Biography

Jeff Morris

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Overview

Born
September 20, 1934 · St. Joseph, Missouri, USA
Died
July 12, 2004 · Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)
Birth name
Morris Berger

Mini bio

Laconic, "good ole boy" type Texan raised actor with appropriate drawl who has notched up several dozen film and TV appearances playing working class men from various backgrounds such as farmers, soldiers, bartenders etc. Best known as the country and western music fan, Bob....the owner of "Bob's Country Bunker" in the cult hit The Blues Brothers (1980), and also as the wise cracking Pvt. Cowboy in the very noisy Clint Eastwood WWII war film Kelly's Heroes (1970).
- IMDb mini biography by: firehouse44
As a boy, he moved with his family to Lubbock, Texas where he played football at Lubbock High. Upon graduation, he moved directly to Hollywood to become an actor. At first, he parked cars at Lawry's Restaurant and at Trader Vic's, where he met and somehow convinced Broderick Crawford to give him a small part on Highway Patrol. His first acting job turned out to be a disaster, when the young actor got so nervous that he forgot his lines and ran from the set. This small setback aside, Jeff Morris soon began to rack up a steady stream of character roles that would gain him notice. Along the way, he worked with many of Hollywood's greats, including Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, and Meryl Streep.

Respected as a "fine actor" by all who knew him, Jeff Morris was also known as a hard-charging, no-nonsense fellow who would let you know exactly what he was thinking (especially when he had a couple of belts in him). As Nicholson said of Jeff shortly after his death, "Jeff was an old-fashioned, rough man."
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous

Trademarks

New York Yankees baseball cap

Trivia

He is buried in Westwood Memorial Park. His tombstone reads "Fine Actor, Weather Permitting"
Went to High School with Buddy Holly.
While in the hospital (near the end of his battle with cancer) a nurse brought in an actors headshot in the hopes that Jeff Morris could somehow help with the nurse's movie career. Enraged, Paul Winters (Jeff Morris' good friend), who was in the room visiting at the time, chased the nurse from the room and had to be shown out of the hospital by security.
Owner of Bob's Country Bunker in the first Blues Brothers movie and reprises his role as the owner of Bob's Country Kitchen in Blues Brothers 2000.
Acted in Kelly's Heroes that a young John Landis also worked on... Later he'd play his most famous role as the cowboy bar owner Bob in The Blues Brothers (and its sequel), directed by Landis.