Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow (
February 14,
1929 -
July 23,
1982; born
Bronx, New York, USA) was an
American actor. Morrow dropped out of high school and joined the
U.S. Navy at age seventeen. After leaving the Navy, he studied pre-law at
Florida State University, where he became involved in the study of acting. He enrolled in the
Actors Workshop school in New York.
Morrow's first movie role was in
Blackboard Jungle (
1955). After this movie, he went into television and was cast in the
TV series
COMBAT! (
1962-
1967), in which he also worked as a
television director. After
COMBAT! ended, he worked in made-for-TV movies and several films.
Morrow died on the set of
Twilight Zone: The Movie while holding two small children (
Myca Dinh Le and
Renee Shin-Yi Chen). A
helicopter being used on the set spun out of control and crashed, decapitating him and one of the children with its blades. The remaining child was crushed to death as the helicopter crashed. Everyone inside the helicopter was unharmed. The accident led to massive reforms in
U.S. child labor laws and safety regulations on movie sets in
California.
Vic Morrow is interred in Hillside Memorial Park in
Culver City, California.
Morrow was the father of actresses
Jennifer Jason Leigh and
Carrie Morrow.
*
Filmography*
All About the Twilight Zone Tragedy (crimelibrary.com)*
Find A Death - Vic Morrow*
Article on Twilight Zone tragedy, written by friend and COMBAT! co-star Dick 'Little John' Peabody
