MORRIS ANKRUM BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
 
Morris Ankrum was born on August 28th, 1897 in Danville, Illinois with the birth name Morris Winslow Ankrum.  After high school, he went on to earn a degree from the University of Southern California School of Law. 
 
He first worked as an attorney and economics professor before deciding to change careers and pursue a career in entertainment.  He began with working as a stage actor on such productions as, "The Big Blow" and "Within the Gates", and later broke into the film industry in the 1930's.
 
Ankrum mostly worked on Western films such as, "Trails Dust" (1936), "Hills of West Wyoming" (1937), "The Showdown" (1940) and "The Light of Western Stars" (1940).  Majority of his films were un-credited roles.     

Up until the 1950's, he had not really made a name for himself, however when he began appearing in science-fiction films, his career began to head in the right direction.  Over the course of his career he would appear in over 150 films.
 
Some of the credits he added to his resume at this time were, "Invaders from Mars" (1953), "Taza, Son of Cochise" (1954) starring Rock Hudson, "Silver Load" (1954), "Vera Cruz" (1954) starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster and "Crashout" (1955).
 
In addition to his over 100 film roles, he also appeared on such television series as, "Perry Mason", "It's a Great Life", "Big Town", "The Man Behind the Badge", "City Detective", "Casablanca" and "Lassie" among many others.
 
Morris Ankrum married twice throughout his lifetime, first to Gillian Gilbert for a short time, however when this marriage came to an end, he then wed Joan Wheeler in 1935 and they had two children and remained married until he passed away on September 2nd, 1964 in Pasadena, California from trichinosis. 

 
Filmography

1965   Guns of Diablo

1957-1964  Perry Mason

1964   Destry 

1964   Kraft Suspense Theatre 

1963   X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes 

1962   Tower of London 

1962   Bonanza 

1961   Most Dangerous Man Alive

1961   The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come 

1958-1961  Bronco 

1961   The Barbara Stanwyck Show 

1957-1961  Tales of Wells Fargo

1959-1961  The Rifleman 

1959-1961  Rawhide 

1956-1961  Cheyenne 

1959-1961  The Red Skelton Hour 

1960   Dennis the Menace 

1960   Gunsmoke

1960   The Texan

1960   The Man from Blackhawk 

1957-1960  Maverick

1959   Riverboat

1957-1959  Tombstone Territory

1957-1959  Sugarfoot

1959   Markham

1959   Bat Masterson 

1959   Lawman

1959   Death Valley Days

1959   Frontier Doctor

1959   Northwest Passage

1959   Cimarron City 

1958-1959  Mackenzie's Raiders

1958   26 Men 

1958   Frontier Gun

1958   From the Earth to the Moon

1958   Tarawa Beachhead

1958   Wagon Train 

1955-1958  The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin 

1958   The Saga of Hemp Brown

1958   Curse of the Faceless Man 

1958   Twilight for the Gods

1958   Badman's Country

1958   How to Make a Monster

1958   Have Gun - Will Travel

1958   Young and Wild 

1958   Alcoa Theatre

1958   Giant from the Unknown

1958   Target

1958   Sea Hunt 

1956-1958  Climax! 

