Editing Frank Morgan (section)

==Career==

=== Theater ===
Morgan began his acting career in theater. An aspiring vaudevillian following in his brother's footsteps, he changed his name from Wuppermann to Morgan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frank Morgan |url=https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/frank-morgan/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en}}</ref> He made his acting debut in the show ''Mr. Wu'' on October 14, 1914.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Dennis |first=Ken |date=2008-01-03 |title=Frank Morgan: The Merriest Man |url=https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/frank-morgan-the-merriest-man/article_983633fa-dcb0-52fd-9e45-82a420ace6d0.html |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Muscatine Journal |language=en}}</ref> After many years of starring in theater productions, he finally caught the attention of critics with his role as Count Carlo Boretti in ''The Lullaby'' alongside [[Florence Reed]]. In 1927, he played Henry Spoffard in ''[[Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (play)|Gentlemen Prefer Blondes]]''. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Dennis |first=Ken |date=2008-01-03 |title=Frank Morgan: The Merriest Man |url=https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/frank-morgan-the-merriest-man/article_983633fa-dcb0-52fd-9e45-82a420ace6d0.html |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Muscatine Journal |language=en}}</ref> Three years later, Morgan played what he considered to be one of his best roles in ''[[Topaze (play)|Topaze]]''.<ref name=":1" /> 

Morgan's theatrical career ended shortly after he began his contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His last two shows were ''[[The Band Wagon (musical)|The Band Wagon]]'' and ''[[Hey Nonny Nonny!]]''.<ref name=":0" />

===Film===
[[File:Frank Morgan Madge Kennedy 1917.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Morgan and [[Madge Kennedy]] in the silent film ''[[Baby Mine (1917 film)|Baby Mine]]'' (1917)]]

From 1916 to 1936, Morgan starred in several silent films. He made his debut as Sir Richard in ''[[The Suspect (1916 film)|The Suspect]]'' (1916).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Frank Morgan |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/135406%7C53814/Frank-Morgan#filmography |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}</ref> Following that, he starred in ''[[Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917 film)|Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman]]'' (1917) as [[Bunny Manders]], alongside costar [[John Barrymore]].<ref name=":2" /> He also starred in the propaganda film, ''[[Who's Your Neighbor?]]'', along with others such as, ''[[At the Mercy of Men]]'', ''[[Manhandled (1924 film)]]'', ''[[Born Rich (1924 film)]]'', and other roles in small films. 

After signing onto a contract with MGM, Morgan starred with [[Al Jolson]] in ''[[Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (film)]]'' in 1933.<ref>{{Citation |last=Milestone |first=Lewis |title=Hallelujah I'm a Bum |date=1933-02-03 |type=Comedy, Drama, Musical |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024083/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |others=Al Jolson, Madge Evans, Frank Morgan |publisher=Lewis Milestone Productions, Feature Productions}}</ref>  In 1934, Morgan received an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination for Best Leading Actor for his performance as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro, Duke of Florence]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1935 Academy Awards {{!}} Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1935/W?qt-honorees=1#block-quicktabs-honorees |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=www.oscars.org |language=en}}</ref>  In the next year, he starred in ''[[The Good Fairy (1935 film)]]''. He also starred as Jack Billings in ''[[The Great Ziegfeld]]''. In 1936, Morgan played alongside [[Shirley Temple]] as Professor Appleby in ''[[Dimples (1936 film)|Dimples]]''. Speaking about Morgan, Temple wrote, " . . Dimples pitted me against an accomplished veteran of the legitimate stage who was not about to let any little curly headed kid steal his scenes. Competition for camera attention had always been a fact of life for me. The kid and the expert could not help but collide." 

[[File:The Wizard of Oz Frank Morgan 1939.jpg | thumb | right | Morgan as the [[Wizard of Oz (character)|Wizard of Oz]] in the [[MGM]] feature film [[The Wizard of Oz]] 1939 film.]]
In ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939), Morgan played five roles: [[Wizard of Oz (character)|the Wizard]], the carnival huckster "Professor Marvel", the "bust my buttons" Gatekeeper (who initially refuses to let Dorothy and her friends into the city), the "horse of a different color" carriage driver of Emerald City, and the Palace Guard (who refuses to let Dorothy and her friends in to see the Wizard). Morgan was cast in the role on September 22, 1938. [[W. C. Fields]] was originally chosen for the part of the Wizard, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}} 

An actor with a wide range, Morgan was equally effective playing comical, befuddled men such as Jesse Kiffmeyer in ''[[Saratoga (film)|Saratoga]]'' (1937) and Mr. Ferris in ''[[Casanova Brown]]'' (1944), as he was with more serious, troubled characters like Hugo Matuschek in ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'' (1940), Professor Roth in ''[[The Mortal Storm]]'' (1940) and Willie Grogan in ''[[The Human Comedy (film)|The Human Comedy]]'' (1943). MGM's musical comedy film ''[[The Great Morgan]]'' (1946), is a compilation film featuring Frank Morgan supposedly as himself but playing the familiar bumbler. Occasionally a co-star (as in ''The Human Comedy'', and, once established, invariably a featured player), he also saw the occasional lead deep in his Hollywood career, as the philanthropic tycoon falsely accused of murder in 1941's ''[[Washington Melodrama]]'' and ''The Great Morgan'' (in which he is the Morgan of the title, the picture's central player).

During the 1940s, Morgan appeared in such diverse genres and roles as an oil [[wildcatter]] in ''[[Boom Town (film)|Boom Town]]'' (supporting [[Clark Gable]], [[Spencer Tracy]], and [[Claudette Colbert]]); ''[[Tortilla Flat (film)|Tortilla Flat]]'' in 1942 (based on the [[John Steinbeck]] book, again supporting Tracy); a jungle doctor in ''[[White Cargo]]'' (supporting [[Walter Pidgeon]] and [[Hedy Lamarr]]); a shepherd in the ''[[Courage of Lassie]]'' in 1946; a doctor again in ''[[Green Dolphin Street (film)|Green Dolphin Street]]'' in 1948 in support of [[Lana Turner]], [[Van Heflin]], and [[Donna Reed]]; King Louis XIII in ''[[The Three Musketeers (1948 film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' in 1948, supporting [[Gene Kelly]] and Turner again; and as [[Jimmy Stewart]]’s boss in ''[[The Stratton Story]]'' in 1949. He played a fire chief in his final picture, ''[[Key to the City (film)|Key to the City]]'', filmed in 1949 but released posthumously in 1950.

===Radio===
Morgan also had a career in radio. In the 1940s, Morgan co-starred with [[Fanny Brice]] in one version (of several different series) of the radio program ''Maxwell House Coffee Time'', aka ''The Frank Morgan-Fanny Brice Show''. During the first half of the show Morgan would tell increasingly outlandish tall tales about his life adventures, much to the dismay of his fellow cast members. After the Morgan segment there was a song, followed by Brice as 'Baby Snooks' for the last half of the show. When Brice left to star in her own program in 1944, Morgan continued solo for a year with ''[[The Frank Morgan Show]]''.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Frank+Morgan+Show,+comedy-variety%22&pg=PA259 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=The Frank Morgan Show |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=259–260 |edition=Revised |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref> In 1947, Morgan starred as the title character in the radio series ''[[The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy]]''. He also recorded a number of children's records, including the popular [[Gossamer Wump]], released in 1949 by [[Capitol Records]].