---
name: "Greg Morris"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/greg-morris"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "27 September 1933"
died: "27 August 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T15:57:53.950639+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."
---

# Greg Morris

Actor. Born 27 September 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Died 27 August 1996.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 27 September 1933, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- **Died:** 27 August 1996
- **Also known as:** Francis Gregory Alan Morris

## Fi1m on Greg Morris

> Greg Morris made technical expertise reassuring to watch, giving Barney Collier a calm that helped *Mission: Impossible* sell its elaborate deceptions. We rate his restraint, though it could leave the man behind the work difficult to know.

Greg Morris makes a complicated job look as though somebody has thought it through. As electronics expert Barney Collier in Bruce Geller’s *Mission: Impossible* (1966), he gives the team someone whose competence we can accept without fuss. We found his calm reassuring: Morris made us believe in Barney’s ability even when the plans themselves asked a good deal of us. It is an understated performance that does considerable work for a series dependent on contrivance, and a substantial reason to recommend it.

An early guest role as Lieutenant Woodard in *The Twilight Zone* (1963) preceded the part that defined him. Morris played Barney throughout the original *Mission: Impossible* run, from 1966 to 1973. The role made him one of the first Black actors with a regular starring part in a prime-time network series, playing a professional without racial stereotyping. His technical knowledge was an ordinary requirement of the job, and Morris treated it accordingly.

Beside Peter Graves’s calmly authoritative Jim Phelps and Barbara Bain’s self-possessed Cinnamon Carter, Morris fits the ensemble without disappearing into it. His particular contribution is to make the practical business of the scheme interesting, without suggesting that Barney expects applause for knowing his job. That matters in a programme where teamwork has to persuade us to overlook some fairly elaborate plotting. The limitation is shared with his colleagues: these people can be so composed that it becomes difficult to know them beyond their assignments.

After *Mission: Impossible*, his television work shifted towards supporting roles and guest appearances, with Lieutenant David Nelson in *Vega$* (1978–1981) a recurring part. He reprised Barney in the *Mission: Impossible* revival (1988–1990), but his later career never regained the prominence of the original run. Start with the original series, and leave some distance between episodes; even Morris cannot stop a repeated formula becoming familiar.

## Biography

Greg Morris was an American actor. Born Francis Gregory Alan Morris in Cleveland, Ohio, he studied at the University of Iowa and began his career with stage work in Seattle before moving to Hollywood in the early 1960s.

He was best known for playing electronics expert Barney Collier in the television series *Mission: Impossible* (1966–1973), one of the first black actors to star in a major network series. He reprised the role in the 1988 revival of the series. Morris also played Lieutenant David Nelson in *Vega$* (1978–1981) and made guest appearances in series including *The Twilight Zone*, *The Six Million Dollar Man* and *Murder, She Wrote*.

He received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on *Mission: Impossible*. His son, actor Phil Morris, later appeared alongside him in the 1988 series.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Mission: Impossible* (1966), Fi1m 82, as Barney Collier — [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md)

## Also known for

- *The Twilight Zone* (1959), Lieutenant Woodard — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-twilight-zone.md)
- *Wonder Woman* (1975), Caribe
- *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), Andrews
- *The Six Million Dollar Man* (1974), Josh Perkins
- *Mission: Impossible* (1988), Barney Collier
- *The Love Boat* (1977), Greg Elkins
- *Fantasy Island* (1978), Ted Harmon
- *The Jeffersons* (1975)

---
© 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/greg-morris