Early life Morgan was born in the village of
Prentice in
Price County, in northern
Wisconsin, the son of Grace J. (née Vandusen) and Frank Edward Morner. He was of Swedish descent on his father's side. He graduated from Marshfield Senior High in Marshfield WI. He enrolled at
Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, as a member of the 1930 graduating class. He was awarded the Carroll College Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983.
Early career He joined a troupe of performers at the State Lake Theatre in Chicago, and toured the midwest in
Faust. He landed a job as a featured singer in the Empire Room of the famous
Palmer House hotel in Chicago. He remained in Chicago as a radio announcer at the
NBC Radio affiliate in Milwaukee, and went on to broadcast Green Bay Packers football games.
Stanley Morner at MGM In 1936, after relocating to Los Angeles, Morgan began appearing in films. He signed a contract with MGM as "Stanley Morner". Unbilled, he
lip synced for
Allan Jones singing the
Irving Berlin song,
A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, in
The Great Ziegfeld (1936). He was billed as "Stanley Morner" in
Suzy (1936) and could be seen in
Piccadilly Jim (1936), and
Old Hutch (1936). He was given supporting roles in
Mama Steps Out (1937) and
Song of the City (1937) but went back to small parts in
Navy Blue and Gold (1937). He was back with Carson for
Two Guys from Texas (1948) then made
One Sunday Afternoon (1948) with Janis Paige. He and Carson were in ''
It's a Great Feeling'' (1949) with
Doris Day. Exhibitors voted him the 21st most popular star in the US for 1948. Morgan made
The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949) then
Perfect Strangers (1950) with Rogers and
Pretty Baby (1950) with
Betsy Drake. He made a Western
Raton Pass (1950), and a musical
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951). He supported
Joan Crawford in
This Woman Is Dangerous (1952).
Jack L. Warner wanted to terminate Dennis Morgan's expensive contract with Warner Bros., and assigned Morgan to
Cattle Town (1952), a quickie western to be produced by B-movie specialist
Bryan Foy. The director was silent-era veteran
Noel M. Smith, known as a fast-and-cheap director who staged reckless action scenes. Jack Warner was certain that Morgan would refuse the strenuous assignment and break the contract, but Morgan refused to forfeit his salary. He reported for work as scheduled, made the film for Smith, and collected his customary salary. After that his contract with Warners ended. Morgan later said, "My mistake was, I stayed at one studio too long. Another mistake: I turned down early television, believing then... that people should pay to see us." In 1963, he portrayed Dr. Clay Maitland in "The Old Man and the City" on NBC's
The Dick Powell Theater. He performed with the Milwaukee Symphony and on the summer stage circuit. He returned to films with ''Rogue's Gallery'' (1967). In 1968, he was cast as Dennis Roberts in the episode "Bye, Bye, Doctor" of the
CBS sitcom,
Petticoat Junction, and he played a cameo as a Hollywood tour guide in the all-star comedy
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood in 1976. His final screen performance was on March 1, 1980, as Steve Brian in the episode "Another Time, Another Place/Doctor Who/Gopher's Engagement" of ABC's
The Love Boat. ==Personal life==