---
name: "Dennis Morgan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/dennis-morgan"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "20 December 1908"
died: "7 September 1994"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 67
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T00:13:27.182070+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Dennis Morgan

Actor. Born 20 December 1908 in Prentice, Wisconsin, USA. Died 7 September 1994.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 20 December 1908, Prentice, Wisconsin, USA
- **Died:** 7 September 1994
- **Active:** 1936–1940
- **Also known as:** Earl Stanley Morner, Stanley Morner, Richard Stanley, دينيس مورقان 
- **Average Fi1m score:** 67, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 64 (1), 1940s 70 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Morgan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q956920, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604605/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/33022

## Fi1m on Dennis Morgan

> Dennis Morgan was Warner Bros' reliable nice man: a light tenor, an easy smile, and a habit of standing next to someone more interesting. He is pleasant company for ninety minutes, and pleasant is where it stops.

Wyn Strafford rings Kitty Foyle to say he is leaving for South America and there is a place on the boat if she can get to the pier by midnight, and Dennis Morgan plays it as if he were offering her a lift home. That is the Morgan manner. He is handsome, he is agreeable, he never raises his voice or his stakes, and the effect over a whole film is of a man who would like to be liked and has no further plans. In *Kitty Foyle* (1940) the part is a rich Philadelphia boy who cannot decide, and Morgan cannot find a way to make indecision interesting for 108 minutes. Ginger Rogers does the deciding for both of them.

The career took a while to settle on a name. He began in bit parts at MGM as Stanley Morner from 1936, moved to Paramount billed as Richard Stanley, and only became Dennis Morgan at Warner Bros, where his first substantial roles came in B pictures in 1939. *Kitty Foyle* got him leads. Through the 1940s he was a Warner leading man in musicals and comedies and the odd drama: *The Desert Song* (1943), *Christmas in Connecticut* (1945), *Two Guys from Milwaukee* (1946), *My Wild Irish Rose* (1947). When the contract ended in 1952 the work thinned to occasional film and television parts, and he kept at those until the late 1970s.

What worked was the voice and the company. The tenor is light and clean, and the musicals were built to let it out; *The Desert Song* and *My Wild Irish Rose* exist so that he can sing, and on the evidence of his reputation that was the right use of him. He was also better beside someone louder. Jack Carson made six films with him and Ann Sheridan three, and the buddy pictures with Carson gave Morgan a partner to be the calm one against, which is the thing he did best.

What did not work is the thing everyone noticed at the time and we noticed in 1940: he is likeable and he is not magnetic, and in a Warner picture that usually meant losing the girl to whoever was. The studio had a row of clean-cut young men on the payroll and he was one of them, and the parts were cut to fit the row rather than the man. By the time Kitty reached the pier we were no longer wondering whether she would choose him; we were wondering why she ever had, and nothing Morgan did in the Philadelphia scenes gave us an answer. He is charming in the way rich young men are charming when nobody has ever told them no, and the film needed him to be something more than that once.

Start with *Kitty Foyle*, and watch Rogers. The man on the telephone is better met in the musicals, where he was allowed to sing, and that is the best of him.

## Biography

Dennis Morgan (born Earl Stanley Morner) was an American actor and singer. He began his film career under contract to MGM as Stanley Morner, appearing uncredited as the Stage Singer in the "Pretty Girl" Number in *The Great Ziegfeld* (1936). He was later billed as Richard Stanley at Paramount before signing with Warner Bros., where he was credited as Dennis Morgan and given leading roles.

His notable films include *Kitty Foyle* (1940), *Christmas in Connecticut* (1945) and several musicals and comedies made with Jack Carson. Morgan also appeared in *The Return of Doctor X* (1939) and *In This Our Life* (1942). After his Warner Bros. contract ended in 1952, he took guest roles in television series including *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), *Petticoat Junction* (1963) and *The Love Boat* (1977). His final screen work was in 1956.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Kitty Foyle* (1940), Fi1m 70, as Wyn Strafford — [page](https://film.one/film/kitty-foyle.md)
- *The Great Ziegfeld* (1936), Fi1m 64, as Stage Singer in "Pretty Girl" Number — [page](https://film.one/film/the-great-ziegfeld.md)

