as part of the cast of a touring production of The Government Inspector which opened in Bath and took in venues such as Birmingham, Richmond and Newcastle. Don Taylor, who directed the Beasts episodes ‘Buddyboy’ and ‘During Barty’s Party’, performed the directing duties. Back on television Morris was Mr Gimson in the first episode of a glossy TV production of Uncle Silas (4th January 1989) though the majority of his employment continued to be in theatre. April and May 1989 he appeared as the head of a family in the drama presentation In the Talking Dark at the Royal Exchange theatre. February and March 1990 saw Morris appear in David Rudkin’s translation of When We Dead Awaken at the Almedia theatre. The play saw Claire Bloom’s return to the London Stage after a thirteen year absence. Morris was next seen on the TV screen in the Channel Four short film The New Look (9th January 1991) as a psychiatrist. His final on screen role was Mr Prager in the HTV single drama Daisies in December (3rd December 1995). Morris portrayed an old age pensioner in a retirement home which was also the home of a colourful cast of characters played by an equally colourful collection of actors including Joss Ackland, Jean Simmons and Barbara Lott.

Wolfe Morris passed away aged 71 on 21st July 1996 in London and was laid to rest at Golders Green Crematorium on 25th July. His daughter, Shona Morris, is an accomplished stage actress.

[1] His grandparents were from Kiev where they fled from the anti-Jewish pogroms (riots) during the late 19^th Century. They arrived in London during the 1890s and moved to Portsmouth shortly afterwards.

[2] The Stage, Thursday 21^st September 1961, page 13.

[3] The Stage, Thursday 27^th October 1966, page 16