Morgan Woodward

Attended the University of Texas in the late 1940s.

Craggy-faced, athletic veteran character actor who played hard-bitten or menacing types in numerous westerns and crime dramas. One of five brothers, Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas. He had a keen interest in aviation early on and took flying lessons from 1941, getting his pilot's license and subsequently served in both World War II (Army Air Corps) and Korea (Military Air Transport Command). Woodward first acted at Arlington State College, majoring in music and drama.

He appeared for a while with the Margo Jones Repertory Theatre '47 in Dallas and then went back to study for a degree in corporate finance at the University of Texas, graduating in 1948. At one time, he sang with a jazz band and as a member of a barber shop quartet as well as having a regular weekly gig as a talk show host on local radio. Possessed of a powerful bass-baritone voice, Woodward's ultimate ambition had been to sing for the Metropolitan Opera. That didn't pan out.

After graduating from college at the University of Texas, Woodward entered the University of Texas Law School in 1951. His legal studies were interrupted when he was recalled to active duty with the Air Force during the Korean War. He served in Korea with the Military Air Transport Command. After demobilization, he chose not to return to studying the law, choosing to became an actor, instead.

Neither did his hope that moving to Hollywood in 1955 might open the door to a career in musicals.

His first big break was as co-star opposite Hugh O'Brian in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), playing the role of Earp's deputy Shotgun Gibbs for four seasons.

This effectively typecast him as a western genre actor with a record number of guest spots on Gunsmoke (1955) and Wagon Train (1957).

Instead, he successfully auditioned at Disney for The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), followed by a part in the western pioneer saga Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956).

He also made two appearances on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) (most famously as Simon Van Gelder, the first human with whom Spock 'mind melds') and played the shrewd Armani-suited oil tycoon Punk Anderson in 55 episodes of Dallas (1978).

Nonetheless, his most famous role was that of ""the man with no eyes", a sinister chain gang overseer in Cool Hand Luke (1967), distinguished by perpetually wearing reflective sunglasses.

A 1969 article in "Newsweek" magazine, about screen "heavies" entitled "The Dirty Half Dozen," named Woodward as one of the six most in demand bad guys in television and motion pictures at the time.

Morgan Woodward and his Dallas (1978) co-star Larry Hagman are both real-life natives of Fort Worth, Texas.

Thomas Morgan Woodward was awarded the Golden Boot Award from the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Fund in August 1988.

In March 1990, Woodward's star was placed on the "Walk of Western Stars" at the William S. Hart Museum and Park in Santa Clarita, California.

In 1994, the Texas Arts Council presented Morgan with its Lifetime Achievment in the Arts Award in his hometown of Arlington, Texas. The city also named a prominent street "Morgan Woodward Way".

In August 1995, Woodward received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for Western film acting from the "Wild West Film Festival" in Sonora, California.

In July 1996, he was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina along with Tony Young, Patricia Blair, Gene Evans, Gregory Walcott, Adrian Booth, Roberta Shore, Tommy Kirk, Dale Berry, Bob Hoy (as Robert F. Hoy), Justin Tubb, and Neil Summers.

In 1997, Woodward celebrated 50 years in show business and was given the "International Star Award" in Los Angeles, California.

In 2005, he attended the 50th anniversary celebration of the start of Gunsmoke (1955) at an event in Dodge City, Kansas, also attended by the wife and son of James Arness, who was unable to travel.

Received the Cowboy Spirit Award at the 16th Annual Bison Homes Festival of the West held in Phoenix for "embodying the integrity, strength of spirit, and moral character depicted by the American cowboy." [March 2006]