Biography for
Morris Ankrum More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

28 August 1897, Danville, Illinois, USA

Date of Death

2 September 1964, Pasadena, California, USA (trichinosis)

Birth Name

Morris Winslow Ankrum

Nickname

Morrie

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

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, where he spent much time in westerns, playing everything from Indian chiefs to crooked town bankers. It was in the 1950s, though, that he hit his stride in the genre for which he is most fondly remembered - 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 Invaders from Mars (1953). Toward the end of his career Ankrum had a recurring role as a judge on the "Perry Mason" (1957) TV series.

IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Spouse

Joan Wheeler	(1935 - 2 September 1964) (his death) 2 children
Gillian Gilbert	(? - ?)

Trivia

Screen and stage actor.

Father of actor David Ankrum.

He was a stalwart, dependable character actor whose career included supporting roles and bit parts (often uncredited) in over 150 (known) feature films. A large portion of his career involved westerns, in some of which he was cast as an Indian. He is best remembered today as one of the most familiar supporting players in low-budget science-fiction films of the 1950s (starting with Lippert's Rocketship X-M (1950)), where he was usually the military officer, police chief or doctor/scientist.

For "Mant," the movie within the movie in Matinee (1993), Kevin McCarthy plays a character named "Gen. Ankrum." This was director Joe Dante's tribute to Ankrum and the roles he played in those fondly remembered sci-fi films of the 1950s.

Before becoming an actor, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California-Berkeley.