David Morse Net Worth

David Morse's Quotes

• (On his memories of St. Elsewhere) Well, pain and pride come to mind. The pain was the experience of playing that character over all those years. Being one character in the beginning, and then really becoming such a victim, and never really getting any release from that. Maybe a little bit at the end, he sort of came around, but he was not the character that I originally believed in. He was a character the producers enjoyed tormenting, and it was not fun to play that. I liked the character much more in the beginning. But the pride? That was being a part of such an extraordinary show, and really, a lot of that is owed to those same producers.
• (On Hack) I was disappointed in some ways that the show didn't last longer. I was disappointed for Philadelphia, because we shot the whole thing there, and that had never happened. There were a lot of people in Philadelphia proud and excited to have that show in their city. Literally in every episode, we were in different neighborhoods all over the city, and this is a city that is made up of very distinct neighborhoods. I'm very fond of the people in those neighborhoods and of the city. I truly am. But I did not sleep for two years doing that show, because I didn't feel like we ever got the show I imagined when I agreed to do it, and I never felt satisfied with what we were doing. I think it's a very difficult process, doing a network television series. I think there was a lot that was good about it. Andre Braugher, I thought was tremendous, and I thought we told some pretty good stories, but I never felt like we ever reached the level where I could say, "Okay, now this is the show, and this is the world that I think we should be talking about and representing." You always have to say, "I've been hired to do a job." When you walk on the set, whatever it is, you commit yourself to the job. You're committing yourself to doing the best you can do with it, no matter what you feel about it, and that never changes. The producers and writers on Hack were all in Los Angeles and never in Philadelphia, so everything was back and forth through different time zones, but they all worked hard to make a good show. I think the problem is that David Koepp, who created it, is really a movie guy, he had this fun idea. But David never intended to stay with the show, and that left a big void of who was the creative center. And as soon as there's that void, everybody wants to fill it with their own ideas. Especially the network. So we had all agreed during the pilot that the show would be one sort of thing, but then the reality of having to sell it to advertisers led to a lot of pressure to go with a much safer product. Everybody tried to jump into that void, and we never had a really strong central voice there. I think that was the big problem.
• (On his role in House) It's going to sound so weird saying this, but I had so little responsibility on that series, other than to go in there and give House a hard time. It was really fun. David Shore, who had worked on Hack and created House, called me and asked me if I would be interested in doing it if they came up with a character, because they really needed somebody that could go toe-to-toe with House. And I wasn't sure, because I hadn't watched the show. When I flipped through the scenes, I just thought, "This guy House is a total jerk. Why are people watching this show?" Then we were on vacation with some friends who we had known for a long time, and I told them I had gotten this phone call, and they were all like, "Oh, you gotta do this show, it's the most brilliant show, it's such a great character, you're going to have to do this." So I called up David and said, "Okay, I'll do it, my friends are all crazy about your show." It was really so easy, in the best sense of the word, because I had no personal pressure on me. Just to go in there and be with all these people who had worked on Hack, now having success with this show House. We had all struggled so hard. There are a lot of writers on House who were on Hack, and to be around them and enjoy their success, it was just a comfortable place to work. Now, of course, I'm suffering because people will tell me how much they hate me and what I did to House. That's the only downside. House is so beloved.
• Disturbia was a surprise. And I don't know why I was surprised, because I knew when I was asked to do it that there were good people involved. D.J. Caruso and Shia LaBeouf and Carrie-Anne Moss. And Steven Spielberg, obviously, who was producing it. I had been asked to do a lot of those movies that are made to make a lot of money on the first weekend-there's a franchise of "first-weekend movies" that are not very good. And I turned all those down. But this was a horror movie that I thought was a little smarter than everything else, and because of the people involved, it had the potential to be something good. Still, just the success of it, and the numbers of people... I thought we were just making a movie for teenage boys, but all kinds of people have seen that movie, and all kinds of people had fun watching it. So it was just a nice, pleasant surprise, that success.
• (On The Indian Runner) To have someone like Sean Penn be interested in me for the lead in his first film. It was totally unexpected, and just an amazing honor. I knew his father Leo and his brother Michael, because they had both worked on St. Elsewhere, and Sean, whom I had never met, actually sent regards to me when Leo was directing our show, which was a surprise since Sean was one of the biggest movie stars in the world at the time. And then I got that script for The Indian Runner, and I couldn't even believe that he wrote it. I don't know why, because he's obviously a very talented, smart man, but there just seemed to be something so mature and just a beautiful poetry to that script, and then to go and meet him up at his house, and have him ultimately fight for me when there were all these other movie stars who were interested in doing it... For some reason, he felt that I was the fellow that should play that role, and he fought like crazy for me to do it. It was one of the greatest experiences of my career, and in some ways my life.

Interesting Facts about David Morse

1. Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1980" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 32.
2. Frequently cast in book-to-movie/television works by Stephen King.
3. Has three younger sisters.
4. Parents: Charles and Jacquelyn Morse.
5. Moved to Philly with his family after California earthquake of 1994, to be near wife's family.
6. Studied acting at the William Esper studio.
7. Broke several fingers during a fight scene in Disturbia (2007) but remained in character and finished the take.
8. Is allergic to most forms of sugar.
9. Stated that out of all of the films he's done, his favorites are The Green Mile (1999), The Crossing Guard (1995), The Indian Runner (1991), and The Rock (1996).
10. He is the only actor to date to play both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
11. His middle name, Bowditch, comes from mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch.
12. Has appeared in two films as a criminal connected to the prison island of Alcatraz: in Six Against the Rock (1987) he plays Marvin Hubbard, second-in-command to David Carradine's Bernard Coy; and in The Rock (1996) he is Major Tom Baxter, second-in-command to Ed Harris' Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel, USMC.
13. Best known by the public for his role as Dr. Jack Morrison on St. Elsewhere (1982).
14. His acting mentor was William Daniels.
15. Has appeared in 'The Langoliers (1996)(TV)', The Green Mile (1999), and Hearts in Atlantis (2001), all based on novels by Stephen King. He also appeared in Horns (2013), based on a novel by King's son, Joe Hill.
16. Father of Eliza Morse, still photographer.
17. 1 of 3 actors who have had a primary or secondary role in a Nicolas Cage movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and a primary or secondary role in a Tom Hanks movie also starring Gary Sinise. The other 2 actors are Ed Harris and Mykelti Williamson. Morse appeared in the Cage/Bruckheimer collaboration, "The Rock" (1996) and in the Hanks/Sinise collaboration, "The Green Mile" (1999).