1958   The Power of the Resurrection

1958   The Veil 

1958   U.S. Marshal

1958   Half Human 

1957   M Squad

1957   The Thin Man

1957   Tales of the Texas Rangers

1957   G.E. True Theater 

1957   Boots and Saddles

1957   The Adventures of Jim Bowie 

1957   Omar Khayyam

1957   The Giant Claw

1957   Beginning of the End 

1957   The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial 

1957   Sheriff of Cochise 

1957   Kronos

1957   Zombies of Mora Tau

1957   Wire Service

1957   Hell's Crossroads 

1957   Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers

1957   Lassie

1957   Telephone Time

1957   The 20th Century-Fox Hour 

1957   Whirlybirds

1957   Drango

1957   Official Detective 

1957   The Gray Ghost

1956   The Desperados Are in Town

1956   Naked Gun

1956   Death of a Scoundrel

1956   You Are There 

1955-1956  Science Fiction Theatre 

1956   Walk the Proud Land

1956   The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu

1956   Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

1956   Down Liberty Road 

1956   TV Reader's Digest

1953-1956  Cavalcade of America 

1956   Quincannon, Frontier Scout 

1956   The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show 

1956   Navy Log 

1956   When Gangland Strikes

1956   Fury at Gunsight Pass

1955-1956  Four Star Playhouse

1956   Casablanca

1956   Chevron Hall of Stars

1953-1955  Schlitz Playhouse 

1955   The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp 

1955   No Man's Woman

1955   Tennessee's Partner 

1955   The Last Command

1955   Soldiers of Fortune 

1955   The Public Defender

1955   The Eternal Sea 

1955   Chief Crazy Horse 

1955   The Silver Star 

1955   Crashout 

1955   The Whistler

1954-1955  Big Town 

1955   It's a Great Life 

1955   Jupiter's Darling

1955   Stories of the Century 

1955   Many Rivers to Cross 

1955   Dr. Harvey W. Wiley 

1955   The Man Behind the Badge

1955   The Little Lamb: A Christmas Story 

1954   The Steel Cage 

1954   Vera Cruz

1954   The Ford Television Theatre

1954   Cattle Queen of Montana

1954   Studio 57 

1954   Two Guns and a Badge

1954   Apache 

1954   The Outlaw Stallion 

1954   Drums Across the River 

1954   Silver Lode

1954   The Saracen Blade

1954   Southwest Passage 

1952-1954  Hopalong Cassidy 

1954   The Loretta Young Show 

1954   Taza, Son of Cochise 

1954   For the Defense

1954   The Lone Wolf 

1954   Three Young Texans

1953   The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

1953   Flight Nurse

1951-1953  Fireside Theatre 

1953   The Moonlighter 

1953   Mexican Manhunt

1953   Sky Commando 

1953   Devil's Canyon 

1953   Arena

1953   Cowboy G-Men

1953   Invaders from Mars

1953   Fort Vengeance

1953   The Man Behind the Gun

1952-1953  Family Theatre

1953   City Detective

1952   Hiawatha

1952   Because of You 

1952   The Raiders 

1952   Son of Ali Baba

1952   Three for Bedroom C

1952   And Now Tomorrow

1952   Red Planet Mars 

1952   Mutiny 

1952   Fort Osage 

1951   My Favorite Spy

1951   Gruen Guild Theater

1951   Flight to Mars

1951   The Amos 'n Andy Show 

1951   Tomorrow Is Another Day

1951   Racket Squad

1951   Fighting Coast Guard 

1951   Along the Great Divide 

1951   The Lion Hunters 

1951   The Redhead and the Cowboy

1950   Short Grass

1950   Southside 1-1000

1950   Rocketship X-M

1950   In a Lonely Place

1950   The Damned Don't Cry

1950   Borderline 

1950   Chain Lightning 

1949   Slattery's Hurricane

1949   The Fountainhead

1949   Colorado Territory

1949   We Were Strangers 

1949   Bad Men of Tombstone

1948   Joan of Arc

1948   For the Love of Mary

1948   The Fabulous Fraud 

1948   Fighting Back

1948   Souvenirs of Death

1948   Alias a Gentleman 

1947   High Wall

1947   Good News

1947   Desire Me

1947   Merton of the Movies

1947   Cynthia 

1947   Song of the Thin Man

1947   Little Mister Jim

1947   Undercover Maisie

1947   The Sea of Grass

1947   Lady in the Lake 

1947   A Really Important Person 

1947   The Mighty McGurk 

1946   Undercurrent

1946   The Cockeyed Miracle

1946   Courage of Lassie 

1946   The Postman Always Rings Twice 

1946   The Green Years 

1946   The Harvey Girls 

1945   Adventure

1945   Purity Squad

1945   The Hidden Eye 

1945   Phantoms, Inc. 

1945   The Thin Man Goes Home 

1944   Gentle Annie

1944   Dark Shadows

1944   Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

1944   Return from Nowhere 

1944   Barbary Coast Gent

1944   Marriage Is a Private Affair

1944   Kismet 

1944   Meet the People

1944   Important Business

1944   Radio Bugs

1944   Main Street Today

1944   Rationing

1944   The Heavenly Body

1944   See Here, Private Hargrove

1943   Whistling in Brooklyn

1943   The Cross of Lorraine

1943   Swing Fever 

1943   I Dood It

1943   Let's Face It 

1943   Best Foot Forward 

1943   Dixie Dugan
 
1943   Assignment in Brittany

1943   The Human Comedy

1942   Tennessee Johnson 

1942   Reunion in France 

1942   Time to Kill

1942   The Omaha Trail 

1942   The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

1942   Tales of Manhattan 

1942   Ten Gentlemen from West Point

1942   Roxie Hart

1942   Ride 'Em Cowboy

1941   Road Agent 

1941   I Wake Up Screaming 

1941   The Bandit Trail 

1941   This Woman Is Mine 

1941   Wide Open Town

1941   Pirates on Horseback

1941   Border Vigilantes 

1941   In Old Colorado 

1941   The Roundup 

1941   Cheers for Miss Bishop

1941   Doomed Caravan 

1940   Three Men from Texas 

1940   Knights of the Range 

1940   Cherokee Strip 

1940   Buck Benny Rides Again 

1940   The Light of Western Stars

1940   The Showdown 

1937   Rustlers' Valley 

1937   North of the Rio Grande

1937   Hills of Old Wyoming 

1937   Borderland 

1936   Trail Dust 

1936   Hopalong Cassidy Returns

1934   Stand Up and Cheer

1933   Reunion in Vienna