## Complete filmography (69)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Love Boat* (1977), series, as Steve Brian
- *Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood* (1976), as Tour Guide
- *That's Entertainment!* (1974), as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *Rogue's Gallery* (1968), as Dr. Jonas Pettingill
- *Petticoat Junction* (1963), series, as Dennis Roberts
- *21 Beacon Street* (1959), series, as Dennis Chase
- *Uranium Boom* (1956), as Bradford "Brad" E. Collins
- *Crossroads* (1955), series, as Reverend Mark Runyon
- *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Dennis O'Finn
- *Pearl of the South Pacific* (1955), as Dan Merrill
- *The Gun That Won the West* (1955), as Jim Bridger
- *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Roger Duane
- *Cattle Town* (1952), as Mike McGann
- *This Woman Is Dangerous* (1952), as Dr. Ben Halleck
- *Painting the Clouds with Sunshine* (1951), as Vince
- *Raton Pass* (1951), as Marc Challon
- *Pretty Baby* (1950), as Sam Morley
- *Perfect Strangers* (1950), as David Campbell
- *The Lady Takes a Sailor* (1949), as Bill Craig
- *It's a Great Feeling* (1949), as Dennis Morgan
- *One Sunday Afternoon* (1948), as Timothy L. "Biff" Grimes
- *To the Victor* (1948), as Paul Taggart
- *Two Guys from Texas* (1948), as Steve Carroll
- *My Wild Irish Rose* (1947), as Chauncey Olcott
- *Always Together* (1947), as The Bridegroom (uncredited)
- *Hollywood Wonderland* (1947), as Western Hero (clip from "Ride, Cowboy, Ride", 1939) (uncredited)
- *Cheyenne* (1947), as James Wylie
- *The Time, The Place and The Girl* (1946), as Steven Ross
- *Okay for Sound* (1946), Actor
- *Two Guys from Milwaukee* (1946), as Prince Henry
- *One More Tomorrow* (1946), as Thomas Rufus 'Tom' Collier III
- *Christmas in Connecticut* (1945), as Jefferson Jones
- *God Is My Co-Pilot* (1945), as Col. Robert Lee Scott
- *The Very Thought of You* (1944), as Sgt. David Stewart
- *The Road to Victory* (1944), as Dennis Morgan (uncredited)
- *Shine on Harvest Moon* (1944), as Jack Norworth
- *The Desert Song* (1944), as Paul Hudson / El Khobar
- *Thank Your Lucky Stars* (1943), as Tommy Randolph
- *Stars on Horseback* (1943), Actor
- *The Hard Way* (1943), as Paul Collins
- *Wings for the Eagle* (1942), as Corky 'Cork' Jones
- *In This Our Life* (1942), as Peter Kingsmill
- *Captains of the Clouds* (1942), as Johnny Dutton
- *Bad Men of Missouri* (1941), as Cole Younger
- *Kisses for Breakfast* (1941), as Rodney Trask
- *Affectionately Yours* (1941), as 'Rickey' Mayberry
- *Kitty Foyle* (1940), as Wyn Strafford — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/kitty-foyle.md)
- *March On, Marines* (1940), as Bob Lansing
- *River's End* (1940), as John Keith / Sgt. Derry Conniston
- *Flight Angels* (1940), as Chick Farber
- *Tear Gas Squad* (1940), as Tommy McCabe
- *Three Cheers for the Irish* (1940), as Angus Ferguson
- *The Fighting 69th* (1940), as Lieutenant Ames
- *The Return of Doctor X* (1939), as Dr. Rhodes
- *No Place to Go* (1939), as Joe Plummer
- *Ride, Cowboy, Ride* (1939), as Dinny Logan
- *Waterfront* (1939), as Jim Dolan
- *Persons in Hiding* (1939), as Mike Flagler
- *Illegal Traffic* (1938), as Cagey Miller
- *King of Alcatraz* (1938), as First Mate Rogers (as Richard Stanley)
- *Men with Wings* (1938), as Galton
- *Navy Blue and Gold* (1937), as Marine 2nd Lt.
- *Song of the City* (1937), as Tommy
- *Mama Steps Out* (1937), as Chuck Thompson (as Stanley Morner)
- *Annie Laurie* (1936), as William Douglas
- *Piccadilly Jim* (1936), as Chrystal Club Singer (uncredited)
- *Suzy* (1936), as Lieutenant
- *The Great Ziegfeld* (1936), as Stage Singer in "Pretty Girl" Number — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/the-great-ziegfeld.md)
- *I Conquer the Sea!* (1936), as Tommy Ashley

## Gallery

- ![Dennis Morgan](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-2ad4ebab7f2c.jpg) Dennis Morgan — Trailer screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Dennis_Morgan_in_The_Hard_Way_trailer_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Dennis Morgan in 1946. Kodachrome by László Willinger](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-b58652422b81.jpg) Dennis Morgan in 1946. Kodachrome by László Willinger — László Josef Willinger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Dennis_Morgan._Kodachrome_by_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_Willinger%2C_1946.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photo of Dennis Morgan and Jean Willis from the television program Crossroads. Morgan played Reverend Runyon and Willis played his wife. The series was an antho](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-7c75dcc1f42a.jpg) Photo of Dennis Morgan and Jean Willis from the television program Crossroads. Morgan played Reverend Runyon and Willis played his wife. The series was an antho — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Dennis_Morgan_Jean_Willes_Crossroads_1955.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Cropped from a larger full card. This features them in a scene from Christmas in Connecticut (1945)](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-9794c4df6f65.jpg) Cropped from a larger full card. This features them in a scene from Christmas in Connecticut (1945) — Warner Brothers Pictures Distributing Corporation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Dennis_Morgan_and_Barbara_Stanwyck_in_Christmas_in_Connecticut_%281945%29.jpg/1280px-Dennis_Morgan_and_Barbara_Stanwyck_in_Christmas_in_Connecticut_%281945%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Dennis Morgan](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-eb2295d38e18.jpg) Dennis Morgan — Image via TMDB
- ![Dennis Morgan](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-b62d4955f8d3.jpg) Dennis Morgan — Image via TMDB
- ![Photo of Dennis Morgan and Joanna Barnes from the summer replacement television program 21 Beacon Street. (1959)](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-925f67d3b9e5.jpg) Photo of Dennis Morgan and Joanna Barnes from the summer replacement television program 21 Beacon Street. (1959) — NBC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Dennis_Morgan_Joanna_Barnes_21_Beacon_Street_1959.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![James Cagney (left) & Dennis Morgan in Captains of the Clouds - trailer (cropped screenshot) (1942)](https://film.one/media/person/1228883/gallery-82fae6dfe5c8.jpg) James Cagney (left) & Dennis Morgan in Captains of the Clouds - trailer (cropped screenshot) (1942) — film trailer screenshot (Warner Bros.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Captains_of_the_Clouds_%281942%29_trailer_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/dennis-morgan