Born in
Cleveland, Ohio, to jazz trumpeter
Francis Williams, Morris served in the
United States Army during the
Korean War. While in college at Iowa on the
G.I. Bill, Morris was active in college theater and hosted the late afternoon Jazz radio show, "Tea-Time", on the
University of Iowa station,
WSUI. He co-produced concerts at the university with a student friend. Morris began his television acting career in the 1960s, making guest appearances on numerous TV shows such as
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,
The Twilight Zone ("
The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" from 1963),
Branded, and
Ben Casey. In 1966, Morris was cast in his most recognizable role as the team electronics expert
Barney Collier in the TV series
Mission: Impossible. Morris acquired a reputation as a
practical joker, often playing pranks on the rest of the
Mission: Impossible cast and crew. Morris and
Bob Johnson were the only actors to remain with
Mission: Impossible throughout its entire run. After Iowa, his first professional stage role was in
The Death of Bessie Smith. One of his earliest television roles was a cameo appearance on
The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1963 episode "That's My Boy?" in which Rob Petrie becomes convinced they have taken home the wrong baby from the hospital. The revelation of Morris's character as the other child's father prompted a record setting bout of laughter from the studio audience. He returned to the show in 1965 playing Frank "Sticks" Mandalay, a drummer, an army buddy of Rob. He also appeared in the 1963–64 season of
ABC's
drama about
college life,
Channing, starring
Jason Evers and
Henry Jones. '' cast in 1970 After
Mission: Impossible was cancelled, Morris appeared in several movies and made guest TV appearances, including
The Six Million Dollar Man (Episode 1-05, "Little Orphan Airplane", 1974). Morris was then cast as Lieutenant David Nelson of the Las Vegas Metro Police in the ABC TV detective series
Vega$ (1978–1981), co-starring
Robert Urich,
Bart Braverman, and
Phyllis Davis. On March 3, 1981, by which point most filming for the season had concluded, Morris was involved in a serious car accident on I-15 near Las Vegas. After the cancellation of
Vega$, Morris continued to make guest TV appearances, including several episodes in the short-lived 1988–1990 remake of the
Mission: Impossible TV series, starring his son
Phil Morris. Phil Morris was cast as Grant Collier, the son of Barney. Morris also appeared in two episodes of the TV series ''
What's Happening!! as Lawrence Nelson (father of Dwayne) and in three episodes of The Jeffersons, in which he reprised his role as an electronics expert (although not as Barney Collier) in a comparison sequel of the Mission: Impossible
series. Morris was also a frequent guest star on Password, Tattletales, and Password Plus'' in the 1960s and 1970s. Morris was a semi - regular on Match Game in the 1970s. Shortly before his death in 1996, Morris saw the film version of
Mission: Impossible starring
Tom Cruise. He disliked the movie so much that he left the theater early, calling it "an abomination." == Personal life ==