Chester Morris

He had been appearing in a stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the Bucks County Playhouse at the time of his death. He was popularly caricatured by Tex Avery and Friz Freleng in the musical cartoon "My Green Fedora" and several pictures starring the bumbling stooge Egghead. Soon after appearing in that film, he was found dead in New Hope, Pennsylvania of a drug overdose. Joe Penner was a 1930s-era radio comic and vaudevillain noted for his catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?" and his low hyuck-hyuck laugh. Morris's career began to fade in the 1950s, and he only appeared in three films from 1948 until his final role in 1970's The Great White Hope. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for 1929's Alibi, but perhaps his finest role is in the early prison film The Big House, which was a huge success and propelled his career.

Born in New York City, the son of actor William Morris, Morris is most famous for his role in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s, but his film career began in 1917 in An Amateur Orphan. John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 - September 11, 1970) was an American actor.