Actor Garrett Morris will be honored with the 2,771st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, February 1st, 2024 at 11:30 am PT at 6411 Hollywood Boulevard.
Morris will receive his star in the category of Television. Joining emcee Steve Nissen as speakers are actress Tichina Arnold and director/producer Oz Scott.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame for the City of Los Angeles and has proudly hosted the globally iconic star ceremonies for decades.
“Garrett Morris is a true entertainment icon and is ready for Prime Time on the Walk of Fame! He joins other SNL stars who are Walk of Famers, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner,” stated Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “We are so happy to honor him on February 1st which is his 87th birthday and the 136th birthday of our beloved Hollywood!” added Martinez.
Television legend Garrett Morris was born in New Orleans and raised by his Baptist Minister grandfather, Thomas Phillips and his loving grandmother, Gertrude Phillips. He spent his childhood singing in the church choir and eventually trained at the Julliard School of Music. His first professional break was performing with the Harry Belafonte Singers, with whom he remained for ten years. During this time, Morris branched out into acting, appearing in both Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals including “Porgy and Bess,” “Show Boat,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” “Ain’t Supposed To Die A Natural Death,” “The Great White Hope,” and “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummer.”
Having most recently been a series regular on CBS’s “2 Broke Girls,” Morris is beloved by generations of TV watchers as one of Saturday Night Live’s original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players,” along with Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, and Gilda Radner. He was present at the creation of television’s longest-running, most famous live sketch comedy program, and is remembered to this day for such characters as Chico Escuela, the Dominican baseball player whose catchphrase, “Baseball has been berry berry good to me,” entered popular culture, as well as performing in “News for the Hard of Hearing” and his outrageous and dead-on impersonations of Idi Amin, James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bob Marley, and Muhammad Ali.
(Billboard Magazine 1976)
Morris’s classic performances in such TV comedies as “Martin,” “The Jamie Foxx Show,” and “The Wayans Brothers” are presently playing daily in syndication, and Morris continues to be recognized for appearances on “Married with Children,” “Family Guy” and “The Jeffersons.”
His other television credits also include the animated series, “Fairfax,” NBC’s “Grand Crew,” and the Netflix limited series, “Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker.” Other television credits include roles on “This is Us,” “Scandal,” “Station 19,” “According To Jim,” “Justice League,” “The Hughleys,” “Noah’s Arc,” “All Of Us,” and “Shameless.”
Morris first broke onto the big screen in the 1970’s with small roles in Carl Reiner’s “Where’s Poppa?” and Sidney Lumet’s “The Anderson Tapes.” His other credits include an impressive array of film including “Jackpot,” “Connecting Dots,” “The Salon,” “Frank,” “Cooley High,” “Who’s Your Caddy?,” “Comeback,” “Bedridden,” “Sonny Dreamweaver,” “Pickin’ & Grinnin’,” “Valley Of The Sun,” “Pawn Shop,” and Marvel’s “Ant-Man” as an acknowledgement of his originating the role on “Saturday Night Live.”
Most people don’t realize that when Morris first appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” he had already had a 17-year career in the entertainment industry as singer and arranger with Harry Belafonte, as an actor in Off-Broadway plays and musicals, as a playwright with two successful productions, as a civil rights activist who played an important role in the desegregation of Actor’s Equity and was part of the Black Arts Theater movement with poet and playwright Amiri Baraka.
Garrett Morris resides in Los Angeles where he owns and operates The LA Blues & Comedy Club. In 2007 he was honored by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his work and contributions to the Black community.
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