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I was
born in the home of my grandparents, Ike and
Bessie Morris in Okolona, Mississippi, the
co-county seat of Chickasaw County, February 27,
1939. My early years were spent living along the
Tennessee River as my father, a Civil Engineer,
assisted the Tennessee Valley Authority with the
construction of Dams and Steam Plants along it's
meandering path through Kentucky, Alabama,
Tennessee and North Carolina. I attended High
School in Okolona because my parents were living
in Paducah, KY at the time building Shawnee Steam
plant in the Shadow of the Irvin S. Cobb bridge
to supply power for the nuclear power plant being
built simultaneously and that had exploded the
Ohio River hamlet into a boomtown. Attracting a
wealth of unsavory activities and the folks who
perpetuated them. |
| After graduation I
worked at radio Stations, WAMY in Amory, and WVIM
in Vicksburg and worked on "The Famous
Artist" correspondence art course. Ever
since the days when my grandfather would take me
to see Abbott & Costello movies and I then
went home to replay them for my grandmother, I'd
thought I'd like to be an actor but growing up in
the rural South, I knew that that nor painting or
writing was something any red-blooded American
should aspire to. Perhaps the military might
provide an opportunity to 'grow out' of those
ridiculous notions, I thought. I'd read several
books on Submarines, was fascinated by them and
decided to run off and join the Navy. |
| The only way I could
be a submariner, was to go into the nuclear
field, which I did. After six years I finally
came to grips with the fact that I wasn't a
nuclear technician but some type of artist. I
managed to change over to Journalist and retired
as a Chief Journalist in 1978. During my Navy
career I worked with a variety of theaters and
studied with several artists around the country
as time and duty permitted. Details of both are
noted in the associated resumes. The highlight
was being a cast member of Arena Stage's tour of
the Soviet Union in 1973 and playing in the
"Actor's Mother Church," the MAXAT, |
Moscow Art Theater (MXAT-Filial 1973) |
| where I made a sketch between a
matinee and evening performance then numerous
commissions upon our return. Since my retirement
from the Navy in 1978, I've worked as a
professional actor that paints and writes; first
in Washington, DC then New York then in
Hollywood. In 2000 I moved to the Gulf Coast and
semiretirement in Pass Christian, MS where I
built a studio/home in 2001. |
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