Jeremiah Morris

Jeremiah Morris, born Jerome Maurice Gomberg on April 4, 1929, in the Bronx, New York, was an American actor, theater and television director, and book writer for the stage. He died on March 5, 2006, in Culver City, California. Over a career spanning close to four decades, Morris built a reputation as a performer and director in both New York and Los Angeles.

Morris began his theatrical career in the 1950s, establishing himself as a stage actor before transitioning into directing. His Broadway appearances ran from 1961 to 1970 and included productions such as Daughter of Silence, a 1961 play adapted from Morris West's novel of the same name, as well as Jennie, the 1963 musical featuring Mary Martin. Additional Broadway credits included Hurry, Harry, The Shock of Recognition, Sheep on the Runway, and Catch Me if You Can.

Concurrent with his stage work, Morris pursued a television acting career, making guest appearances on series including Naked City, The Honeymooners, and Car 54, Where Are You? during the earlier part of his career. He continued appearing on television through the 1990s, with guest roles on Cheers, Mad About You, NewsRadio, and Frasier.

From the early 1970s onward, Morris shifted his primary focus to directing. Among his early directing assignments was the 1972 touring production of Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady. The following year, he directed Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller in a touring production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, which played venues across the Midwest including the Kenley Playhouse in Warren, Ohio. Over the course of his directing career, Morris helmed hundreds of productions on and off Broadway, on national tours, and in regional theaters, working with performers including Al Pacino, Jose Ferrer, and Mickey Rooney.

In 1989, Morris took on the role of artistic director at Actors Alley, a theater company based in the San Fernando Valley. During his tenure, which lasted more than ten years, the company presented a wide-ranging program that included works by George Bernard Shaw and Charles Dickens alongside contemporary plays such as Susan Sandler's Crossing Delancey, produced in partnership with the University of Judaism, now known as the American Jewish University. In 1995, Actors Alley relocated to the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, where the company performed in a smaller space while the main stage underwent renovation. Morris stepped down from the artistic director position in 2000.