January 7, 2004
Morey makes mark on stage and screen
Veteran actor instrumental in early days of Traverse City Civic Theater
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
If all the world's a stage, Bill Morey was indeed one of the players.
The paid ones, that is.
Morey, a veteran of the stage and screen - both big and little - died on December 11, 2003 in Santa Monica, Calif. He had lived in the Los Angeles area for 29 years, where he had a successful acting career that put him among just eight percent of Screen Actor's Guild members who make their living acting.
Morey got his Hollywood break in 1973 when he won a role in the movie Prime Cut with Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman. With that success he headed west from Chicago and continued working until his retirement in 2001. Credits include recurring roles on Dallas, Days of Our Lives and a regular part on The John Larroquette Show. In addition, he also appeared in series including Mork and Mindy, Happy Days, Designing Women and Beverly Hills 90210.
Movie credits include roles in Brainstorm, The Onion Field and Death Race 2000.
Prior to his Hollywood success, Morey had left his mark in Traverse City.
He acted in productions of the Cherry County Playhouse, a professional theater group, in the 1950s and early 1960s. In addition, he acted in and directed productions at the Civic Theater, the former name of what is now the Old Town Playhouse.
A native of Framingham, Mass., and a World War II veteran, Morey and his first wife, Chris, moved to Traverse City because of the Cherry County Playhouse. The pair met while both were employed by the WWJ television station in Detroit, he in front of the camera and she behind the scenes.
"The Cherry County Playhouse lured us to Traverse City," she said. "The Playhouse originally had a big blue tent in a dirt parking lot across from the Park Place Hotel."
"I remember when a big storm would hit, we lived just down the alley, and all the actors would run down and try to save the tent," Chris Morey added.
A versatile actor, who also worked in local radio and television while in Traverse City, Bill Morey also lent a hand directing. He directed numerous productions of the Civic Theater in the early 1960s, including directing and acting in a production of Harvey.
"He really was helpful in keeping what was then our Civic Theater going," said Elnora Milliken, founder of the Civic Players and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. "At the time, I started it and then I got the symphony going and it needed me so much I couldn't get back in."
"Bill kept it all together," she added. "He was a wonderful director and he really helped our theater stay and progress and become as famous as it is today."
While he never achieved the status of a superstar and was never cast as a leading man on screen, Bill gained a reputation as a steady, dependable actor.
"Casting directors that keep actors busy knew he could deliver," said Morey's son, Michael, who lives in Traverse City.
Morey is survived by his sons, Christopher and Michael, of Traverse City, and a daughter, Diane, of San Francisco.
Memorial donations in honor of Bill Morey may be made to the Guy William Morey Autism Fund. This fund was established for Morey's grandson Guy. For more information, call Chris Morey at 946-2383.