| Barry Morse, the actor who plays Victor Bergman, doesn't regard it as at all surprising that he should be whipped off to the Moon as a British professor. Nothing sur- prises him any more about the profession which has provided him with one unexpected turn after another. He has a habit of identifying himself with long-running roles without the slightest risk of being typecast. He will undoubtedly do so again in 'Space 1999' just as he played the ever- pursuing Lieutenant Gerard in the smash-hit 'Fugitive' series, and the urbane 'establishment' figure Mr. Parminter in 'The Adventurers'. Remember him, too, as the Canadian member of the re- grouped former Resistance Move- ment team in 'The Zoo Gang'. In between these roles, he has played almost every type of diverse part into the bargain--from (believe it) a belly-dancer to a black man! The most surprising thing about suave, personable Barry Morse is that he's a genuine, within-the- sound-of-Bow-Bells cockney. Back in the East End he can slip quite easily into the old chat-- especially when he's visiting his  |
brother, and ex London copper. So why do people tend to think he's either American of Canadian? "It's because I've always been a natural mimic," he says. "I pick up accents like a magnet picks up metal." It was just this mimicry that got him his first entry to |
acting. That, and his native cheek. He was an errand boy at the time, delivering a glass-manufacturer's samples for fifteen bob a week. Feeling ambitious, he put on the style and presented himself at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, applying for an audition! And they not only accepted him, they gave him a student grant of three pounds a week! Barry's pro- fessional debut came at The People's Theatre in the East End, in a play called 'If I Were King'. His next step was to become producer, director and star of 'The Voice of The Turtle', on tour. He went into films in a Will Hay comedy--'The Goose Steps Out'--side by side with another newcomer. Peter Ustinov. Very early on the TV scene, Barry eventually went to Canada, where television was just starting up. He remained in Toronto to become a producer, director and actor there, winning the Best TV Actor Award no less than five times. He also visited America for Hollywood productions, both films and TV, with guest roles in such series as 'Doctor Kildare' ("I was a Romanian drug- sumggler!") and 'Wagon Train' ("A drunken Irish journalist, no less!"). And, of course, he really hit the international scene as Gerard in 'The Fugitive'. Back in England to visit his children, Hayward and Melanie, Barry met Roger Moore, and appeared in an episode of 'The Saint'. Other parts led to his eventual engagement as Bergman. And this cockney who plays a Professor? Well, it's not so odd. In 1968, Barry was lecturing at Yale University's Drama Department--having been appointed--Adjunct Professor! |
